The House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance by Jim Al-Khalili. An apt book especially now that Islam has become synonymous with Jihad in every non-Islamic part of the world. I am not big fan of reading Persian/Arabic history but that very trait forced me to pick up this book. The most enlightening part was on the translation movement; how Arabs translated Greek, Persian, Syriac and Indian books and laid a strong foundations for science.
"Al-Ma'mun was not satisfied with simply listening to what these learned men had to say. He was well aware of the treasures to be found in the ancient texts of Greek philosophers, some of which had already begun to be translated for the Abbasid caliphs before him. He would send emissaries great distances to get hold of these scientific texts. Often, foreign rulers defeated in battle would be required to settle the terms of surrender to him with books from their libraries rather than in gold. Al-Ma'mum was almost fanatical in his desire to collect all the world's books under one roof, translate them into Arabic and have his scholars study them. The institution he created to realize his dream epitomizes more than anything else the blossoming of the scientific golden age. It became know through out the world as the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikma). Or so the story goes."
"Al-Ma'mun was not satisfied with simply listening to what these learned men had to say. He was well aware of the treasures to be found in the ancient texts of Greek philosophers, some of which had already begun to be translated for the Abbasid caliphs before him. He would send emissaries great distances to get hold of these scientific texts. Often, foreign rulers defeated in battle would be required to settle the terms of surrender to him with books from their libraries rather than in gold. Al-Ma'mum was almost fanatical in his desire to collect all the world's books under one roof, translate them into Arabic and have his scholars study them. The institution he created to realize his dream epitomizes more than anything else the blossoming of the scientific golden age. It became know through out the world as the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikma). Or so the story goes."
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