During the early middle ages, when Western society went through a period of intellectual darkness (hence the term the “Dark Ages”), the Muslim intellectual world flourished.
When the Abbasids took control over the Islamic empire, they transformed the caliphate into a place that took the world’s leading role in terms of knowledge.
As the Abbasids moved the Muslim capital from Damascus to a new city called Baghdad, the new capital grew out to be the largest city in the world at the time with some estimates putting its population at more than 1 million inhabitants.
European cities such as Constantinople, London or Paris couldn’t match up to this number.
The Roman empire had been split up into the Kingdom of the Franks in the west and Byzantium which ruled over the eastern half of the old Roman empire. But it was the Islamic empire that would turn out to be the most influential during this period.
“One of the earliest, and most important, changes the Abbasids made was to
move the capital of the Islamic empire from the old Umayyad power base of Damascus
to a new city—Baghdad.”
1. Caliph Al-Rashid
Abbasid caliph Harun Al-Rashid was one of the leaders who made this Islamic golden age possible. During his reign he made sure that a library was installed to be the center of knowledge in his empire.
The Bayt al-Hikma (House of Wisdom) in Baghdad grew out to be an influential library, probably located inside the palace of Al-Rashid himself, that served as the heart of philosophy and science in the Islamic world.
The library had a hall for reading, classrooms and rooms dedicated to a specific science collection like translating, map making, etc.
“Abbasids build a big premise with many rooms and halls that contained all the assembled literature that was divided into sections and groups in which every section or group was dedicated to a specific science collection.”
Al-Rashid had big ideas for his empire, but also big ideas for his medieval diplomacy.
In a gesture to the Europeans, Al-Rashid decided to send a very special gift to Charlemagne (Charles the Great), ruler of the Franks. The gift was a giant elephant which was sent to Aachen, the town in western Germany that served as Charlemagne’s residence.
The arrival of the elephant must have been incredibly exciting for the Europeans at the time, but it was not the only gift Europe received from the Islamic empire. For a period of hundreds of years, the international language of science was Arabic.
“And so it was that Harun al-Rashid, who was also interested in negotiation, decided to send Charlemagne a very special gift—a gift, he said in his note to the Imperial Council, that few in Europe had seen since Hannibal and his Carthaginians marched across the Alps. The gift, said the Caliph, would be an elephant.”
2. Caliph Al-Ma’mun
After Al-Rashid’s death, his son Al-Ma’mun who was half Arab and half Persian continued his father’s passion for scholarship and science. Al-Ma’mun grew up in the city of Baghdad when it as at the height of its glory.
Al-Ma’mun sent out missions to get hold of any influential scientific text his men could find. Persian, Greek and Indian texts were gathered from far away and translated into Arabic at the House of Wisdom.
Even defeated foreign rulers had to surrender by giving their books from their libraries instead of their gold.
“He would send emissaries great distances to get hold of ancient scientific texts: one, Salman, visited Constantinople to obtain Greek texts from the Emperor Leo V (Leo the Armenian). Often, defeated foreign rulers would be required to settle the terms of surrender to him with books from their libraries rather than in gold.”
3. Hunayn ibn Ishaq
Maybe the most famous translator living in Baghdad was Hunayn ibn Ishaq. Being a Christian and fluent in Greek, he was sent on an expedition by caliph Al-Ma’mun to the Christian Byzantine empire.
He succeeded in finding manuscripts from Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato. By translating their influential work into Arabic he made sure the knowledge spread throughout Mesopotamia, Syria and Egypt.
Because of Hunayn’s efforts Greek knowledge would spread through the entire Islamic empire and beyond.
“Hunayn is important for the many excellent translations of Greek texts which he made into Arabic. In particular he translated Plato and Aristotle. These translations were spread widely through Mesopotamia, Syria and Egypt.”
4. Al-Khwarizmi
In the House of Wisdom, the Christian Hunayn started working with Al-Khwarizmi, a Muslim mathematician and astronomer.
