Al-Andalus
At the peak of its power in the 10th and 11th centuries, Al-Andalus was not only an important military and political center, but also the undisputed center of arts, literature, and sciences in the Mediterranean region. During the era of the Umayyad caliphate in Cordoba (929–1031), the city flourished so much so that Al-Andalus began to rival Baghdad as an intellectual crossroads. Qurtuba became a place of dazzling cultural, religious, and ethnic coexistence. Later on, these Western researchers would translate the works of Muslim scholars during the seventh and eighth centuries, providing the foundation of modern scholarship. European philosophers would probably not have known Aristotelian philosophy had it not been translated, studied, analyzed, and commented on by Muslim philosophers such as Ibn-Rushd, Ibn-Sina, and Al-Farabi whose works exerted a great influence on Western philosophy for several centuries.
Despite the disagreement on the extent of this peaceful coexistence in the Iberian Peninsula. “Convivienca” was the order of the day. It refers to the culture of tolerance, openness, and assimilation between the followers of the three main monotheistic religions that lived side by side in al-Andalus from the 8th-15th centuries, despite their differences with guaranteed religious freedom within each of the kingdoms. Cordoba was home to more than 100,000 people of various cultural and national backgrounds, who were offered the freedom of worship without discrimination. It was not uncommon for churches and synagogues to be inspired by the Muslim architectural style. One synagogue in Toledo had inscriptions from the Qur’an and its walls were covered with Arabic writings. Cordoba also excelled in architecture and design, introducing the most complex forms of architectural geometry to Europe.
The quest for knowledge in al-Andalus also transgressed religious lines. The committees commissioned by al-Hakam to copy, translate and write books comprised not only Muslims but also Mozarab Christians and Jews who compatibly worked in teams to preserve the human cultural, scientific, and intellectual legacy to be bequeathed to future generations. This culture of coexistence can be illustrated by the appointment of a Jewish doctor, named Hasdai in the court of Abd al Rahman III. He was secretary-emissary of the caliph in the embassies. Recemundo, Bishop of Elvira was employed as an ambassador and intermediary to Juan de Gorze in Germany and in Constantinople.
Literacy in al-Andalus
It is narrated by a historian, that, Sa’id of Malaga, a calligrapher and merchant, upon hearing the news of famine in the city of Byzantium at the dawn of the 10th century, sent a freighter loaded with grain. He instructed his agent there not to dispose of the grain, except in exchange for books. Al Muzaffar bin Alafatas Badajoz compiled a 50 volume encyclopedia based on his own library.
Al Zubaydi who later took refuge in Granada also had an important collection of books. According to Dozy, an early historian of Al-Andalus, almost everyone was literate.
Victor Robinson makes a series of comparisons between Europe and Cordova in terms of urbanization and progress. He states: “Europe was darkened at sunset, Cordova shone with public lamps; Europe was dirty, Cordova built a thousand baths . . . Cordova changed its undergarments daily; Europe lay in mud, Cordova’s streets were paved; Europe’s palaces had smoke-holes in the ceiling, Cordova’s arabesques were exquisite; Europe’s nobility could not sign its name, Cordova’s children went to school; Europe’s monks could not read the baptismal service, Cordova’s teachers created a library of Alexandrian dimensions.”
It is said that when bathing was considered a blasphemous and immoral act by the Catholic Church, the Muslim city of Cordova (also spelled Cordoba) had more than 900 public baths! Cordova at that time was also a cultural hub and the home of more than 20 public libraries and more than 100 madrasas (schools) accessible free of charge to Muslims and non-Muslims alike, to Arabs, Berbers, and Spaniards alike.
S.P Scott writes in “The History of the Moorish Empire in Europe” that: “There was knowledge and learning everywhere except in Catholic Europe. At a time when even kings could not read or write, a Moorish king had a private library of 600,000 books. At a time when 99 percent of the Christian people were wholly illiterate, the Moorish city of Cordova had 800 public schools, and there was not a village within the limits of the empire where the blessings of education could not be enjoyed by the children of the most indigent peasant . . . and it was difficult to encounter even a Moorish peasant who could not read and write.”
Women in Literature: al-Andalus
The role of women in the cultural and literary life of Al-Andalus cannot be overlooked.
Princess Wallada bint al-Mustakfi was a poet herself, and for her part opened a literary club. Having no brothers, Wallada inherited her father’s assets and used them to open a literary cenacle where she welcomed women of all social classes to teach them poetry and literature. Often called the “Andalusian Sappho”, her collection, “I Walk Proudly On My Way” were even translated into Italian. Assya, an unmarried aristocrat lady owned one of the best collections in Cordoba. The less fortunate were not left aside-they specialized in the transcription of the Qur’an in Kufic characters.
Libraries in Al-Andalus
An examination of cases of endowments based on decrees issued by the Mufti of Granada indicates that the explicit wishes and conditions stipulated by donors were strictly adhered to. In some cases, books could only be read on the spot, within the premises of the library itself. Making copies was not always permissible.
At times, borrowing was allowed against a guarantee or deposit to ensure their safe return. Despite the fact that private collections far outnumbered public libraries in Moorish Spain, free access to books seemed to be in vogue. It was a natural by-product of the liberal educational system which opened the door to social mobility.
The geographer Yakut al Hamawi visited Madrid around 1228 and reported the existence of twelve libraries open to the public with such liberal lending policy that he could personally borrow two hundred volumes at a time.
M.L.Avila, a historian believes that the number of manuscripts copied on a yearly basis in Cordoba alone ranged between 70,000 and 80,000. It is estimated that the libraries of Al-Andalus as a whole contained nearly one million manuscripts.
