Al Ma’mun: An Unsung Hero of Philosophy?
How One Caliph Affected Muslim and Western Thought
How One Caliph Affected Muslim and Western Thought
One might imagine the road of Western philosophy as going directly from Ancient Greece to Medieval Europe, but it happens that the road is not as direct as that. Much of what the West knows about Classical thought was handed down from Muslim sources, and rarely from the Greek originals. So Western thought owes a great deal to the thinkers and translators of the Medieval Muslim world, without whom, the face of philosophy and science might look completely different. As important as this was for the West, it was equally important to Muslim philosophy and science. The texts they found and translated, had quite an impact on the thinkers of the time, and many ideas were incorporated into Muslim thought as well. All of this sharing of information was made possible by the translation movement that took place around the foundation of the Bayt al-Hikma, or ‘House of Wisdom’, in Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate. This movement was spearheaded by the seventh Abbasid Caliph, al-Ma’mun, whose rule can been seen as a triumph for science and philosophy. However, his rule can also be seen as controversial considering the impact al-Ma’mun had on Muslim theology and dogma, an impact few Caliphs ever had, or wanted to have. On the other hand if he didn’t have a great thirst for knowledge of all kinds, we might be quite unaware of the great Classical works we continue to study and cherish to this day. Can one imagine a world without Plato and Aristotle? Fortunately we have al-Ma’mun to thank for a world of thought with a grand tradition. Although translation work had been going on for some time, it wasn’t until the time of al-Ma’mun that a need for translated texts to legitimize the roles of the caliph in religion and of philosophy in the centralization and stabilization of the state was central to the Abbasid court.
Al-Ma’mun ruled from 813-833 CE. He succeeded his father Harun al-Rashid, after a struggle for power with his brother al-Amin, in which al-Ma’mun murdered his brother and claimed the legitimacy of his rule by bringing religion into his aspirations for the Caliphate, while al-Amin was more typically content to keep to the state’s business rather than be involved with religion. Al-Ma’mun wanted to “revive the original meaning of ‘caliph’: that is, God’s Deputy on earth.” He used this ideal to help him attain the positions of Caliph and imam and continue to assert this stance during his rule, becoming directly involved in religious matters. One of the implications of this zeal for religion was his interest in texts and the knowledge they hold. For al-Ma’mun, the more knowledge with which he could learn more about God, the better. But he also had great interests in rationalism and science. “In addition to surrounding himself with kalam-debaters, he sponsored the activities of translators, astronomers, mathematicians, engineers, physicians, an other practitioners of what today would be called the sciences.” These activities were fueled by ancient texts and the ideas they contained, but his focus on rationality and the implications that held for religious thought was looked down upon as dangerous if not potentially heretical by some of the more conservative members of Abbasid society.
Al-Ma’mun’s desire for knowledge began early in his life. As the son of a caliph, he was well educated but he always sought more. “Al-Ma’mun comes off as a quick learner who had gained a real mastery of all the best that had been thought or said in the world… His training in Qur’an and Hadith equipped him to engage in the religious debates of the day, and his exposure to kalam and fiqh contributed to his penchant for independent reasoning.” This passion for “independent reasoning” would lead to both great academic advances but also to religious controversy. But inquiry ruled in al-Ma’mun’s court, so controversy or not, accumulation of knowledge and active debate would remain hallmarks of al-Ma’mun’s reign.
The culmination of all of this inquiry was the founding of the Bayt al-Hikma in 830. It was there that much of the scientific and translation works stemmed from to promote Muslim culture.
Many of the great works of antiquity were scrutinized and some were even assimilated by Muslim thinkers and translators. These were not just Muslims, nor were they only Arabs; Persians and Byzantines were among the best translators, commentators, and practitioners of the new ideas. It was in fact the Byzantines who kept the Bayt al-Hikma’s shelves stocked. “In order to stock the library with important scientific and philosophical works, al-Ma’mun sent emissaries to Byzantium to seek out and purchase for him books of ‘ancient learning,’ which were then ordered to be translated by a panel of scholars.” Some of the more important texts handed down to us from the translation movement include those from Aristotle, Plato, Galen, Hippocrates, Ptolemy, and Euclid. The impact that the rediscovery and application of these texts had on philosophers, physicians, astronomers, and mathematicians is immeasurable.
