Al-Rashid lays the nucleus of the House of Wisdom

الرشيد يضع نواة خزانة الحكمة

c. 790 CE · c. 174 AH† – c. 790 CE · c. 174 AH† †

† Hijri date derived by computation from the Gregorian/Julian date; it may differ from the transmitted date by a day or two.

Harun al-Rashid laid the nucleus of the Khizānat al-Ḥikma at Baghdad: Yūḥannā ibn Māsawayh set over the translation of the ancient medical books with skilled scribes, al-Faḍl ibn Nawbakht rendering Persian into Arabic and ʿAllān al-Shuʿūbī copying ¹.

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Bayt al-Hikma — the House of Wisdom

The House of Wisdom at Baghdad, the greatest library whose report survives from the first Abbasid age: al-Rashid laid its nucleus and al-Ma'mun enlarged and strengthened it. Al-Rashid put Yuhanna ibn Masawayh over the translation of the ancient medical books found in Byzantine lands with skilled scribes writing before him; Abu Sahl al-Fadl ibn Nawbakht rendered Persian wisdom-books into Arabic in its khizana, and Allan al-Shu'ubi copied for al-Rashid, al-Ma'mun and the Barmakids. Al-Ma'mun widened it, sending to the Byzantine emperor for the ancient sciences an embassy of al-Hajjaj ibn Matar, Ibn al-Bitriq and Salm the master of the House, and making Sahl ibn Harun keeper of its treasuries — though its precise organisation and site remain wrapped in obscurity.

Al-Rashid lays the nucleus of the House of Wisdom

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Bayt al-Hikma — the House of Wisdom