Books, Manuscripts and Camels: A Look at the Glory of the Abbasid Dynasty

 

Books, Manuscripts and Camels: A Look at the Glory of the Abbasid Dynasty

When the Fathimiyyah Dynasty raised the image of Egypt as the leading center of Islamic civilization in the world, there was an Umayyad ruler in Cordoba, al-Hakam, who at the end of the 10th century founded a large library (Read: Books, Manuscripts and Camels: Seeing the Glory of the Abbasid Dynasty .1 ). He brought together scholars and mosque leaders, and the great mosque in Cordoba became a center of study.

The library inside the Cordoba palace was managed by the librarian; also employed copyists and bookbinders. Al-Hakam had agents in every province who provided him with books by buying and copying. The library is open to the public.

Unfortunately, when Caliph al-Mansur was influenced by orthodox scholars who were less or displeased with science books, such as works on philosophy, astronomy, and other general sciences which were considered secular (science awa'il ), many books on the sciences that is burned. The burning or hostility of these books is the beginning of the catastrophe of the Islamic scientific ethos which until now we have felt the consequences, namely the low spirit of science in Muslim countries.

In addition to libraries, paintings about reading culture in this period can also be seen from the many bookstores. These shops, which functioned as educational agents, began to appear since the beginning of the Abbasid caliphate. Al-Ya'qubi narrates that in his time (around 891), the capital city of the country was lively by more than a hundred bookstores lined up on the same street. Some of these shops, like the ones that later appeared in Damascus and Cairo, were no bigger than the side rooms of the mosque, but there were also shops that were very large, large enough to be both a sales center and a center of activity for scholars and copyists. script.

Many of the booksellers themselves work as calligraphers, copyists and literary experts who make their shops not only as places of sale, but also as centers of scientific activity. They get a respectable position in society. Yaqut started his career as a clerk in a bookstore. Ibn al-Nadim (d. 995) who was also ordained as al-Warraq (“sheet of paper”), pursued his career as a librarian and book seller who later wrote a major work in the form of a catalog entitled al-Fihrist which was recognized by scholars and scientists as very good work.

In the book, we can read about an Iraqi manuscript preservation center which had a large house storing a number of manuscripts including those written on patchwork sheets, Egyptian papyrus, Chinese paper, and leather scrolls. Each volume contains the name of the author, and on the margins are notes written by students from five or six generations earlier.

Until the early 3rd century Hijri, the materials commonly used for writing were patchwork and papyrus. Official documents written on patchwork and kept during the civil war between al-Amin and al-Ma'mun, were washed and then sold again. Chinese paper began to enter Iraq in the third century Hijri.

Soon after, the paper industry flourished. The industry first appeared in Samarkand. Some Chinese captives in 751 introduced the art of making paper from flax, linen or hemp. The ancient Arabic word for paper, kaghad , probably originated in Chinese, and was later absorbed into Arabic.

From Samarkand, the industry spread to Iraq. During the reign of al-Fadhl ibn Yahya al-Barmaki, who had been the Governor of Khurasan in 794, the first paper mill was established in Baghdad. His brother, Ja'far, a minister to Caliph Harun replaced the use of patchwork with paper to write official state documents.

Other Muslim towns built paper mills following the design of the factory in Samarkand. A factory was built in Tihamah to make paper from plant fibers. At the time of al-Maqdisi, the paper produced by Samarkand was still considered the best quality paper. But in the following century, the eleventh century, papers of very good quality were also produced in Syrian cities and in Tripoli.

From mainland Central Asia, the industry began to spread as far as the Egyptian Delta from the late ninth century. Several cities there for a long time always export papyrus from Greek-speaking countries for writing media. The export products they call qarathis (from Greek: chartes ). By the end of the 10th century, paper had replaced patchwork and papyrus in all Muslim areas.

Arkian, the path of Muslims (modern era) to knowledge is blocked by dogma, apologetic attitude, laziness, and stupidity which are actually not complicated. But for the most part, the Muslim path was blocked by a near-perfect indifference to the value of reason and the role it plays in the pursuit of knowledge.

Muslims today prefer to build buildings than thoughts. In fact, in this day and age, anyone who controls the flow of information controls the discourse.