Many scientific and mathematical feats and breakthroughs were made at this time. Under al-Ma’mun’s encouragement, there were breakthroughs in astronomy such as the accurate measurement of the circumference of the Earth. There was the first treatise on Algebra, which became practical for both engineering and inheritance law problems. The use of Greek medical techniques such as humoral therapy, the changing of one’s diet in order to bring one’s ‘humors’ into balance, also became more common. These breakthroughs would eventually take root in the West and grow dramatically. For example, if it weren’t for the development of astronomy by Muslim scientists based on the work done by Ptolemy, scholars like Copernicus might not have been inspired to revolutionize our cosmological view.
Philosophical inquiry and debate was another major activity under al-Ma’mun. Al-Ma’mun especially enjoyed debating and listening to debates about kalam, or Islamic theology, but he also indulged in discussions of falsafa, or foreign philosophy. This however got him into trouble with the Literalists and teachers of the hadith (the words and life of Mohammed) who felt that the words of God and the Prophet are all that matter and are certainly not up for discussion or debate, and were especially opposed to using non-Muslim thought to influence policy and doctrine. Al-Ma’mun worried that his people would more readily listen to these detractors and wished they would be more akin to his interests, especially rationality. “In fact, it was perhaps his interest in theological discussions that led by degrees not only to the promotion of a popular interest in theology, but also to the support of the cause of a theological party (the Mu’tazilite) that had sought to apply Greek thought to Muslim dogmas and the use of the decisive resources of the state in the defense and consolidation of this position.” The Mu’tazilite party was one that sought to ground the doctrines and laws of Islam in logic and reason, which they found the classical texts to be very useful for. Al-Ma’mun did support many Mu’tazilite tenets, including believing that God is nothing like humans, and in the metaphorical reading of the Qur’an, but not, for instance, their belief in free-will. Rather, he believed that “all human actions are determined by God… and that everything other than God, including the Qur’an, is a created object.” He also displayed a healthy skepticism toward Hadith and preachers of it, and the combination of these thoughts as well as sympathy for Shiites, put him in a distinct minority. He eventually even instituted a minha, or inquisition, against Hadith scholars. His interest in falsafa had impacted his thought and policies profoundly to the point that he was persecuting a popular group to uphold an unpopular doctrine, that of the created Qur’an. So for many, philosophy was seen as al-Ma’mun’s vice, but it was one he couldn’t give up. Al-Ma’mun was not only an appreciator of philosophy; he was truly a philosopher in his own right. “[H]e himself composed a number of treatises, which dealt mainly with theological questions in a Mu’tazilite spirit… which are preserved in ancient sources and testify to his brilliance.” Without his impetus toward rationality, the academic world might look vastly different.
However, the effects of al-Ma’mun’s reign were far-reaching and not contained to 9th century Baghdad. Muslim philosophers would wrestle with the problems they faced in the works of Greece for centuries to come. And their work would find further interpreters in Latin Europe. Many texts made their way in Arabic form to the schools of Europe and were further translated into Latin. This allowed scholars to investigate classical texts and apply them to Christian doctrine as Arab scholars had done to Muslim doctrine. These interpretations further made it to the minds of modern scholars, and then made it to us, although the moderns had much more access to the original Greek texts. However, the interest in them might have been diminished if not for their applicability, or lack thereof, to religious doctrines. Therefore, the activities of the Muslim scholars, in wanting to reconcile, say, Aristotle with Mohammed, allowed Christian scholars to attempt to reconcile Aristotle with St. Peter (or al-Ghazali for that matter), and further, for Descartes to reconcile Aristotle with Avicenna and Aquinas.
There were some translators and interpreters of note both under al-Ma’mun’s rule and in the centuries following. One of the first as well as the most notable was Hunain ibn Ishaq, a Christian, whose “activity marks a decisive stage in the history of translation.” He mostly translated the medical works of Hippocrates and Galen, but also produced some of his own work. His focus for translations was on accuracy, as he compiled numerous copies of texts and proceeded to compare the originals to make on cohesive version and then translate that version multiple times to insure its soundness. This emphasis on accuracy made working on a text grueling but made future use of the translation virtually worry-free.
