Wednesday, May 1, 2024

The House of Wisdom: One of the Greatest Libraries in History

house of wisdom

From its establishment in the 8th century by the Abbasid Dynasty, Baghdad became a scientific and cultural intellectual center at the heart of scientific development and innovation. Some modern day objects that we take for granted, such as the camera, soap, watches, and cologne trace their roots back to this era. Inventions by scholars of the time also laid the foundations for technologies – such as windmills and robotics – that now define modern life.

Notable intellectuals

The Abbasid library had preserved the knowledge and heritage of the ancient civilizations and it passed them to the west with a remarkable contributions, the latter has utilized some of the Abbasid period unprecedented discoveries to flourish and modernize. The House of Wisdom has played a distinguished role in the history of the Middle Ages for it was a bridge that transmitted the ancient civilizations including the Islamic one to the west, as it was the departure of modern sciences. Historians have a major consent that thanks to the house of wisdom and other similar schools and libraries, the continuity of human civilization was preserved after the fall of Greek and Roman civilizations.

Baghdad: Libraries and House of Wisdom3 min read

These captivating pieces of art are very photogenic, and it’s a good thing to do with some friends or a date. Our new series, Tsawwar, explores places, people and moments in time through the eyes of photographers and their photos. Ibn al-Haytham built the first camera obscura, making huge discoveries in the areas of optics and visual perception. He was the first to understand and explain the theory of vision, arguing that it occurs in the brain. Figures such as Isaac Newton and Galileo Galilei frequently cited him in their own work.

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Later, he added numerous other study centres to allow more scholars to pursue their research, and an observatory in 829. Abu Yusuf Ya‘qub ibn Ishaq Al-Kindi was also another historical figure that worked at the House of Wisdom. Al-Kindi is the most famous for being the first person to introduce Aristotle’s philosophy to the Arabic people.

As one of the world’s biggest and richest cities at the time, Baghdad had wealth that went far beyond money. For more than two centuries, it was home to the House of Wisdom, an academy of knowledge that attracted brains from far and wide. From mathematics and astronomy to zoology, the academy was a major centre of research, thought and debate in Muslim Civilisation. Under al-Mamun’s leadership science saw for the first time wide-ranging research projects involving large groups of scholars. In order to check Ptolemy’s observations, the caliph ordered the construction of the first astronomical observatory in Baghdad (see Observatories section below). The data provided by Ptolemy was meticulously checked and revised by a highly capable group of geographers, mathematicians and astronomers.

In Arabic, the term bayt (house) refers to a “covered space”, contrary to dar which refers to a complex comprising several bayt. Rashid was keen to make Baghdad a centre of intellectual growth and discovery and a flourishing home of the arts. It is said that within its walls, the theologian, Al Jahiz, wrote his pioneering work, The Book of Animals, and that Ali ibn Isa al and Khalid ibn Abd al-Malik obtained a measurement that enabled astronomers to calculate the circumference of the Earth. We’re the only Pop Archaeology site combining scientific research with out-of-the-box perspectives. It should not come as a surprise the implementation of new technological developments since the House of Wisdom was open to a great diversity of cultures and ideas.

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The main hall leads to a square shape room above it there was a big dome with 80 cubit high, the main hall also has a statue of knight holding a spear that spins with the spear. Besides their translations of earlier works and their commentaries on them, scholars at the Bayt al-Hikma produced important original research. For example, the noted mathematician al-Khwarizmi worked in al-Ma’mun’s House of Wisdom and is famous for his contributions to the development of algebra. He was known as a mathematician and an astronomer in the House of Wisdom, and is also known for his book Kitab al-Jabr in which he develops a number of algorithms.

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house of wisdom

The pursuit of knowledge became a dominant feature of Abbasid society, attracting scholars and scientists from all over Europe and the Middle East to take part in this cultural birthing, including Persians and Christians. Scholarly work, particularly translation, became a hugely lucrative career, and some scholars such as Hunayn ibn Ishaq were said to earn the weight in gold of each manuscript they completed. The stars and planets were perceived to influence events on earth and astrology was thus carried out with the greatest attention to detail.Al-Mamun had an astronomical observatory built with the intention of addressing the claims of one of the most dominant voices in the ancient world, Ptolemy. Better-known after its translation as the Almagest, the text initiated a flurry of research and commentary at the House of Wisdom which would last for centuries. It was in 1258 that the accomplishments of the House of Wisdom and the Islamic Golden Age were brought to a cruel halt. During the Mongol invasion of Baghdad under Hulegn, grandson of Genghis Khan, the mosques, libraries, homes and hospitals of the great city were all destroyed.

