Library of Baghdad, An advanced international university

Sunday, 12 December 2010

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Written by Dr. Ragheb Elsergany

Introduction

Scientific libraries in the Muslim world have had a significant impact on the growth and development of the human civilization until they appeared in a modern image. But the House of Wisdom library in Baghdad was, undoubtedly, the greatest place of knowledge in the world without the slightest exaggeration, and one of the scientific treasures produced by the Islamic thought in the past, together with other libraries in other Islamic countries. Though its role has sunk into oblivion, it was tantamount to an international scientific university, a destination for students of different races and religions from the East and the West to study various disciplines of science in multiple languages. Its light has remained shining the road to mankind for nearly five centuries, until it was destroyed by the Tatars.

Library of Baghdad and the House of Wisdom

The Library of Baghdad was founded by the Abbasid Caliph Abu Ja`far al-Mansur in Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid caliphate. Caliph Abu Ja`far al-Mansur allocated a separate building where he collected precious books, both which were authored in Arabic and those translated into Arabic from different languages. When Caliph Harun al-Rashid (who ruled from 170 to 193 AH), who was one of the greatest Abbasid caliphs and the most mentioned in history, came to the throne he tended to restore the books and manuscripts, which were kept in the Caliphate Palace, after they had been piled over each other. Al-Rashid rearranged such manuscripts as well as authored and translated books and put them in a separate building to be suitable for accommodating the larger number of books and be open to all scholars and students. Therefore, he established a

large spacious house, to which he moved all such priceless treasures and called it Bayt-ul-Hikmah (The House of Wisdom) in recognition of its mission, which developed later and became one of the most famous academies of science in history.[1] The largest development the Library of Baghdad witnessed was during the reign of Caliph al-Ma`mun, who brought to it senior translators, transcribes, scientists, and authors. He also sent scientific missions to the Byzantine Empire. And this has had the greatest impact on the renaissance of this unique scientific university.[2]

Thus the House of Wisdom first emerged as a private library, and then became a center for translation, a center for research and writing, and then an institution for teaching science lessons and granting academic degrees. Later, an astronomical observatory was attached to it. The library was divided into the following sections:

Library

The library section was in charge of collecting books from all over the world, organizing them on shelves, and handling them to whoever requested. A scribing and bookbinding section was attached to the library section to copy, bind and repair books. There were many ways to provide the House of Wisdom with books, mainly buying books. Caliph al-Ma'mun used to send missions to Constantinople to bring books of any kind. Sometimes he himself traveled to buy books and send them to the House of Wisdom. Other ways of procurement included gifts; where Caliphs used to dispatch Islamic delegations to foreign countries, which in turn presented them of their books. Sometimes al-Mam'mun accepted Jizyah (poll tax required from non-Muslims living in an Islamic state) in books from those who should pay it. He also used to bring hundreds of scribes, commentators, and translators from all languages for the Arabization of the books from their original languages, in addition to authoring. Therefore, different ways of book procurement converged to supply the library with an unprecedented number and type of books.

Scientific missions

Regarding the scientific missions, Caliph al-Ma'mun wrote to the Byzantine king asking his permission to send the stored heritage of Greek books. According to the Byzantine traditions, such books were inaccessible. The Byzantine emperor declined and then accepted. And so al-Ma'mun dispatched a scientific mission, provided with a number of translators, on top of whom was the chief of the House of Wisdom. The mission toured many places that were thought to have stores of ancient Greek books. The mission returned to al-Ma'mun, loaded with rare books in philosophy, engineering, medicine, astronomy and other sciences. Al-Ma'mun also sent messages to other contemporary kings, asking them to allow his exploration missions to research for books in warehouses. An amusing story was related in this respect, as one of such missions found boxes under an old fortress in Persia. The boxes included a large amount of books of rotten stench. The men of the mission carried the books to Baghdad where they remained a full year until they dried and the stench vanished. After that they could study them.[3]

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