The House of Wisdom (Arabic: بيت الحكمة; Bayt Ul-Hikma) was a library and translation institute established in Abbassid-era Baghdad, Iraq.[1] It was a key institution in the Translation Movement and considered to have been a major intellectual centre during the Islamic Golden Age. The House of Wisdom was a society founded by Caliph Harun al-Rashid and culminating under his son al-Ma'mun, who reigned from 813–833 AD and is credited with its institution. Al-Ma'mun is also credited with bringing many well-known scholars to share information ideas and culture in the House of Wisdom Based in Baghdad from the 9th to 13th centuries, many of the most learned Muslim scholars were part of this excellent research and educational institute.
It had the dual purpose of translating books from Middle Persian to Arabic and also of the preservation of translated books.[2]
During the reign of al-Ma'mun, observatories were set up, and the House was an unrivalled center for the study of humanities and for science in medieval Islam, including mathematics, astronomy, medicine, alchemy and chemistry, zoology and geography and cartography. Drawing on Persian, Indian and Greek texts—including those of Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Euclid, Plotinus, Galen, Sushruta, Charaka, Aryabhata and Brahmagupta—the scholars accumulated a great collection of world knowledge, and built on it through their own discoveries. Baghdad was known as the world's richest city and centre for intellectual development of the time, and had a population of over a million, the largest in its time.[3]
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In the Abbasid Empire, many foreign works were translated into Arabic from Greek, Chinese and many other languages like Indian. Large libraries were constructed, and scholars persecuted by the Byzantine Empires were welcomed.[4] Works were also translated at the Academy of Gundishapur, during the Muslim conquest of Persia.
In 750, the Abbasid dynasty replaced the Umayyad as the ruling dynasty of the Islamic empire, and in 762, the caliph al-Mansur (reigned 754 – 775) built Baghdad and made it his capital (the previous capital having been Damascus). The Abbasid dynasty had a strong Persian bent,[4] and adopted many practices from the Sassanid empire – among those, that of translating foreign works, except that now works were translated into Arabic. For this purpose, al-Mansur founded a palace library, modeled after the Sassanid Imperial Library.
The concept of the library catalog was introduced in the House of Wisdom and other medieval Islamic libraries, where books were organized into specific genres and categories.[5]
The activities of the library was supported by a large number of stationery shops. These shops doubled as bookshops, the largest of which, al-Nakim, sold thousands of books every day. This industry was only possible because of the abundance of paper (warraqa).
Under the sponsorship of caliph al-Ma'mun (reigned 813 – 833), it seems that the House of Wisdom took on new functions related to mathematics and astrology. The focus also shifted from Persian to Greek texts.
At that time, the library was directed by the poet and astrologer Sahl ibn Haroun (d. 830); the other notable scholars associated with the library are Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī (780–850), the Banu Musa brothers (Mohammed Jafar ibn Musa, Ahmad ibn Musa, and al-Hasan ibn Musa), Sind ibn Ali and Yaqub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi (801–873).
Christian scholar Hunayn ibn Ishaq (809–873) was placed in charge of the translation work by the caliph. The most renowned translator was the Sabian Thābit ibn Qurra (826–901). Translations of this era were superior to earlier ones, however, soon after, the emphasis on translation work declined, as new ideas became more important.
The House of Wisdom flourished under al-Ma'mun's successors al-Mu'tasim (reign 833–842) and al-Wathiq (reign 842 – 847), but declined under the reign of al-Mutawakkil (reign 847–861), mainly because Ma'mun, Mu'tasim, and Wathiq followed the sect of Mu'tazili, while al-Mutawakkil followed orthodox Islam. He wanted to stop the spread of Greek philosophy which was one of the main tools in Mu'tazili theology.
The House of Wisdom eventually acquired a reputation as a center of learning, although universities as we know them did not yet exist at this time — transmission of knowledge was done directly from teacher to student, without any institutional surrounding. Maktabs soon began to develop in the city from the 9th century, and in the 11th century, Nizam al-Mulk founded the Al-Nizamiyya of Baghdad.
Along with all other libraries in Baghdad, the House of Wisdom was destroyed during the Mongol invasion of Baghdad in 1258.
Some other places have also been called House of Wisdom:
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