A prominent phenomenon in Islamic civilisation is Islam’s profound absorption of Arab culture and the heritage of other nations, particularly bordering nations. As Islam spread and its polity expanded to integrate with other civilisations, Muslims were motivated to translate the ancient sciences in their search for understanding and advancement. Islamic teachings motivated the Muslims to contribute to human progress and to acculturate the positive achievements of other civilisations. A Qur’ānic verse reads:
In addition, Muslims were obligated to seek knowledge and dedicate time and energy to further their understanding. It was—and remains—a key objective of young and growing states to expand their knowledge and to consolidate their learning by establishing the pillars of science and knowledge.1O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honourable of you with Allah is that (believer) who has At-Taqwā [i.e., one of the Muttaqūn (pious – see V.2:2)]. Verily, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware. Q. 49:13
Thus, the Arabs began the longest and largest translation process known to the ancient civilisations. It began during the late first/seventh century of the Umayyad dynasty and reached the height of its glory and prosperity during the Abbasid caliphate of Hārūn al-Rashīd (r. 170/786–193/809) and his son and successor al-Ma’mūn (r. 198/813–218/833). It did not stop until the middle of the fifth/eleventh century and included the heritage of multiple civilisations: Persian, Indian, Chinese, Greek, Egyptian, Byzantine, and others.2
Translation flourished and expanded since it was promoted by Abū Ja‘far al-Manṣūr (r. 136/754–158/775), the first caliph to order the translation of books from non-Arabic languages (‘ajamiī) into Arabic, including the book Kalīlah and Dimna,3 the book of Sind-hind, Aristotle’s Organon, and the works of other ancient Greek scholars such as the Almagest of Ptolemy, Nicomacheus of Gerasa’s Archimedes doctrine, and the Elements of Euclid.4 Translation remained an important phenomenon and received special patronage from the Abbasid caliphs who came after Abū Ja‘far al-Manṣūr. They established dedicated official institutions supported directly by the state. Perhaps the most famous example of such patronage was the “House of Wisdom”/Bayt al-Ḥikma in Baghdad, which contained numerous halls and spacious rooms attributed to its founders, such as the library of caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd and the library of al-Ma’mūn, which contained collections of rare scientific books.5
This movement consisted of numerous scientific activities. The translators would translate the various books into Arabic, and scribes made copies that were translated and stored in libraries. The books were bound and decorated, and detailed indices were prepared. The House of Wisdom was managed by directors, secretaries of translation, and book experts. It employed scientists and scribes from different religions, races, and cultures. With them were also copyists/paper manufacturers. Hence the House of Wisdom had diverse circles, each with its scholars, translators, and supervisors, who took charge of different aspects of translating, organising, binding, copying, and preserving the intellectual heritage.6 The paper factories multiplied, and there was a long street of copyist shops and publishing houses adjacent to the House of Wisdom, which contributed to the success of the translation movement and richness of Muslim culture. The organs of the translation movement were well-funded, such that we would be hard-pressed to find in ancient history a better example of the generosity enjoyed by the translation sector. Al-Ma’mūn rewarded each translator with an exorbitant amount of money for their work, and one of the caliphs is reported to have devoted the entire kharāj/land tax of Jordan to translation.7 It was not only the state that carried the burden of translation, but even ministers and scientists in the Abbasid era, who encouraged entire families to support the translation movement, such as the family of Jibrīl ibn Bakhtīshū‘,8 and the family of Mūsā ibn Shāker.9 Muḥammad, Aḥmed, and al-Ḥasan (known as the sons of Mūsā ibn Shāker) were passionate about translation, and they spent large sums of money obtaining works in the ancient sciences. They dedicated much of their time in the House of Wisdom to reading and learning, and benefited greatly from the translated works of the Greeks.10
Aḥmed ibn Muḥammad, known as Ibn al-Mudabbir (d. 279/893), was famous in this field.11 He was a man of letters and a poet who enriched his knowledge of literature by studying translations.12 Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Mūsā, the writer and translator, was a physician who contributed to the transfer of medical knowledge from Greek into Arabic.13 These examples underscore how scientific activity characterised Abbasid society. Translation was a public responsibility and acculturating the positive achievements of other civilisations was practised widely.
