Throughout the ages, human knowledge has been subjected to numerous attacks aimed at erasing it, and the fires of ignorance have destroyed many libraries, records and manuscripts from ancient times until the present age.

In his book "Burning Books: The History of the Attack on Knowledge" - recently published in its Arabic version by the Arab Science Publishers - Richard Ovenden - Director of the famous Bodleian Libraries in Oxford and the 25th official who has held the first executive position in the Oxford University Library since 1987 AD - recounts the history of book burning. And libraries, manuscripts and the attack on knowledge, traveling in different times and cities, including Andalusia, Baghdad, Washington and others.

Offenden has worked in a number of important archives and libraries, including the House of Lords Library, the National Library of Scotland (in his capacity as Librarian), and at the University of Edinburgh where he has been director of collections that archive the history of the destruction of recorded knowledge over the past 3,000 years.

Knowledge stores

The author says that preserving the torch of knowledge was a complicated matter, and he notes that the records of Mesopotamia were kept in temples, and by the year 1254 AD records were stored during the reign of the King of France Philip Augustus in a group of rooms built for this purpose at the site of the Chapel of Saint-Chapelle in Paris. Digital media have been used to preserve heritage in the modern era.

Ignatius Ferrando Fruto, a Spanish Arabist and academic at the University of Cádiz - says to Al Jazeera Net- "Some social media has contributed to the publication of books, manuscripts and other cultural vessels and the preservation of knowledge, as there are many forums and blogs available on the World Wide Web whose topics revolve around books, manuscripts, etc."

Professor Ignatius Ferrando, Academic at the University of Cadiz in Spain (the island)

Papyrus crematorium

Richard Ovenden studies mythological libraries after the Library of Alexandria, which he says are still viewed - by the Western imagination - as the greatest library of ancient civilizations.

The writer says that the entire knowledge of the world was stored in it to include 500 thousand manuscripts, explaining how the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar set fire to a naval fleet in the Mediterranean until the fire reached the Great Library of Alexandria and it was destroyed and completely razed to the ground by the fire in 48 AD.

The Iraqi academic and researcher Khadija Hassan Jassim - in her interview with Al-Jazeera Net - says, "The phenomenon of burning books and libraries has been linked most often and throughout human history to wars that took place between countries, and this measure was considered one of the weapons used in the war to obliterate the cultural identity of peoples and a warning message to enemies and a show of force before the world".

Ovenden says that the fires were one of the major incidents in which many books were lost, including the fire of the Imperial Library in Rome in 192 AD, as "the fires destroyed the original manuscripts that contained the famous scholars' copy of the works of Homer, one of the influential authors in the classical era (and perhaps in All time) ".

The Burned Libraries of Andalusia

Richard Ovenden explains that there were more than 70 libraries in Islamic Spain, and the world did not know a nation that burned more books from other nations than Spain.

The book "Burning Books: The History of the Attack on Knowledge" by Richard Ovenden, recently published Arabic translation (Al-Jazeera)

The Iraqi historian Dr. Abd al-Rahman al-Hajji (1935-2021 AD) says that after the fall of Andalusia, the new Spanish authorities - through threats, intimidation and the Inquisition - ordered the Muslim population to surrender their books and manuscripts.

He adds that the process of collecting books lasted 7 years, after which the books and manuscripts collected in Granada in the Bab al-Ramla area were burned, and many Western scholars estimated what was burned that day with one million manuscripts.

The Spanish Arabist Dr. Carmen Ruiz Bravo - of the University of Madrid - bemoans the loss of that knowledge, and says that this "affected our memories and our collective experience of the impact of tragedy and loss."

She added, "Arabic books were burned in Granada by officers in the victorious army over the Andalusian Kingdom in 1492 AD, and what is more serious and tragic is that it took place after the signing of an agreement that promised to respect the Granada's religious and cultural rights."

She added, "We know that many of the rare Arab Andalusian rare books were sent abroad and sold, and some remained in official institutional libraries, such as the Royal Hospital of Granada, or in private libraries for people of stature, strength and renaissance culture."

In her statement to Al-Jazeera Net, Carmen Bravo stated that "with the passage of time, the rulers of Spain adopted a pattern of authoritarian culture that became increasingly tyrannical and exaggerated in unitaryism, to the extent that they prevented the use of the Arabic language, and they also prohibited the possession of books or manuscripts written in it .. And the Spanish culture remained on this one." The situation goes back to the beginning of the 18th century. "

In turn, the Arabist Ferando Frutos confirms to Al-Jazeera Net that it is known that Cardinal Cisneros of Spain - who is the Secretary of Queen Isabella's Secretary - ordered in the year 1500 AD the burning of more than 4 thousand Arabic manuscripts of a religious, historical and poetic nature preserved in Granada, only what was excluded from them It is related to the sciences of medicine.