Golden Age Scholars

Islam has it’s terrible followers too, and we cannot afford to be blind to the writings they follow !!! The current conducted research has a very original contribution since previous studies on the House of wisdom have only dealt with historical backgrounds of some libraries. The paper contributes in highlighting the extent of creativity for authors that had flourished due to the House of wisdom in which book authoring took a very progressive trend. It also adds new historical and factual contribution to studies on the administrative and managerial aspects and the way they function in the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikmah) that was later assimilated by several libraries in the Muslim world.

Through his Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices he made invaluable contributions to the field of engineering. Instruction at the House of Wisdom included rhetoric logic, metaphysics, theology, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, physics, biology, medicine, and surgery, as documented by Artz. In 1258, the Mongol army ransacked the city of Baghdad and threw such a great number of manuscripts into the river Tigris that the waters ran black with ink.

Patronage of the arts and sciences—and, of course, luxury—poured in not only from the caliph but also from the viziers and the other courtiers. Libraries of The Nizamiyyah School were somewhat similar to the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikmah) for the former had had many facilities to offer for students, including student's scholarships and endowment professorship. The Nizamiyyah School libraries and Cairo libraries were reported to have their own binders, administrators, librarians and even guards, they have shared almost all supported by endowments from governments, caliphs and kings. The most interesting thing about the naming of house of wisdom is that all labels signify the same meaning that Bayt al-Hikmah was the place of all knowledge and wisdom to be found. Libraries represented new reality for Muslims and new passion towards the human knowledge and education (Mohammad Ali, 1980). The House of Wisdom (Bayt Al-Hikmah) was seen as one of the leading libraries in Islamic history that appeared during the Golden age of Islam.

This library was remarkably well organized, having separate rooms for copiers, binders, librarians, and an astronomical observatory. Mahmud Ahmad Derwich has found a suitable architectural planning for Bayt al-Hikmah through his studies on the golden castle constructed by Al-Mansur. The house of wisdom composed of a yard surrounded by halls of two floors from its four sides, it was headed by a penthouse on a row of pillars. In the middle of every side among the four sides of the yard there were halls topped by semi-cylindrical dome of 25 cubit.

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Neutra ran his architectural from the original house from 1932 until a fire destroyed most of the main building in 1963. The Research House was rebuilt with the most modern materials and design adaptations by Neutra and his son Dion in 1966. There is also a Garden House on the property that was occupied by Dion Neutra and his family. Tours of the VDL House are conducted on Saturdays by architecture students from Cal Poly Pomona. Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi was a Persian scholar who published seminal works across mathematics, astronomy and geography and in 820 CE was appointed as the astronomer and head of the library of the House of Wisdom. He was the first to demonstrate how to solve algebraic quadratic equations and is widely seen as the father of algebra.

The family of the last Abbasid Caliph Al-Musta’sim, as well as thousands of the city’s inhabitants, were slaughtered, and the extensive collection of books and manuscripts at the House of Wisdom were thrown into the Tigris. It is said that for days afterwards the river ran black with the ink of books and red with the blood of scholars. It was a tragic ending for one of the most advanced, diverse and progressive cities of the age, and an ending from which it would take Baghdad centuries to recover. Following his predecessors, al-Ma'mun would send expeditions of scholars from the House of Wisdom to collect texts from foreign lands. In fact, one of the directors of the House was sent to Constantinople with this purpose.

During this time, Sahl ibn Harun, a Persian poet and astrologer, was the chief librarian of the Bayt al-Hikma. Hunayn ibn Ishaq (809–873), an Arab Nestorian Christian physician and scientist, was the most productive translator, producing 116 works for the Arabs. As "Sheikh of the translators," he was placed in charge of the translation work by the caliph. Hunayn ibn Ishaq translated the entire collection of Greek medical books, including famous pieces by Galen and Hippocrates.[28] The Sabian Thābit ibn Qurra (826–901) also translated great works by Apollonius, Archimedes, Euclid and Ptolemy. Maktabs soon began to develop in the city from the 9th century on and, in the 11th century, Nizam al-Mulk founded the Al-Nizamiyya of Baghdad, one of the first institutions of higher education in Iraq.

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