Islamic Origins

Essays on History, Religion, and Politics

  • THEORY, METHODS, & DEBATES
  • HISTORY & TEXTUAL ANALYSIS
  • CURRENT AFFAIRS
  • PODCASTS
  • ABOUT
  • PATREON
Essays on History, Religion, and Politics

Science

The First Caliph Who Translated Foreign Knowledge: Analysing an Early Arabic Tradition

October 19, 2022 by Joshua Little

There is a classic debate in some modern scholarship on the history of early Arabic scholarship and learning: when did Arabic scientific writing commence? More specifically, the debate is about which caliph oversaw the first translation of ‘foreign’ scientific, philosophical, and related works into Arabic (i.e., the famous Arabic translation movement): was it an Umayyad … [Read more…]

Posted in: Hadith, History, Textual Analysis Tagged: Abbasid, Abbasids, al-Mansur, Arabic, Baghdad, Caliph, Caliphate, Golden Age, history, Islam, Joshua Little, Science, Translation, Translation Movement

The Arab Destruction of Persian Books: An Analysis of a Popular Myth

October 19, 2022 by Joshua Little

There is an infamous story about the great Arab conquests and the destruction of books, which is popularly cited by Islamophobes to show that Muslims are intolerant zealots or philistines who hate science, etc. The story goes that, when the Arab armies conquered Persia, they found libraries of Persian books. The Arab commander, Saʿd b. … [Read more…]

Posted in: History, Islamophobia, Textual Analysis Tagged: Arab conquests, history, Islam, Islamophobia, Joshua Little, Persia, Science

Copyright © 2025 Islamic Origins.

Church WordPress Theme by themehall.com