The Greatest Destruction of Muslim Libraries (1218 – 1220)

When the Mongols under Genghis Khan came west in the 13th century they destroyed everything in their path from the Steppes of Central Asia to the Caspian Sea and northern Persia. Thus the cities of Bokhara, Samarkand and Merv and their libraries along with numerous smaller towns were completely destroyed.

Harris, History of Libraries in the Western World

The Mongols sacked Baghdad in 1258 destroying the vast libraries, including the House of Wisdom and massacred many residents. So the Islamic “Golden Age” marked by many cultural achievements came to an end.

The earliest scientific manuscripts originated in the Abbasid Era.

The Greatest Destruction of Muslim Libraries (1218 – 1220)A bust of Genghis Khan. (View Larger)"The greatest destruction [of Muslim libraries] resulted from the raids of the Mongols in the 13th century. From the mountains and steppes of central Asia came the hordes of Genghis Khan, conquering and destroying everything before them. In the first great sweep to the Caspian Sea and northern Persia, the cities of Bokhara [Bukhara], Samarkand, and Merv [and their libraries] were destroyed along with many smaller towns. . . . (Harris, History of Libraries in the Western World 4th ed [1999] 84-85).

The Siege of Baghdad, occuring from January 29 until February 10, 1258, entailed the investment, capture, and sacking of Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, by Ilkhanate Mongol forces and allied troops. The Mongols were under the command of Hulagu Khan, brother of the khagan Möngke Khan, and had intended to further extend their rule into Mesopotamia but not to directly overthrow the Caliphate. Möngke, however, had instructed Hulagu to attack Baghdad if the Caliph Al-Musta'sim refused Mongol demands for his continued submission to the khagan and the payment of tribute in the form of military support for Mongol forces in Iran.Hulagu had begun his campaign in Iran, with several offensives against Nizari groups, including the Assassins, whose stronghold of Alamut his forces seized. He then marched on Baghdad, demanding that Al-Musta'sim accede to the terms imposed by Möngke on the Abbasids. Although the Abbasids had failed to prepare for the invasion, the Caliph believed that Baghdad could not fall to invading forces and refused to surrender. Hulagu subsequently besieged the city, which surrendered on February 10. During the next week, the Mongols sacked Baghdad, committing numerous atrocities and destroying the Abbasids' vast libraries, including the House of Wisdom. The Mongols executed Al-Musta'sim and massacred many residents of the city, which was left greatly depopulated. The siege is considered to mark the end of the Islamic Golden Age, during which the caliphates had extended their rule from the Iberian Peninsula to Sindh, and which was also marked by many cultural achievements.[6]

The House of Wisdom (Arabic: الحكمة Bayt Ul-Hikma) was a library and translation ;بيتinstitute established in Abbasid-era Baghdad, Iraq.[1] It was a key institution in the Translation Movement and considered to have been a major intellectual centre during the Islamic Golden Age. The House of Wisdom was a society founded by Caliph Harun al-Rashid and culminating under his son al-Ma'mun, who reigned from 813–833 AD and is credited with its institution. Al-Ma'mun is also credited with bringing many well-known scholars to share information ideas and culture in the House of Wisdom. Based in Baghdad from the 9th to 13th centuries, many of the most learned Muslim scholars were part of this excellent research and educational institute. It had the dual purpose of translating books from other languages to Arabic and also of the preservation of translated books.[2]

During the reign of al-Ma'mun, observatories were set up, and the House was an unrivalled center for the study of humanities and for science in medieval Islam, including mathematics, astronomy, medicine, alchemy and chemistry, zoology and geography and cartography. Drawing on Greek, Persian and Indian texts—including those of Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Euclid, Plotinus, Galen, Sushruta, Charaka, Aryabhata and Brahmagupta—the scholars accumulated a great collection of world knowledge, and built on it through their own discoveries.

Destruction by the MongolsAlong with all other libraries in Baghdad, the House of Wisdom was destroyed during the Mongol invasion of Baghdad in 1258. Nasir al-Din al-Tusi rescued about 400,000 manuscripts which he took to Maragheh before the siege.[5]

Until the Arab invasion, in the mid 7th century Persia (modern-day Iran) was a politically independent state, spanning from the Aegean Sea to the Indus River[4] and dominated by a Zoroastrian majority.[4][5][6][7] Zoroastrianism was the state religion of four pre-Islamic Persian empires,[8] the last being the Sassanian empire that passed a decree in 224 CE.[6][9][9] The Arab invasion brought abrutly to an end the religious domination of Zoroastrianism in Persia and instituted Islam as the official religion of the state.[10][11][12] When asked by Yazdegerd, about the reasons for the unwarranted Arab aggression against Persians, an Arab soldier replied, "Allah commanded us, by the mouth of His Prophet, to extend the dominion of Islam over all nations." [13]

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