House Of Wisdom

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During the Islamic Golden Age, the House of Wisdom was a massive library, Academy for Arts and Sciences, and translation center. It flourished in the midst of the Abbasid caliphate at its capital, Baghdad (Al-Azzawi). The House of Wisdom was crucial to the rapid growth and advancement of Dar al-Islam. The power of intellectual ability through the House of Wisdom represented continuity and changes from the Umayyad and Persian rule as it was an impressive representation of the value of knowledge and merging of cultures. The House of Wisdom was also essential to the Arabs as it stored priceless ideas that were a necessity to their everyday lives, from recording the lunar cycle to determining the direction of Mecca and the times of the 5 prayers…show more content…
In order to achieve that, they had to use the most brilliant artists, calligraphers, scholars, and translators to rebuild their empire. Those that held these positions were high in the social classes and were very prestigious. The Abbasids created the “glory times for Baghdad, which was known as the world's richest city housing over a million people” (Rahman) with their intention to become the superpower of the world with “global scholarship.” A physical example of how they carried out their value for knowledge and gorgeous architecture to attract people from the populous empire was the House of Wisdom. Also known as the Bayt al-Hikma, the House of Wisdom was first constructed during the early 800s and founded by Caliph Harun al-Rashid. He was succeeded by his son, Caliph al-Ma’mun. Al-Ma’mun was very supportive of the House of Wisdom and was one of the main reasons why it was as well known as the Library of Alexandria or the modern day British Library in London (Al-Azzawi). The House of Wisdom was “nothing like as grand as it became in the eyes of many once the activities of the scholars in al-Ma’mun’s court had become the stuff of legend”(Al-Khalili 68) as he was “fanatical” of the idea of having all the knowledge of…show more content…
This work of art shows how many diverse cultures blended during the Abbasid Caliphate in contrast to the Umayyad Caliphate, during which many military conquests took place and war was a more urgent subject than the arts. The society of the Islamic age also contrasted during the Umayyad and the Abbasid rule (Umayyad Encyclopedia). Leading up to the Islamic Golden Age under the Abbasids was the rule of the Umayyads. The Umayyads were overthrown in AD 750 by rebel groups for not fully following traditional Muslim views. The Islamic state showed instability as civil wars erupted and rulers were assassinated, thus creating a need for more concentration on war and battles (Beck 270). The rule of the Abbasids also transferred to the eastern region of the Muslim empire. The Abbasids became the most powerful group and restored the empire to be even more powerful than the previous caliphates by concentrating on intellectual views of life. (Abbasid
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