Besides the caliph’s library, Ibn Abbas in Almeria owned a private collection of similar size. Ibn Hazm, an educationist had his own private library in Cordoba. In short, it was a custom for members of the aristocracy to own their private collections of rare documents amounting to 100,000 or so acquired through book auctions.
The staffers also enjoyed a high administrative status and wielded cultural power. The arts of fine bookbinding, calligraphy, and illuminations were practiced especially in private libraries which were quite often also open to men of learning.
Ibn Suleiman, a rich judge, and bibliophile employed six scribes as copyists on a permanent basis for his private library in Cordoba. Thus, copyists and bookbinders had adequate work to keep them busy due to the existence of private collections of scholars on the one hand, who were interested in scientific and philosophical works as well as those of ministers, secretaries and well-to-do bibliophiles who made it a point to build up their collections of over 100,000 documents apparently to acquire fame.
The Royal Library
Translation thrived during the reign of al-Hakam II, the Umayyad Caliph of Cordova, who ruled from 961 to 976 and who encouraged the translation of ancient Greek texts into Arabic. By the end of his reign, the shelves of the Royal Library contained more than 400,000 volumes (some say 600,000 volumes) spanning disciplines as diverse as philosophy, religion, literature, science, mathematics, astronomy, meteorology, alchemy, geometry, architecture, medicine, and more.
The Caliph built up an immense collection prior to acceding to the throne at the age of 46. He continued this policy during his fifteen-year rule. The main sources of the library were documents that he inherited from his father, those of his brother Abdallah, his own personal collections acquired during his youth, and donations he received from his subjects.
Al-Hakam II dispatched book hunters to Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus, Constantinople, Basra, and other knowledge centers in search of the rarest books. He preferred to stockpile books rather than arms, and books were the best gifts with which other kings could buy his friendship. What is even more staggering is that al-Hakam II allegedly read and commented in the margins of all the books in the Royal Library. This claim is probably hyperbolic, but it shows the extent to which Caliph al-Hakam II loved books.
The Royal Library of Cordoba employed no less than five hundred staff including scribes, editors, papermakers, and bookbinders. The bookbinding craft of medieval Spain offered an extraordinary variety of styles.
Writers, translators, and book-makers were exempt from participation in wars and conquests. They were also given precious gifts in return for their work and provided with suitable working conditions.
Once, he sent 1,000 Dinars of pure gold to Abi al-Faraj al-Asfahani (from the city of Esfahan in Persia) for a copy of his book entitled “Al-Aghani” (Chants).
Other writers also benefited from al-Hakam’s generous gifts, such Abi Bakr al-Abhari al-Maliki, Mohamed Ibno Chaaban Ibno al-Kacim, Mohamed Ibn Youssef al-Warrak, and many others.
The famous palatine library, Madinat-al-Zahra, was called Bayt al-Hikma by called by Qazi Iyad. Not only a judge but also a writer, in his biography of Abu Bakr Ibn al-Salim, jurisprudence expert and Great Qazi (judge) of Cordoba, Qazi Iyad, brings up an anecdote supposedly taken from Ibn Ḥayyan, the best-informed historian about the tenth century. According to that account, before rising to the position of Qadí, Ibn al-Salim would have criticised Abu-al-Qasim, tutor to Prince Hisam, because al-Hakam II had paid him to collate his books. But, years later, and despite his misgivings, the caliph persuaded Ibn al-Salim, “resorting to his love of science” according to the chronicler, to “collate (muqabala) [his books in] the dawawin (sg. diwan) of his Bayt al-Hikma, and also in exchange for payment.
Al-Maqqari (d. 1040/1631) quotes earlier authors in his Nafḥ al-tib to describe al-Hakam II as “a lover of science who gathered more books than any other sovereign”.
According to Ibn Ḥazm, “the treasure (khizanat) of knowledge and books was in the house of the Banū Marwan, and the catalogue of books, including only the title and description, took up 44 volumes of 20 pages each.”
He sent his emissaries to Baghdad to look for originals and copies and paid generous amounts of golden dinars; “In al-Khizana al-Ulum Wal-Kutub bi-Dar Bani Marwan (his library), he gathered experts in transcription and the copying of books, skilled in preservation and book-binding”, in addition to correctors and illuminators.
The Royal Library first occupied part of the royal palace, but with the increasing number of written and translated books, it was soon overflowing, and the library had to be moved to another location near the palace. The library consisted of different sections, the most important of which, besides the writing section, was the translation section. A number of polyglot translators worked here, especially those mastering Latin, Greek, and Arabic. Among those translators were Abdullah Sqalli, Muhamed Ennabati, Abu Othmane Al-Jazzar, Muhamed Ibn Said, Abderrahman Ibn Isaac, and Ibn Shaprut.
The classification of books was based on subjects although copies of the Qur’an were kept in separate areas. Within each subject, the arrangement was by acquisition order. Separate shelves or rooms were earmarked for different branches of knowledge, catalogued for easy retrieval of books by the public, the libraries had their own catalogues running into several volumes. Sometimes, a list of books was attached to the door of each room to facilitate easy retrieval. The catalogues ran into 48 volumes of 50 leaves each and were updated regularly. It listed on the opening page of each book, the author’s name, his place of birth, ancestry, and titles of his other works and instructions on its location.
What promoted the spirit of research and knowledge-seeking in Cordova were the supportive measures taken by the Caliph al-Hakam II to bolster education and learning in his kingdom. There were seventy public libraries in al-Andalus, in the 10th century, several in Toledo.
In addition to the royal library, these included libraries in universities in Cordoba, Seville, Malaga, and Granada, among others, and in numerous mosques. Private libraries also flourished earning Cordoba the title of being “the greatest book market in the western world in the 10th century.”
