Baitul Hikmah: The Unforgettable Library of Baghdad
Establishment and development The concept of Baitul Hikmah dates back to the founding of Baghdad. The second Abbasid caliph, Al-Mansur, moved the capital here. The aim was to completely wipe out the Umayyad influence centered in Damascus. Islamic power replaced the Sassanids in the region. However, their influence remained in the Abbasid court. As a result, many customs of the old empire remained. Sassanid nobles built houses called ganj to store books. Its equivalent in Arabic is khizānah. Al-Mansur wanted to do something like that in Baghdad.
The Caliph also drew inspiration from the Library of Alexandria. His intention was to build a collection in Baghdad called Khizanat al-Hikmah (Library of Wisdom). He died in 775. Caliph Harun al-Rashid made his dream come true. After assuming power in 786, he opened a part of the royal court library to the public. Vizier Yahya Al-Barmaki (Yahya Al Barmaki) was entrusted with the responsibility of building a large-scale library. In the early stages, the library housed the art literature and science books owned by Khalifa's grandfather and father. Persian fables, writings of Sasanian astronomers, etc. were translated into Arabic. Translators and bookbinders were hired for this. At this stage, however, only Old Persian texts were translated into Arabic.
The library reached its peak during the reign of the next caliph al-Ma'mun, son of Harun al-Rashid. Al-Mamun ruled from 813 to 833. He enlarged the original building and established an academy, named Baitul Hikmah (the House of Wisdom). Al-Mamun also built an observatory here in 829.
Khalifa took various steps to increase the collection. Legend has it that he brought the entire royal library of Sicily. There were some of the highest quality manuscripts in science and mathematics in the world at that time. Al-Ma'mun originally wanted to copy them. He sent a message to Sicily about this. The king talks to his advisers. Their opinion was that these books in the library were of no use to their ancestors, and it was better to give them away. The king then gave the entire library to the caliph. It is said that it took 400 camels to bring all the books.
Contribution to science Baitul Hikmah is associated with the stories of many philosophers and scientists. One of them is Musa al-Khwarizmi (Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī). This man who excelled in both mathematics and astronomy is called the father of algebra. Zate Persian al-Khawarizmi wrote many valuable books on geography, mathematics and astronomy. In 820 he was appointed head of the library.
Among the regular visitors of Baitul Hikmah were the Banu Musa brothers - Muhammad, Ahmad and Hasan. Their walks were in various branches of science including mathematics, astronomy. Their role in the development of mechanical engineering or mechanics is undeniable.
One of the works of Baitul Hikmah was to translate science books from Greek, Sanskrit, Latin etc. languages into Arabic. It is said that Caliph Al-Ma'mun used a surprising strategy to encourage this work - the translator would be given gold equal to the weight of the translated book.
Many writings of Greek scholars were translated into Arabic. Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Galen, Socrates, Euclid are not left out. Al-Kindi was involved in the translation of Aristotle, while Hunyan ibn Ishaq translated Hippocrates. Baitul Hikmah had the writings of many other famous translators. Notable are Al-Batriq (Yahya Ibn al-Batriq), Hajjaj Ibn Mater (Hajjaj Ibn Mater), Al-Bulabaki (Qosta Ibn Luqa al Bulabakki), Thabit Ibn Qurah (Thabit Ibn Qurah) and many others.
Baitul Hikmah contributed a lot to the translation of books of Indian scientists from Sanskrit. This allowed Arab mathematicians to work with the concept of zero. Different symbols were used in India to denote numbers. Its development led to the current Arabic numeral system. Sitting in this Baitul Hikmah, Al Jahiz wrote the famous 'The Book of Animals' by recording the descriptions of various animals. Al-Malik determined the measurements that would be used by future astronomers to determine the circumference of the Earth.
It is said that Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, there is no language that could not be heard on entering the library. Irrespective of gender, creed, colour, caste, language, the doors of the library were not closed to anyone. Let us take the case of Hunayan Ibn Ishaq. Hunayan was a Christian by profession, but the doors of the library were not closed to him. Rather, he got the opportunity to further develop his talent. Hunayan contributed to various branches of knowledge. He also has work on world history and logic. He translated the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint) into Arabic, which is unfortunately lost.
