Editing Baghdad (section)

===Center of learning (8th–9th centuries)===
{{Further|Islamic Golden Age}}
[[File:المدرسة المستنصرية في بغداد (3).jpg|thumb|left|Courtyard of [[Mustansiriya Madrasah|Mustansiriya]] [[madrasa]], established in 1227, was one of the oldest universities in the world. Its building survived the [[Siege of Baghdad (1258)|Mongol invasion]] of 1258. The modern [[Al-Mustansiriya University|Mustansiriyah University]] was established in 1963.]]

Within a generation of its founding, Baghdad became a hub of [[learning]] and [[commerce]]. The city flourished into an unrivaled intellectual center of [[science]], [[medicine]], [[philosophy]], and [[education]], especially with the [[Abbasid translation movement]] began under the second caliph [[Al-Mansur]] and thrived under the seventh caliph [[Al-Ma'mun]].<ref name="Meri"/> ''[[House of Wisdom|Baytul-Hikmah]]'' or the "House of Wisdom" was among the most well known academies,<ref name="Kh">[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/sep/26/baghdad-centre-of-scientific-world When Baghdad was centre of the scientific world] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214120137/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/sep/26/baghdad-centre-of-scientific-world |date=14 December 2019 }}. ''The Guardian''. Retrieved 16 February 2019.</ref> and had the largest selection of books in the world by the middle of the 9th century.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}} Notable scholars based in Baghdad during this time include translator [[Hunayn ibn Ishaq]], mathematician [[Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi|al-Khwarizmi]], and philosopher [[Al-Kindi]].<ref name="Kh"/>

