The period from the mid-8th century to the mid-13th century is considered the Islamic Golden Age. It was a time when Arabs and Muslims made great strides in the fields of science; engineering; education; poetry; philosophy; geography; trade; agriculture; the arts; economics; industry; law; literature; navigation; philosophy; sociology and technology. In the Islamic world; astronomy was studied fastidiously to calculate the direction of the Qibla and to fix the times for Salah; Muslim prayers; as well as to aid sailors and navigators.