One of the earliest Muslim philosophers, al-Kindi, was one of the scholars who benefited from such diligence. Al-Kindi and his followers continued the translation project but he also produced many of his own works on “a startling array of fields, ranging from metaphysics, ethics, and psychology (i.e., the study of the soul), to medicine, mathematics, astronomy, and optics, and further afield to more practical topics like perfumes and swords.” They introduced new philosophical terminology and al-Kindi made great use of Greek ideas in his own thought.
Later, thinkers such as ibn-Rushd (Averroes), ibn-Sina (Avicenna), and al-Ghazali (Algazel) used Greek texts to grapple with interpreting the Qur’an and sort out the mysteries of the world and the God that created and ruled it. They also made use of earlier interpretations that stemmed from the initial translation movement, such as those of al-Kindi. Their works in turn inspired European scholars. They were having trouble dealing with the problems that the works of Aristotle implied for Christian teachings as their Muslim counterparts had. Cosmology and issues such as the immortality of the soul, the natures of God and Man, and transubstantiation became difficult in the face of Ptolemy, Plato, Aristotle and Galen. Both Muslim and Christian thinkers argued about the value of classical thought to their particular religious institutions as well as the everyday lives of their people.
Thomas Aquinas, for example, was greatly inspired by al-Ghazali. While the two may have disagreed on the applicability of Aristotle to their own particular faith (Aquinas felt Aristotle’s ideas could and should be applied to Christian dogma, al-Ghazali vehemently discouraged such an application by Muslim scholars), Aquinas was enamored by al-Ghazali’s work. He was, of course inspired by those others that al-Ghazali had debated. And it was their emphasis on Aristotle that helped Aquinas look into how to best interpret Aristotle as best to serve Christianity.
Later on, Rene Descartes was influenced by Aquinas’ work and was in turn led to the work of Muslim philosophers like Avicenna. Their works had a big impact on him and their influence can be seen in his Discourses; his formulation of the immortality of the soul and the nature of God stems from the work of Aristotle, Aquinas, and the Muslim philosophers. Descartes’ thought went on to spur David Hume to criticize his work, and further, Hume’s philosophy incited Immanuel Kant to set to work on his Critiques, and Western philosophy as we know it was off and running. And while it could claim its ancestry to be Greek, it owed its heritage to Arabs and Persians. If they had not taken the time to pour over the ancient texts and try to apply them to their own ideals, Europeans might never had the inspiration or the opportunity to do the same. To this day, we still grapple with Aristotle and Plato’s theories. They’re still part of a typical philosophical curriculum, and we are taught that the evolution of thought went directly from Aristotle and Plato to Augustine to Aquinas to Descartes to Kant to contemporary philosophy, but rarely do we also examine the texts of great thinkers such as ibn-Rushd or al-Ghazali. They should certainly be considered as part of our philosophical genealogy. They should be taught along with Aquinas and the like, not pushed aside to merely Arabic or Islamic philosophy.
We can see that some of the West’s most prominent philosophers, the ones we have all heard of, Aquinas, Descartes, Kant, etc., were all somehow affected by the translation movement. Also, Muslim thought was also greatly influenced be the rediscovery of Greek texts. Both of these two great traditions of thought have this movement as part of their bloodline. Al-Ma’mun has given the world a great gift. Through his own thirst for knowledge, we can now quench our own in a much more varied, deep, and satisfying way. His interests in both religious and secular ideas and debates lead to the incorporation of varied texts from varied sources, and these texts have further been handed down through time, and has made its way into the hearts of two very distinct and important traditions of thought.
Al-Ma’mun’s motives for continuing the translation movement were varied, and historians such as Dimitri Gutas claim that they were mostly to legitimize his rule and the new role of religion in the state. “Al-Ma’mun’s new policy was based on an absolutist interpretation of Islam, with the caliph as the ultimate arbiter of dogma. This was largely unprecedented in Islamic history, and completely against the current of decentralization of religious authority that had been gaining momentum until al-Ma’mun’s time.” Furthermore, he used the translation movement to promote anti-Byzantinism and rationalism. Al-Ma’mun wanted to be both head-of-state and in charge of the spiritual and intellectual aspects of his empire. He used the translation movement and the ideas and debates that stemmed from it to promote and rationalize this ideal. But the ideas that were fostered under the guise of solidifying the Caliph’s secular and spiritual power were far-reaching, and we can be thankful for it.