He continues, "Despite everything that happened in that era - from the attack on Muslims, their language and their culture - the Spanish culture borrowed important elements and aspects from the Arab culture."

Paper sheets

Richard Ovenden reviews examples of book-burning operations, saying that the House of Knowledge - built in 991 AD by Persian Sabur ibn Ardashir - contained more than 10,000 volumes on scientific subjects, but was destroyed in the middle of the tenth century.

The book mentions the cruelty of the Mongol invasions and destruction in Iraq, especially the days of the invasion of Tamerlane (1239-1400 AD), when they demolished and burned its libraries, especially the House of Wisdom library in Baghdad in 656 AH, which is the largest library in the world, where he threw tons of books and references in the river until it became pigmented. In red color.

The Iraqi researcher, Dr. Abdul-Amir Zahid, a professor at the University of Kufa, says that "after the Mongol invasion of Baghdad in 1258 AD - 656 AH, the burning took place because of the intellectual disparity between the occupied Mongol groups and the people of the occupied countries, as Baghdad was a capital that had a long history of producing science, so the Mongols burned its libraries."

Zahid points out - in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net - that the burning of the Mongols "had no religious or sectarian motives, but rather political (Bedouin) motives, but the burning of the libraries of Cordoba and Granada in 1492 CE was for religious motives, and all these motives seriously damaged knowledge, and because of the burning and destruction it was lost. A lot of heritage, and you calculated the index by Ibn al-Nadim, which contains hundreds of thousands of lost book titles.

Scrolls instead of stones

The author traces the talk of the extermination of books and manuscripts, and says that during the British-American war of 1812-1814 AD, the British attacked Washington and set fire to the White House and the Parliament building that housed the Library of Congress full of valuable books, where the British were very despised for their barbaric act.

And when the soldiers' faces "lit up" with flames, one of those soldiers said, "I do not remember that at any time in my life I witnessed a scene of greater captivity or fear."

And the writer states that the United States had launched an attack on the British city of York (modernly Toronto) in April 1813, which led to the burning of the library in the buildings of the legislative branch.

The German historian Johan Letzner of the 16th century states that in the town of Walkenried a huge library was burned in the 1620s, and valuable volumes from the monastery's library were used instead of stones to walk the muddy roads.

Knowledge fires

Ovenden continues that more than 20 thousand books were burned by the Nazis, in front of everyone's eyes, for a group of works by famous German writers on the grounds of the Berlin Opera.

The writer asserts that Hitler's rise to power on May 10, 1933 AD was just a prelude to what can be considered the most prepared and equipped process of removing books from existence throughout history.

The author says, "In Iraq, during the US invasion in April 2003, most of the important records were not destroyed, but rather they were transferred to the United States."

As for the Iraqi researcher, Abdul Amir Zahid, he has another opinion, as he says in his statement to Al-Jazeera Net, "There were unidentified teams in Iraq burning libraries, and the Baghdad Library and Archives House, the Central Library of Baghdad University, the Central Endowment Library and other libraries were burned."

It is noteworthy that in 2007, fires were still burning in Al-Mutanabi Street in Baghdad for 5 days, and thousands of books contained in libraries lining up on both sides of the street were destroyed.

Regarding the reasons for the burning of books and manuscripts, Arabist Carmen Ruith Bravo asserts - in her interview with Al Jazeera Net - that "there are two reasons, on the one hand you find a cultural elitist who does not believe in the benefits of democratizing culture and aims at censorship and preservation with complete control of minds in any way. On the other hand you find purely political motives. Among them is presenting the other's heritage to be an aggressive weapon that intends to clash with our culture and does not want dialogue, plurality and cooperation of languages ​​and cultures in a peaceful atmosphere. "

Sarajevo

As for the most exciting information mentioned by Richard Ovenden in his book, it is related to the attack by bombs and incendiary bombs on the National and University Library in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was established in 1945, where it was located in a building called Vyashnica (City House) by the Serbian militia. During the siege of Sarajevo on the evening of August 25, 1992. "The library was the only target of the attack," Ovenden says - without equivocation.

"This collection of a million and a half books, manuscripts, map, photos, and other possessions was burned," he continues.

He explains that it took 3 days to completely burn down the library (from August 25 to 27).

The author affirms that it was part of a meticulously organized process of extermination whose ultimate goal is to erase the physical traces of the Islamic presence in the Balkans, whose roots date back to several centuries.

For his part, the Arabist Ignatius Ferrando says, “Perhaps the main motive is the desire of the dominant or the strong party to take revenge on the defeated or underdog party, and since books and manuscripts are a distinct symbol of culture for a people, burning them is a severe blow to them and highlighting who has power and who He is not entitled to express his ideas and knowledge publicly through written literature. "

Abd al-Amir Kazim shares his opinion, and believes that "dark forces do not adapt to enlightened societies that give knowledge its role."