Overlooking the Tigris River on the side of Rusafa in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, a special architectural style in Islamic architecture, its ceiling decorated with elegant inscriptions is one of the largest heritage monuments in Abbasid Baghdad in the Islamic style decorated and inscribed with Quranic verses.

The House of Wisdom is considered one of the most prominent research and cultural centers and institutions in the Arab and Islamic world at the time of the Abbasid Caliphs, who ruled Baghdad between 750 and 1258 AD, with 37 caliphs.

Bookcase

It was mentioned in the Arabic Encyclopedia that the "House of Wisdom" is a term given to a scholarly house that appeared in the era of Harun al-Rashid (149-193 AH / 766-809 AD), and flourished during the era of al-Ma'mun and Caliph Abu Jaafar al-Mansur, as translation into Arabic flourished through the translation of Greek books In science and philosophy.

Academic and researcher Haider Al-Tamimi says, "From his secure settlement behind the thick walls and fortified gates of his new city on the western banks of the Tigris, the energetic Mansour planned to transform what under his control from heterogeneous lands into a scientific superpower, and to ensure the future of the Abbasids by linking their new state with the great old classical traditions." .

Al-Tamimi - who is the assistant to the head of the Board of Trustees at the House of Wisdom - said in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net that the establishment of the Caliph as his capital in the heart of the Persian-speaking lands, not far from Taysfun, the capital of the Sassanids, and Babylon, the capital of the Babylonians, was a successful start.

Al-Tamimi continues, “The caliph brought in the basic elements of the Magus Empire’s culture, including its sophisticated protocol and its heavy reliance on astrology. Moreover, this attraction to Persian astrology was particularly important, because it implied that the Abbasids were the legitimate inheritors of the great Persian heritage and that their rise was Predestination. "

Dr. Khadija Hassan Jassim, head of the Social Department at the House of Wisdom, told Al-Jazeera Net that the House of Wisdom is a scientific and intellectual institution with financial and administrative independence linked to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, concerned with research, studies and scientific activities aimed at establishing a curriculum of dialogue between cultures and religions, in a way that contributes to spreading a culture of tolerance Respect and coexistence between individuals and groups.

Speaking about the structure of the House of Wisdom, Dr. Khadija explains that the organizational structure of the House of Wisdom "consists of 8 scientific departments, namely: the Department of Social Studies, the Department of Legal Studies, the Department of Political and Strategic Studies, the Department of Religious Studies, the Department of Economic Studies, and the Department of Historical Studies. And the Department of Linguistic and Translation Studies, and the Department of Philosophical Studies.

Islamic scholarly renaissance

Caliph Harun al-Rashid ordered the establishment of the first university in history (the House of Wisdom). That great edifice that filled the world with knowledge and light was the House of Wisdom, a bookcase of more than 300,000 books and a center for translation, writing and teaching.

During the years of his reign, a scientific and cultural revolution occurred, including in the field of translation, with the aim of developing Islamic education. Al-Rasheed attracted the most senior readers, linguists and translators, and spent huge sums of money to take care of this global scientific edifice.

Then came the time of Caliph Al-Ma'mun bin Harun al-Rashid, who completed his father’s march in Baghdad, but his time witnessed a great brilliance in civilization and its industry. His reign was unique with absolute development in various sciences, and the movement of translating books into Arabic reached its zenith, as he used to give translators and authors the weight of their books in gold So, translation into Arabic revived from the Greek, Persian and Indian civilizations.

The traveler geographer Abu Al-Hassan Al-Masoudi (283-346 AH) mentioned in his book “Muruj al-Dhahab” that the Caliph Abu Jaafar al-Mansur (95-158 AH / 712-775 CE) ordered many translations from foreign languages ​​into Arabic, including the old works of senior Indian, Persian and Greek scholars.

He is the first caliph to translate him from foreign languages ​​into Arabic.

The Supervisor of Political and Strategic Studies at the House of Wisdom, Dr. Mahmoud Ali Al-Daoud, says: The current al-Baghdadi House of Wisdom is a descendant of the Abbasid House of Wisdom, which flourished in the eras of Mansur, Al-Rasheed and Al-Mamun and was established in the year 800 AD, and laid the foundations for the translation movement and scientific research in the rational approach and objective dialogue.

Al-Daoud added - in a statement to Al-Jazeera Net - that the House of Wisdom flourished in a historical period, and the Arab-Islamic civilization reached its borders from Samarkand in the east in Central Asia to Morocco on the Atlantic Ocean in the west.