Al-Ma’mun ruled from 813-833 CE. He succeeded his father Harun al-Rashid, after a struggle for power with his brother al-Amin, in which al-Ma’mun murdered his brother and claimed the legitimacy of his rule by bringing religion into his aspirations for the Caliphate, while al-Amin was more typically content to keep to the state’s business rather than be involved with religion. Al-Ma’mun wanted to “revive the original meaning of ‘caliph’: that is, God’s Deputy on earth.” He used this ideal to help him attain the positions of Caliph and imam and continue to assert this stance during his rule, becoming directly involved in religious matters. One of the implications of this zeal for religion was his interest in texts and the knowledge they hold. For al-Ma’mun, the more knowledge with which he could learn more about God, the better. But he also had great interests in rationalism and science. “In addition to surrounding himself with kalam-debaters, he sponsored the activities of translators, astronomers, mathematicians, engineers, physicians, an other practitioners of what today would be called the sciences.” These activities were fueled by ancient texts and the ideas they contained, but his focus on rationality and the implications that held for religious thought was looked down upon as dangerous if not potentially heretical by some of the more conservative members of Abbasid society.
Al-Ma’mun’s desire for knowledge began early in his life. As the son of a caliph, he was well educated but he always sought more. “Al-Ma’mun comes off as a quick learner who had gained a real mastery of all the best that had been thought or said in the world… His training in Qur’an and Hadith equipped him to engage in the religious debates of the day, and his exposure to kalam and fiqh contributed to his penchant for independent reasoning.” This passion for “independent reasoning” would lead to both great academic advances but also to religious controversy. But inquiry ruled in al-Ma’mun’s court, so controversy or not, accumulation of knowledge and active debate would remain hallmarks of al-Ma’mun’s reign.
The culmination of all of this inquiry was the founding of the Bayt al-Hikma in 830. It was there that much of the scientific and translation works stemmed from to promote Muslim culture.
The foundation of the Bayt al-Hikma in Baghdad confirmed [al-Ma’mun’s] interest in the development of a new culture, Arabic in expression and Islamic in inspiration, integrating the contributions of the various peoples of the Orient, including the neighbors of the Abbasid Empire whether they were commercial partners (India) or political enemies (Byzantium). Scholars of all persuasions (Muslims, Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, and Sabians)… contributed to the advancement of Arab science, heir to the sciences of antiquity, adopted and adapted according to the requirements of Arab-Islamic civilization.
Many of the great works of antiquity were scrutinized and some were even assimilated by Muslim thinkers and translators. These were not just Muslims, nor were they only Arabs; Persians and Byzantines were among the best translators, commentators, and practitioners of the new ideas. It was in fact the Byzantines who kept the Bayt al-Hikma’s shelves stocked. “In order to stock the library with important scientific and philosophical works, al-Ma’mun sent emissaries to Byzantium to seek out and purchase for him books of ‘ancient learning,’ which were then ordered to be translated by a panel of scholars.” Some of the more important texts handed down to us from the translation movement include those from Aristotle, Plato, Galen, Hippocrates, Ptolemy, and Euclid. The impact that the rediscovery and application of these texts had on philosophers, physicians, astronomers, and mathematicians is immeasurable.
Many scientific and mathematical feats and breakthroughs were made at this time. Under al-Ma’mun’s encouragement, there were breakthroughs in astronomy such as the accurate measurement of the circumference of the Earth. There was the first treatise on Algebra, which became practical for both engineering and inheritance law problems. The use of Greek medical techniques such as humoral therapy, the changing of one’s diet in order to bring one’s ‘humors’ into balance, also became more common. These breakthroughs would eventually take root in the West and grow dramatically. For example, if it weren’t for the development of astronomy by Muslim scientists based on the work done by Ptolemy, scholars like Copernicus might not have been inspired to revolutionize our cosmological view.