It is worth mentioning that translation into Arabic was not confined to a single cultural pattern and was not limited to the heritage of a particular civilisation. It has expanded to encompass the sciences of several civilisations, such as Persian, Indian, Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, Byzantine, and others, thus providing the Arabs with rich material that enabled them to benefit from a synthesis of the sciences and cultures of various nations. The translation movement supported intellectual openness, the principle of pluralism and diversity that enabled them to benefit from compendia of the sciences and cultures of multiple nations. Its openness supported the practice of tolerance, humanity, communication, and acculturation. This is what Crowther referred to when he viewed Islam’s openness to ancient civilisations as an important precedent for the establishment of human knowledge that excluded fanaticism and seclusion:
It was natural for them to reassure their military power and belief that they would build magnificent cities and the study of the culture of civilisations that condemned them. The Arab Muslims were a new nation without a previous scientific heritage, they read the intellectual heritage of the old with open minds without hindrances, and therefore stood the cultures of Greek, Latin, Indian and Chinese all for them on an equal footing. The result of this Muslim-ambition mindset is that they have already become the true founders of the concept of universality in knowledge or the unity of human knowledge, one of the most important features of modern science.14
This translation movement fed into Arabic cultures, especially the sciences, and led to rich human experiences, which freed the Arab Muslim mind from the imprisonment of myths and delusions. It supported evidence-based thinking and inspired a spirit of verification that would become bulwarks of the Arab-Islamic civilisation and were fruits of the creativity of scientists. According to Roger Garaudy’s “Wu‘ūd al-Islām”, Islam was not satisfied with the introduction to ancient cultures from the Chinese Sea to the Atlantic, from Samarkand to Timbuktu—the cultures of China, India, Persia, and Greece—the cultures of Alexandria and Byzantium, but from various empires and diverse civilisations, breathed a spirit of new collective life that cultivated a renewed sense of humanity and human achievement.15
The Arab-Islamic civilisation would not have been established and flourished in the form it did had it not been for the early translators, who sought to transfer the sciences of the Greeks, Indians, and Persians. Translation is an effective engine for dialogue and intellectual advancement. The translation movement in the Islamic civilisation highlights the importance of acculturation and its positive impact on humanity. Openness to others and understanding their achievements pave the way for societies to progress. Civilisations that are founded on two or more languages—or two civilisations or more—are richer and contribute more to humanity. Islamic civilisation witnessed unprecedented multicultural and linguistic diversity. Liberal economic and educational policies preserved and advanced different cultural and intellectual heritages and supported an inclusive society. The Arab-Islamic civilisation opened its doors to anyone who would contribute to its cultural construction, in which translation and translators played key roles.
We cannot find an example of a culture that resulted in the movement of active translation in the Arab-Islamic civilisation more authentic than that of Persia. The contact between the Arabs and the Persians after the Islamic conquest was characterised by vitality, depth, and strong cohesion between the two cultures, and had a strong impact on both Arabs and Persians. Persian’s confluence and interaction with Arabic is one of the chief signs of the Arab-Islamic civilisation. It is a remarkable manifestation of acculturation. Persian belongs to the Indo-European language family, while Arabic is one of the Semitic languages. However, Islam, which linked the Islamic peoples in close bonds, established a connection between these two languages and these two peoples, with subsequent links of language and civilisation rarely seen among other languages.16
The first Arabic terms that entered Farsi were related to Islam and Islamic living, such as ṣalāh “prayer”, zakat “alms-giving”, ḥajj “pilgrimage”, jihād “battle”, munāfiq “hypocrite”, āyāt “verses”, kawthar “ample” or large quantity (name of river in Paradise), ‘iqāb “punishment”, thawāb “reward”, la‘nah “curse”, jum‘a...