It was Al-Khwarizmi who introduced the Hindu-Arabic numerals to the Arab world. By passing on the knowledge from Indian and Greek texts, Al-Khwarizmi revealed the numbers 0 to 9 to the world.
His work reached a North African city in current day Algeria where the Italian scholar Fibonacci picked them up and made them known to Europe where at the time Europeans were still using the old Roman numerals to count.
It is because of Al-Khwarizmi that you picture the year seventeen thousand seventy-six as 1776 and not MDCCLXXVI.
“a second work by al-Khwārizmī introduced Hindu-Arabic numerals (see numerals and numeral systems) and their arithmetic to the West.”
5. Banu Musa brothers
With talented translators like Hunayn ibn Ishaq and talented mathematicians like Al-Khwarizmi it was only obvious that more scientific masterminds in the House of Wisdom would work together and create even more knowledge. Working together with Hunayn and Al-Khwarizmi were the Banu Musa brothers.
The three brothers were especially interested in geometry and their interest was soon to be discovered by the caliph Al-Ma’mun. Their father had served as an important astrologer for the caliph and even became his close friend. When he died, Al-Ma’mun took care of the boys and with his help they became the most active members of the House of Wisdom.
The Banu Musa made observations in astronomy and were responsible for the construction of canals around the area. Their achievements in mechanics however, made them famous throughout the Muslim world. In one book they describe 100 different devices and how to use them.
From valves, self-trimming lamps and automatic fountains to automatic flute players. The book contains the first examples of various automatically controlled systems and although most of the machines were built for amusement, their inventions laid the basis for modern control engineering.
“Their father, Musa ibn Shakir, was a close friend of al-Ma'mun, the son of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid. When Musa ibn Shakir died, al-Ma'mun became the guardian of the three brothers. They were given a good education in Baghdad, studying geometry, mechanics, music, mathematics and astronomy. During the al-Ma'mun caliphate between 813 and 833, they carried on a successful career in science, engineering and patronage.”
A lot of the ancient scientific and philosophical Greek and Persian texts we in the West know have been only been made available to us through the work of the Abbasid Islamic scholars and leaders. The House of Wisdom truly served as a bridge between worlds.
When the Abbasids took control over the Islamic empire, they transformed the caliphate into a place that took the world’s leading role in terms of knowledge.
As the Abbasids moved the Muslim capital from Damascus to a new city called Baghdad, the new capital grew out to be the largest city in the world at the time with some estimates putting its population at more than 1 million inhabitants.
European cities such as Constantinople, London or Paris couldn’t match up to this number.
The Roman empire had been split up into the Kingdom of the Franks in the west and Byzantium which ruled over the eastern half of the old Roman empire. But it was the Islamic empire that would turn out to be the most influential during this period.
“One of the earliest, and most important, changes the Abbasids made was to
move the capital of the Islamic empire from the old Umayyad power base of Damascus
to a new city—Baghdad.”
1. Caliph Al-Rashid
Abbasid caliph Harun Al-Rashid was one of the leaders who made this Islamic golden age possible. During his reign he made sure that a library was installed to be the center of knowledge in his empire.
The Bayt al-Hikma (House of Wisdom) in Baghdad grew out to be an influential library, probably located inside the palace of Al-Rashid himself, that served as the heart of philosophy and science in the Islamic world.
The library had a hall for reading, classrooms and rooms dedicated to a specific science collection like translating, map making, etc.
“Abbasids build a big premise with many rooms and halls that contained all the assembled literature that was divided into sections and groups in which every section or group was dedicated to a specific science collection.”
Al-Rashid had big ideas for his empire, but also big ideas for his medieval diplomacy.
In a gesture to the Europeans, Al-Rashid decided to send a very special gift to Charlemagne (Charles the Great), ruler of the Franks. The gift was a giant elephant which was sent to Aachen, the town in western Germany that served as Charlemagne’s residence.
The arrival of the elephant must have been incredibly exciting for the Europeans at the time, but it was not the only gift Europe received from the Islamic empire. For a period of hundreds of years, the international language of science was Arabic.