Philosophical inquiry and debate was another major activity under al-Ma’mun. Al-Ma’mun especially enjoyed debating and listening to debates about kalam, or Islamic theology, but he also indulged in discussions of falsafa, or foreign philosophy. This however got him into trouble with the Literalists and teachers of the hadith (the words and life of Mohammed) who felt that the words of God and the Prophet are all that matter and are certainly not up for discussion or debate, and were especially opposed to using non-Muslim thought to influence policy and doctrine. Al-Ma’mun worried that his people would more readily listen to these detractors and wished they would be more akin to his interests, especially rationality. “In fact, it was perhaps his interest in theological discussions that led by degrees not only to the promotion of a popular interest in theology, but also to the support of the cause of a theological party (the Mu’tazilite) that had sought to apply Greek thought to Muslim dogmas and the use of the decisive resources of the state in the defense and consolidation of this position.” The Mu’tazilite party was one that sought to ground the doctrines and laws of Islam in logic and reason, which they found the classical texts to be very useful for. Al-Ma’mun did support many Mu’tazilite tenets, including believing that God is nothing like humans, and in the metaphorical reading of the Qur’an, but not, for instance, their belief in free-will. Rather, he believed that “all human actions are determined by God… and that everything other than God, including the Qur’an, is a created object.” He also displayed a healthy skepticism toward Hadith and preachers of it, and the combination of these thoughts as well as sympathy for Shiites, put him in a distinct minority. He eventually even instituted a minha, or inquisition, against Hadith scholars. His interest in falsafa had impacted his thought and policies profoundly to the point that he was persecuting a popular group to uphold an unpopular doctrine, that of the created Qur’an. So for many, philosophy was seen as al-Ma’mun’s vice, but it was one he couldn’t give up. Al-Ma’mun was not only an appreciator of philosophy; he was truly a philosopher in his own right. “[H]e himself composed a number of treatises, which dealt mainly with theological questions in a Mu’tazilite spirit… which are preserved in ancient sources and testify to his brilliance.” Without his impetus toward rationality, the academic world might look vastly different.
However, the effects of al-Ma’mun’s reign were far-reaching and not contained to 9th century Baghdad. Muslim philosophers would wrestle with the problems they faced in the works of Greece for centuries to come. And their work would find further interpreters in Latin Europe. Many texts made their way in Arabic form to the schools of Europe and were further translated into Latin. This allowed scholars to investigate classical texts and apply them to Christian doctrine as Arab scholars had done to Muslim doctrine. These interpretations further made it to the minds of modern scholars, and then made it to us, although the moderns had much more access to the original Greek texts. However, the interest in them might have been diminished if not for their applicability, or lack thereof, to religious doctrines. Therefore, the activities of the Muslim scholars, in wanting to reconcile, say, Aristotle with Mohammed, allowed Christian scholars to attempt to reconcile Aristotle with St. Peter (or al-Ghazali for that matter), and further, for Descartes to reconcile Aristotle with Avicenna and Aquinas.
There were some translators and interpreters of note both under al-Ma’mun’s rule and in the centuries following. One of the first as well as the most notable was Hunain ibn Ishaq, a Christian, whose “activity marks a decisive stage in the history of translation.” He mostly translated the medical works of Hippocrates and Galen, but also produced some of his own work. His focus for translations was on accuracy, as he compiled numerous copies of texts and proceeded to compare the originals to make on cohesive version and then translate that version multiple times to insure its soundness. This emphasis on accuracy made working on a text grueling but made future use of the translation virtually worry-free.
One of the earliest Muslim philosophers, al-Kindi, was one of the scholars who benefited from such diligence. Al-Kindi and his followers continued the translation project but he also produced many of his own works on “a startling array of fields, ranging from metaphysics, ethics, and psychology (i.e., the study of the soul), to medicine, mathematics, astronomy, and optics, and further afield to more practical topics like perfumes and swords.” They introduced new philosophical terminology and al-Kindi made great use of Greek ideas in his own thought.