Although Arabic was used as the international language of science, the scholarship involved not only Arabs, but also [[Persians]], [[Syriac Christianity|Syriacs]],<ref>{{Cite book |quote=The population of Hira comprised its townspeople, the 'Ibad "devotees", who were Nestorian Christians using Syriac as their liturgical and cultural language, though Arabic was probably the language of daily intercourse. |date=1983 |editor-last=Yarshater |editor-first=E. |title=The Cambridge History of Iran |doi=10.1017/chol9780521200929 |isbn=978-1-139-05494-2}}</ref> [[Church of the East|Nestorians]], [[Jews]], [[Ibad|Arab Christians]],<ref>{{Cite book |title=Early Islam – The hidden origins of Islam: new research into its early history |last=Ohlig |first=Karl-Heinz |publisher=Prometheus Books |quote=The 'Ibad are tribes made up of different Arabian families that became connected with Christianity in al-Hira. |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-61614-825-6 |page=32 |oclc=914334282}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |last1=Beeston |first1=A.F.L. |last2=Shahîd |first2=Irfan |title=al-ḤĪRA |year=2012 |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam |edition=2nd |publisher=Brill |editor=P. Bearman |editor2=Th. Bianquis |editor3=C.E. Bosworth |editor4=E. van Donzel |editor5=W.P. Heinrichs |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_sim_2891}}</ref> and people from other ethnic and religious groups native to the region.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Meri |first=Josef |date=12 January 2018 |title=Routledge Revivals: Medieval Islamic Civilization (2006) |doi=10.4324/9781315162416 |isbn=978-1-315-16241-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=July 1933 |title=Sir Henry Lyons, F.R.S |journal=Nature |volume=132 |issue=3323 |page=55 |doi=10.1038/132055c0 |issn=0028-0836 |bibcode=1933Natur.132S..55. |s2cid=47244046|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Medieval Islamic medicine |last=Pormann |first=Peter E. |date=2007 |publisher=Georgetown University Press |others=[[Savage-Smith, Emilie]]. |isbn=978-1-58901-160-1 |location=Washington, D.C. |oclc=71581787}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://humanitieswest.net/baghdad-in-its-golden-age-762-1300/ |title=Baghdad in Its Golden Age (762–1300) {{!}} 25–26 April 2014|last=HumWest|date=14 March 2015|website=Humanities West |access-date=5 February 2019 |archive-date=7 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207020302/http://humanitieswest.net/baghdad-in-its-golden-age-762-1300/ |url-status=live}}</ref> These are considered among the fundamental elements that contributed to the flourishing of scholarship in the Medieval Islamic world.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Falagas |first1=Matthew E. |last2=Zarkadoulia |first2=Effie A. |last3=Samonis |first3=George |date=1 August 2006 |title=Arab science in the golden age (750–1258 C.E.) and today |journal=The FASEB Journal |volume=20 |issue=10 |pages=1581–1586 |doi=10.1096/fj.06-0803ufm |doi-access=free |pmid=16873881 |s2cid=40960150 |issn=0892-6638 |url=http://www.fasebj.org/content/20/10/1581.full.pdf |access-date=14 September 2022 |archive-date=21 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821205855/http://www.fasebj.org/content/20/10/1581.full.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Saliba |first=George |date=2007 |title=Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance |doi=10.7551/mitpress/3981.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-262-28288-8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The House of Wisdom : How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization |first=Jonathan |last=Lyons |date=2011 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1-60819-190-1 |oclc=1021808136}}</ref> Baghdad was also a significant center of Islamic religious learning, with [[Al-Jahiz]] contributing to the formation of [[Muʿtazila|Mu'tazili]] theology, as well as [[Al-Tabari]] culminating in the scholarship on the [[Tafsir|Quranic exegesis]].<ref name="Meri">Gordon, M.S. (2006). Baghdad. In Meri, J.W. ed. ''Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia''. New York: Routledge.</ref> Baghdad is likely to have been the [[Historical urban community sizes|largest city in the world]] from shortly after its foundation until the 930s, when it tied with [[Córdoba, Andalusia|Córdoba]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm |title=Largest Cities Through History |publisher=Geography.about.com |date=2 November 2009 |access-date=27 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050527095609/http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm |archive-date=27 May 2005 |url-status=live}}</ref> Several estimates suggest that the city contained over a million inhabitants at its peak.<ref>Matt T. Rosenberg, [http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm ''Largest Cities Through History''.] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050527095609/http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm |date=27 May 2005 }}</ref> Many of the ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]'' tales, widely known as the ''Arabian Nights'', are set in Baghdad during this period. It would surpass even Constantinople in prosperity and size.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bobrick |first1=Benson |title=The Caliph's Splendor: Islam and the West in the Golden Age of Baghdad |date=2012 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-4165-6762-2 |page=65}}</ref>
[[File:Khan murjan.jpg|thumb|[[Khan Murjan]], built in the 14th century as a [[caravanserai]]]]
Among the notable features of Baghdad during this period were its exceptional libraries. Many of the Abbasid caliphs were patrons of learning and enjoyed collecting both ancient and contemporary literature. Although some of the princes of the previous Umayyad dynasty had begun to gather and translate Greek scientific literature, the Abbasids were the first to foster Greek learning on a large scale. Many of these libraries were private collections intended only for the use of the owners and their immediate friends, but the libraries of the caliphs and other officials soon took on a public or a semi-public character.<ref name=mackensen>Mackensen, Ruth Stellhorn . (1932). Four Great Libraries of Medieval Baghdad. ''The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy'', Vol. 2, No. 3 (July 1932), pp. 279-299. University of Chicago Press.</ref>

Four great libraries were established in Baghdad during this period. The earliest was that of the famous [[Al-Ma'mun]], who was caliph from 813 to 833. Another was established by [[Sabur ibn Ardashir]] in 991 or 993 for the literary men and scholars who frequented his academy.<ref name="mackensen" /> This second library was plundered and burned by the Seljuks only seventy years after it was established. This was a good example of the sort of library built up out of the needs and interests of a literary society.<ref name="mackensen" /> The last two were examples of ''madrasa'' or theological college libraries. The [[Nezamiyeh]] was founded by the Persian [[Nizam al-Mulk]], who was vizier of two early Seljuk sultans.<ref name="mackensen" /> It continued to operate even after the coming of the Mongols in 1258. The [[Mustansiriya Madrasah|Mustansiriyah ''madrasa'']], which owned an exceedingly rich library, was founded by [[Al-Mustansir (Baghdad)|Al-Mustansir]], the second last Abbasid caliph, who died in 1242.<ref name="mackensen" /> This would prove to be the last great library built by the caliphs of Baghdad.