“And so it was that Harun al-Rashid, who was also interested in negotiation, decided to send Charlemagne a very special gift—a gift, he said in his note to the Imperial Council, that few in Europe had seen since Hannibal and his Carthaginians marched across the Alps. The gift, said the Caliph, would be an elephant.”
2. Caliph Al-Ma’mun
After Al-Rashid’s death, his son Al-Ma’mun who was half Arab and half Persian continued his father’s passion for scholarship and science. Al-Ma’mun grew up in the city of Baghdad when it as at the height of its glory.
Al-Ma’mun sent out missions to get hold of any influential scientific text his men could find. Persian, Greek and Indian texts were gathered from far away and translated into Arabic at the House of Wisdom.
Even defeated foreign rulers had to surrender by giving their books from their libraries instead of their gold.
“He would send emissaries great distances to get hold of ancient scientific texts: one, Salman, visited Constantinople to obtain Greek texts from the Emperor Leo V (Leo the Armenian). Often, defeated foreign rulers would be required to settle the terms of surrender to him with books from their libraries rather than in gold.”
3. Hunayn ibn Ishaq
Maybe the most famous translator living in Baghdad was Hunayn ibn Ishaq. Being a Christian and fluent in Greek, he was sent on an expedition by caliph Al-Ma’mun to the Christian Byzantine empire.
He succeeded in finding manuscripts from Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato. By translating their influential work into Arabic he made sure the knowledge spread throughout Mesopotamia, Syria and Egypt.
Because of Hunayn’s efforts Greek knowledge would spread through the entire Islamic empire and beyond.
“Hunayn is important for the many excellent translations of Greek texts which he made into Arabic. In particular he translated Plato and Aristotle. These translations were spread widely through Mesopotamia, Syria and Egypt.”
4. Al-Khwarizmi
In the House of Wisdom, the Christian Hunayn started working with Al-Khwarizmi, a Muslim mathematician and astronomer.
It was Al-Khwarizmi who introduced the Hindu-Arabic numerals to the Arab world. By passing on the knowledge from Indian and Greek texts, Al-Khwarizmi revealed the numbers 0 to 9 to the world.
His work reached a North African city in current day Algeria where the Italian scholar Fibonacci picked them up and made them known to Europe where at the time Europeans were still using the old Roman numerals to count.
It is because of Al-Khwarizmi that you picture the year seventeen thousand seventy-six as 1776 and not MDCCLXXVI.
“a second work by al-Khwārizmī introduced Hindu-Arabic numerals (see numerals and numeral systems) and their arithmetic to the West.”
5. Banu Musa brothers
With talented translators like Hunayn ibn Ishaq and talented mathematicians like Al-Khwarizmi it was only obvious that more scientific masterminds in the House of Wisdom would work together and create even more knowledge. Working together with Hunayn and Al-Khwarizmi were the Banu Musa brothers.
The three brothers were especially interested in geometry and their interest was soon to be discovered by the caliph Al-Ma’mun. Their father had served as an important astrologer for the caliph and even became his close friend. When he died, Al-Ma’mun took care of the boys and with his help they became the most active members of the House of Wisdom.
The Banu Musa made observations in astronomy and were responsible for the construction of canals around the area. Their achievements in mechanics however, made them famous throughout the Muslim world. In one book they describe 100 different devices and how to use them.
From valves, self-trimming lamps and automatic fountains to automatic flute players. The book contains the first examples of various automatically controlled systems and although most of the machines were built for amusement, their inventions laid the basis for modern control engineering.
“Their father, Musa ibn Shakir, was a close friend of al-Ma'mun, the son of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid. When Musa ibn Shakir died, al-Ma'mun became the guardian of the three brothers. They were given a good education in Baghdad, studying geometry, mechanics, music, mathematics and astronomy. During the al-Ma'mun caliphate between 813 and 833, they carried on a successful career in science, engineering and patronage.”
A lot of the ancient scientific and philosophical Greek and Persian texts we in the West know have been only been made available to us through the work of the Abbasid Islamic scholars and leaders. The House of Wisdom truly served as a bridge between worlds.
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