Later, thinkers such as ibn-Rushd (Averroes), ibn-Sina (Avicenna), and al-Ghazali (Algazel) used Greek texts to grapple with interpreting the Qur’an and sort out the mysteries of the world and the God that created and ruled it. They also made use of earlier interpretations that stemmed from the initial translation movement, such as those of al-Kindi. Their works in turn inspired European scholars. They were having trouble dealing with the problems that the works of Aristotle implied for Christian teachings as their Muslim counterparts had. Cosmology and issues such as the immortality of the soul, the natures of God and Man, and transubstantiation became difficult in the face of Ptolemy, Plato, Aristotle and Galen. Both Muslim and Christian thinkers argued about the value of classical thought to their particular religious institutions as well as the everyday lives of their people.
Thomas Aquinas, for example, was greatly inspired by al-Ghazali. While the two may have disagreed on the applicability of Aristotle to their own particular faith (Aquinas felt Aristotle’s ideas could and should be applied to Christian dogma, al-Ghazali vehemently discouraged such an application by Muslim scholars), Aquinas was enamored by al-Ghazali’s work. He was, of course inspired by those others that al-Ghazali had debated. And it was their emphasis on Aristotle that helped Aquinas look into how to best interpret Aristotle as best to serve Christianity.
Later on, Rene Descartes was influenced by Aquinas’ work and was in turn led to the work of Muslim philosophers like Avicenna. Their works had a big impact on him and their influence can be seen in his Discourses; his formulation of the immortality of the soul and the nature of God stems from the work of Aristotle, Aquinas, and the Muslim philosophers. Descartes’ thought went on to spur David Hume to criticize his work, and further, Hume’s philosophy incited Immanuel Kant to set to work on his Critiques, and Western philosophy as we know it was off and running. And while it could claim its ancestry to be Greek, it owed its heritage to Arabs and Persians. If they had not taken the time to pour over the ancient texts and try to apply them to their own ideals, Europeans might never had the inspiration or the opportunity to do the same. To this day, we still grapple with Aristotle and Plato’s theories. They’re still part of a typical philosophical curriculum, and we are taught that the evolution of thought went directly from Aristotle and Plato to Augustine to Aquinas to Descartes to Kant to contemporary philosophy, but rarely do we also examine the texts of great thinkers such as ibn-Rushd or al-Ghazali. They should certainly be considered as part of our philosophical genealogy. They should be taught along with Aquinas and the like, not pushed aside to merely Arabic or Islamic philosophy.
We can see that some of the West’s most prominent philosophers, the ones we have all heard of, Aquinas, Descartes, Kant, etc., were all somehow affected by the translation movement. Also, Muslim thought was also greatly influenced be the rediscovery of Greek texts. Both of these two great traditions of thought have this movement as part of their bloodline. Al-Ma’mun has given the world a great gift. Through his own thirst for knowledge, we can now quench our own in a much more varied, deep, and satisfying way. His interests in both religious and secular ideas and debates lead to the incorporation of varied texts from varied sources, and these texts have further been handed down through time, and has made its way into the hearts of two very distinct and important traditions of thought.
Al-Ma’mun’s motives for continuing the translation movement were varied, and historians such as Dimitri Gutas claim that they were mostly to legitimize his rule and the new role of religion in the state. “Al-Ma’mun’s new policy was based on an absolutist interpretation of Islam, with the caliph as the ultimate arbiter of dogma. This was largely unprecedented in Islamic history, and completely against the current of decentralization of religious authority that had been gaining momentum until al-Ma’mun’s time.” Furthermore, he used the translation movement to promote anti-Byzantinism and rationalism. Al-Ma’mun wanted to be both head-of-state and in charge of the spiritual and intellectual aspects of his empire. He used the translation movement and the ideas and debates that stemmed from it to promote and rationalize this ideal. But the ideas that were fostered under the guise of solidifying the Caliph’s secular and spiritual power were far-reaching, and we can be thankful for it.
Works Cited
Adamson, Peter, and Richard C. Taylor, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2005.Cooperson, Michael. Al Ma’mun. Oxford: Oneworld, 2005.
Fakhry, Majid. A History of Islamic Philosophy. New York: Columbia UP, 2004.
Gutas, Dimitri. Greek Thought, Arabic Culture. New York: Routledge, 1998.
Kennedy, Hugh. When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo, 2004.
Rekaya, M. “Al-Ma’mun.” Encyclopedia of Islam. Lieden: E.J. Brill, 1991
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