Encyclopedias in the cities after the Crusades and the Mongols.. Why was the Mamluk era a golden age for Arab knowledge?

The twelfth century AD was fraught with destructive campaigns of conquest that targeted the heart of the Arab and Islamic world. The Crusaders’ campaigns against the Levant did not end until the Mongols invaded Baghdad in 1258 AD, until they were defeated by the Mamluk army on the 3rd of September with the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260 AD.

This era had long-lasting effects on Arabic writing and knowledge. Contrary to the traditional view of the post-Mongol era as a time of decline, decline and depletion of Arab culture, the study of encyclopedias that flourished during the Mamluk period (1250-1517) sheds light on Mamluk literature and alternative knowledge that was found in the Levant and Egypt as an alternative Her from Baghdad, which was crushed by the Tatar armies and its libraries were destroyed.

While the history of encyclopedic writing in medieval Europe witnessed great care and attention, most Arabic encyclopedias are still relatively obscure and limited in circulation, despite the fact that they date back to early ages, and some researchers believe that the works of Al-Jahiz and Ibn Qutayba can be considered the first Arabic encyclopedias.

The Mamluk era in Egypt and the Levant (1250-1517 / 648 AH - 923 AH) is described as the golden age of Arabic encyclopedic literature, in which encyclopedias were written on a large scale by eminent scholars close to the royal court, such as Shihab al-Din al-Nuairi, Ibn Fadlallah al-Omari and Abu al-Abbas Ahmed Bin Ali al-Qalqashindi, Jamal al-Din al-Watwat and others.

The Arab heritage also knew the messages of the Brethren of Purity and Khalan Al-Wafa’ in the tenth century AD, and their 52 letters dealt with topics in mathematics, nature, psychology, religions and philosophy, written in an eloquent literary language and divided into four arranged sections. Alkhawarizmi.

Al-Jahiz (died 868 AD / 255 AH) wrote his great book “Al-Hayawan”, which included the news of animals and their nature, and discussed philosophical and scientific topics such as latency and generation, and essences and symptoms.

Together, the two books, as well as the works of Abu al-Hasan al-Masudi in the tenth century AD (d. 346 AH), constitute what can be considered the early beginnings of the Arab encyclopedic tradition.

Moving Centers

The invasion of the Mongols in 1258 AD (656 AH) aroused fear among scholars, prompting them to write encyclopedias with the aim of preserving the heritage of the former, amid a general feeling of insecurity and the succession of disasters on the Arab cities, including the Great Plague or the Black Death 1348 AD (756 AH).

The traditional narrative says that after the fall of Baghdad, the Levant and Cairo inherited their role as the cultural center of the Islamic world, and scholars and poets fled Iraq, finding an alternative refuge in the Mamluk cities.

Two and a half centuries after the destruction of Baghdad, Arabic encyclopedias - which reflect concern over the destruction of knowledge - were written in the midst of fear of a fate similar to Baghdad's books and manuscripts that were burned or thrown into the Tigris River.

Nevertheless, the academic specialist in comparative literature, Elias Muhanna, quotes the Andalusian traveler Ibn Jubayr (died 1217 AD / 617 AH) describing Baghdad as having lost many of its meanings and remaining “like a studying shadow, a blurring effect, or a statue of a starring imagination. hastened) the horizontal bar (standing) and looking.” 

A page from the manuscript of Subh al-A'sha fi San'a al-Insha by Ahmad bin Ali al-Qalqashandi (Wikipedia)

Muhanna believes that the term encyclopedia was not popular before the eighteenth century, as it was used to refer to large reference works that made it possible to move between different disciplines easily, however, a number of ancient works were later classified as encyclopedias.

We can refer to an "encyclopedic spirit" that characterized a group of large Arabic literature, especially in the 14th century AD, which was considered a golden age for this intellectual tradition.

The tradition of writing Arabic encyclopedias did not begin in the Mamluk era, but the works of the 14th century AD are distinguished by their broad thematic scope, their systematic organization and arrangement, and the diversity of their sources.

This century was also known for the large number of encyclopedic works that were composed under the patronage of the Mamluk sultans, as a prevalent activity of the Egyptian and Levantine elite at that time.

The stable Mamluk cities

provide in the Mamluk cities a kind of stability and security in the shadow of a young empire. While the Mamluks sought to expand, interest in historical and geographical literature increased and described the distant and diverse lands from India to Mali, Ethiopia and Andalusia, and many scholars found job opportunities in the prosperous Mamluk court, which It enabled them to meet travelers and travelers from all over the Islamic and Mediterranean world.

The Damascene historian and writer Ibn Fadlallah Al-Omari worked at the court of Sultan Al-Nasir Qalawun, and headed the Diwan of Inshaa, which edited the books and letters of the Caliph, which made it easier for him to write his encyclopedia “The Paths of the Eyes in the Kingdoms of the Regions” in which he dealt with the geography of the pathways, regions, and seas, and the classes of jurists, linguists, philosophers and doctors. Music, poetry, animals, plants, herbs, minerals and stones, sects and religions, the history of kings and other subjects. 

Al-Omari was not unique. Other encyclopedic writers of that century worked in close proximity to or as employees of the Mamluk court, and the Mamluk period witnessed a significant increase in the number of educational institutions and religious schools in urban centers, and travelers, travelers and full-time scholars alike spread in the cities Mamluk.

This activity acquired an increasingly institutionalized character in the Mamluk era, through the designation of paid educational positions and jobs by Mamluk officials, according to the study of the Lebanese academic Elias Muhanna, published in the book "The Encyclopedia from Antiquity to the Renaissance" issued by Cambridge University Press.

Also in the fourteenth century AD, Shihab al-Din al-Nuwairi - who was born in the Egyptian Beni Suef and studied in Mamluk Cairo - wrote his huge encyclopedia. Literature” in 33 volumes and nearly 4,500 pages, and includes chapters on geography, man and his sciences, animals, plants, and history from Adam to his time. 

A picture from the manuscript of the end of the Lord in the arts of literature by Al-Nuairi (communication sites)

Encyclopedic traditions

The classes of intellectuals in the Mamluk era were known for their scientific traditions that blended different cultures and extensive knowledge. Scholars of that era were famous for their encyclopedia and fluency in various fields. Mamluk encyclopedias reflected this spirit, which represents a return to older Arab and Greek traditions.

Abu al-Abbas al-Qalqshandi, who took over the construction bureau during the reign of the Mamluk Sultan al-Zahir Barquq, wrote his 14-volume encyclopedia, “Subh al-Asha fi al-Insha industry,” which includes topics and chapters on systems of government, administration, politics, libraries, traditions and clothing in the Arab East, the history of bureaus and ministries, and the arts of writing. Soldiers’ clothes and weapons, sports games, aspects of Arab society, as well as calligraphy and its tools.

Al-Qalqashindi Encyclopedia was considered a comprehensive guide in the art of official writing of the state and the arts of correspondence and written communication, and parts of it were translated into European languages.

The increased literacy among the "middle classes" of Mamluk society resulted in a vibrant book market, providing alternatives for researchers to earn a living through writing and authorship.

By all accounts, this was the right time to work in the field of book and authorship. Al-Nuwayri left a prestigious position in the Mamluk administration in order to work as a scribe of popular manuscripts while writing his huge encyclopedia.