A corridor decorated with flowers in the House of Wisdom in the Iraqi capital (Al-Jazeera)

The passion of safe

Caliph Al-Ma'mun used to regularly visit the House of Wisdom to discuss directly with experts and consultants on the latest findings of research, financing issues and other related matters.

Haydar Al-Tamimi says that over a period of 150 years, the Arabs translated all the books of Greek science and philosophy, and Arabic replaced Greek as the universal language for scientific research, and higher education became more organized in the early third of the AH / ninth century AD.

Al-Dawood said - in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net- "There was an exchange of scholars, writers and poets within this prosperous country that flourished in its capital, Baghdad, the modern paper industry that Baghdad used to export to Europe, especially to the Vatican and European administrations, and the House of Wisdom did not contribute substantially to advancing the renaissance. European not only, but also in its founding. "

Imperial house

To accommodate the enormity of the work required to translate, copy, study and store the huge volume of Persian, Sanskrit and Greek texts, Al-Mansur established a royal library similar to that of the great Persian kings, so the House of Wisdom played an important role in sponsoring Abbasid literary works.

Al-Tamimi pointed out - in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net - that Abbasid delegations often transferred to the rival Byzantine court requests for copies of the precious Greek texts, and succeeded in obtaining works by Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Galen and Euclid, and quickly spread among the Arabs - then the Latin - a copy of Ptolemy's masterpiece in astronomy: the book "Almagest", and it was said that obtaining it was a condition of reconciliation between the two superpowers.

Insightful explanations

One of the first achievements of the House of Wisdom was the translation of a work by Aristotle (322-384 BC) on logic, specially chosen to reinforce the position of the Abbasid religious scholars in confronting the followers of other rival religions, for it was Arabized Christians, Jews, and Persians - among other inhabitants of the Islamic empire - All of them are adept at religious debate, having practiced it for centuries.

Important translations, insightful commentaries, and original research ensued, which enriched ancient science and placed it within the reach of the contemporary world.

Al-Tamimi added: The caliphs and their official scholars were not the only ones behind this campaign. This endeavor has become a feature attached to the Iraqi society in general and al-Baghdadi in particular, and it has enjoyed enthusiastic support from the social and political elite, including princes, merchants, bankers and military officers.

Even the maidservants of the caliphs were known of some of them that they sometimes contracted with scholars for specialized translations.

From here, the House of Wisdom emerged as the first major battleground between the requirements of modern science and the concept of the one God in the Middle Ages, which is shared by Muslims, Christians and Jews.

The House of Wisdom Foundation continues to play a major cultural role.

With regard to scientific activities and events, and on the most prominent projects implemented by the House of Wisdom in its various departments during 2020, the head of the economic department in it, Dr. Bilal Kazem Al-Jawadi, stated - in a statement to Al-Jazeera Net - that the most prominent activities of the House of Wisdom are conferences, seminars, seminars and workshops, as well as refereed scientific periodicals. Issued by each of its departments, as well as preparing strategic studies as needed.

"During this year (2020) a number of titles were issued by the Department of Economic Studies, such as the international thesis on sustainable development and the necessity of economic growth, and the seventh part of the book Iraq Economic History.

Al-Jawadi explained that the activities of the House of Wisdom currently include conferences, seminars and discussion groups (communication sites)

Burning libraries

for every beginning an end!

The situation deteriorated at the end of the Abbasid state due to the weakness of its successors, and in the year 656 AH, Baghdad faded and the Mongol invaders came, especially in the first period (1258 AD), and then the days of Tamerlane (1336-1405 AD) who destroyed the heritage of Baghdad twice, the first in 1392 AD and the other in 1400 AD. Where he took with him to Samarkand a number of scientists, engineers, architects and writers.

The Mongols wiped everything from Baghdad's face except death, and the Tartar armies did not remain in Baghdad and were not dispersed. They attacked it from all sides and killed people, destroyed homes and burned libraries, and the House of Wisdom and other private and public bookcases in Baghdad were turned into ruins, and the documents and books of the House of Wisdom were dyed. Tigris water, which is colored by the color of ink.

And the matter did not stop at this point, in the modern era and during the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, the House of Wisdom and the libraries attached to it and other scientific institutions were subjected to the systematic destruction, burning and looting of its contents of rare books, documents and manuscripts.