T.C. HARRAN ÜNĠVERSĠTESĠ ĠLAHĠYAT FAKÜLTESĠ I. ULUSLARARASI KATILIMLI BĠLĠM DĠN VE FELSEFE TARĠHĠNDE HARRAN OKULU SEMPOZYUMU 28-30 Nisan 2006 I. CĠLT Editör Prof. Dr. Ali BAKKAL ġANLIURFA 2006 186 I. Uluslararası Katılımlı Bilim, Din ve Felsefe Tarihinde Harran Okulu Sempozyumu BAYT AL-HIKMAH(THE HOUSE OF WISDOM) IS A CENTRE OF INTELLECTUAL RADIATION, AND THE ROLE OF HARRAN SCHOLARS IN ITS FLOURISHMENT Ziad KHRAIS* uring the first century after the birth of Islam, Muslim armies conquered lands Dfrom northern Africa, southern Europe, through the Middle East and east up to India. it came face to face with the sciences of antiquity whose heritage had been preserved in centers which now became a part of Islamic world. The impetus for the interest of the Islamic world in the development of the sciences arose to meet the new challenges, taking in consideration the following facts: A- The acheivemant of Isam goals based upon knowledge for it is ultimately knowledge of the Oneness of God combined with faith and total commitment to Him that saves man. The text of the Quran is replete with verses inviting man to use his intellect, to ponder, to think and to know, for the goal of human life is to discover the truth which is none other than worshiping God in his oneness. The Hadith literature is also full of references to the importance of knowledge such as the saying of the Prophet ―Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave ―. B- Seeking solutions for the problems that arose as a result of the growing complexities of running an ever-expanding commercial, political, and military empire. C- The need for preparing individuals who are able to meet the intellectual and religious challenges which confronted the Islamic world. The begginning of the translation movement The first signal to the importance of translation was during the life of Prophet (PBUH) when he insured in his speech (Hadeeth), that who learned a language of foreign people he would be safe of their evil. Zeid Ibn Thabit (one of the Prophet companions) learned the Syriac language in sixty days. He also, learned Persian and * Dr., Yarmouk University, Department of Planning and Development, Irbed, Jordan, [email protected] I. Uluslararası Katılımlı Bilim, Din ve Felsefe Tarihinde Harran Okulu Sempozyumu 187 Roman languages. Later on, in Umayyad era, the prince khalid Ibn Yazeed Ibn Mua'wiyyah, send messengers to Alexandaria in request of some books in medicine and chemistry in order to translate them to Arabic. In his book (Elfhrst), Ibn Al-Nadeem mentioned that Khalid Ibn Yazeed "the wise of Marwan family" was virtuous and very passionate for art and science.He recruited scholars from Egypt, who had good knowledge of Arabic, to translate books from Coptic and Greek . But however it was individual attempts and soonly vanished when those who adopted them disappeared. The development and prosperity of translation A century later, the Abbasid whose capital was Baghdad, continued this respect for knowledge. The second Abbasid caliph, al-Mansur (754-75) sent emissaries to the Byzantine emperor requesting mathematical texts and received in response a copy of Euclid's Elements. This single gift, more than any other perhaps, ignited a passion for learning that was subsequently systematized under Harun al-Rasheed who founded an institution expressly for this purpose, called Bayt al-Hikmah or the House of Wisdom, which contained a library and instructional unit and both were funded by the state. Bayt al-Hikmah (The House of Wisdom) Bayt al-Hikmah reached the peak under Al-Ma'amun reign, and it became the gathering place for scientists and scholars, and particularly for a group of translators who would be responsible for the translation of the entire canon of Greek scientific and philosophical works into Arabic. Al-Ma'mum was responsible for a large scale translation project of as many ancient works as could be found. Greek manuscripts were obtained through treaties. By the end of the century, the major works of the Greeks had been translated. In addition, they learned the mathematics of the Babylonnians and the Hindus. Through these efforts, the foundations for Islamic scholarship for the following centuries were established. Unlike the Byzantines, with their suspicion of classical science and philosophy, the Muslims were actively enjoined by the Traditions - the dicta of the Prophet - to "seek learning, though it be in China." Another well-known Tradition states: "The search for knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim"; another that "The ink of scholars is worth more than the blood of martyrs." In obedience to these injunctions, the first generations of Muslim scholars had devoted themselves to making the language of the Koran a vehicle for the expression of scientific ideas. Now, with the establishment of the House of Wisdom, with its library and staff of scholar-translators, the work could begin. Al-Ma'mun wrote to the Byzantine emperor asking his permission to obtain a 188 I. Uluslararası Katılımlı Bilim, Din ve Felsefe Tarihinde Harran Okulu Sempozyumu selection of old scientific manuscripts, stored and treasured in the country of the Byzantines. After first refusing, he finally complied, and al-Ma'mun sent forth a number of scholars, among them al-Hajjaj ibn Matar, Ibn al-Batrik, Salman, the director of the House of Wisdom and many others. They selected books from those they found and brought them back to al-Ma'mun, who ordered them to prepare translations of them. The enormous quantity of works translated from the Greek, the Syriac, Pahlavi and Sanskrit in the third through ninth, and again from the fourth through tenth centuries resulted in the fact that there are more translations of the works of Aristotle and other Greek commentators into Arabic today than in any language . The schoolars of House of Wisdom were'nt occupied with task of translation only, they generally were concerned to understand, codify, correct, and, most importantly, assimilate the learning of the ancients to the conceptual framework of Islam. The greatest of these scholars were original and systematic thinkers of the first order, like the great Arab philosopher al-Farabi who died in 950. His Catalog of Sciences had a tremendous effect on the curricula of medieval universities. The Muslim mind has always been attracted to the mathematical sciences in accordance with the ―abstract‖ character of the doctrine of Oneness which lies at the heart of Islam. The first great advance on the inherited mathematical tradition was the introduction of Arabic numerals. Scholars working at the House of Wisdom first became aware of them in translations of Indian astronomical works, and hence called them "Indian." These numerals embodied the place-value theory which allowed numbers to be expressed by nine figures plus zero (Arabic sifr, "cipher") and not only simplified calculation of all sorts but made possible the development of algebra. The great Muslim mathematician, al-Khwarazmi who lived in the 9th century, seems to have been the first to systematically explore their use in his book, Addition and Subtraction in Indian Arithmetic, later translated at Toledo into Latin under the title Algorismi denumero indorum and introduced as "Arabic numerals" into the West. Al- Khwarizmi used both Greek and Indian sources and their cross fertilization led to his famous Kitab al-Jabr wa al-Muqabala, the first book on algebra; the word "algebra" is derived from the second word in his title and originally meant "bone- setting." Al-Khwarizmi used it as a graphic description of one of the two operations he uses to solve quadratic The study of geometry was sustained by a remarkable series of scholars, the Banu Musa or "Sons of Musa," who were all, quite literally, sons of the al-Ma'mun's court astronomer, Musa ibn Shakir. Their activities were all the more noteworthy because they carried on their research and writing as private citizens, devoting their lives and expending their fortunes in the pursuit of knowledge. Not only did they sponsor the translation of numerous Greek works but contributed substantial works of their own. Al-Hasan, one of the sons, was perhaps the foremost geometrician of his time, translating six books of the Elements and working out the I. Uluslararası Katılımlı Bilim, Din ve Felsefe Tarihinde Harran Okulu Sempozyumu 189 remainder of the proofs on his own. But it wasn't only the pure or abstract sciences that received emphasis in these early years. The practical and technical arts made advances as well, medicine the first among them. Here several great scholars deserve mention. Hunain ibn lshaq not only translated the entire canon of Greek medical works into Arabic,but wrote 29 works by his own pen, the most important a collection of ten essays on ophthalmology. The greatest of the 9th century physician-philosophers was perhaps Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi, known to the west as Rhazes. He wrote over 184 books and was an early advocate of experiment and observation in science. He emphasized clinical medicine and observation. He was a master of prognosis and psychosomatic medicine . He identified and treated smallpox. He used alcohol as an antiseptic and make medical use of mercury as a purgative. Yuhanna ibn Masawaih was one of the early directors of the House of Wisdom. He served under four caliphs - al-Ma'mun, al-Mu'tasim, al-Wathiq and al- Mutawakkil. He wrote almost exclusively about medical problems, in particular gynecology. Hunain also wrote at least 29 original treatises on medical topics. The most significant of these was a collection of 10 essays on ophthalmology. This work covers, in systematic fashion, the anatomy and physiology of the eye and the treatment of various diseases which afflict the vision.