Alongside a lust for power, al-Mamun’s rule was also characterised as a time when science and scholarship were at their peak. Al-Mamun is regarded by historians as the great champion of rationalism, and as the caliph who promoted science more than any other. It is said that once, when al-Mamun achieved a victory over the Byzantines, he asked from them as reparation not gold nor any other such mundane treasures, but a copy of Ptolemy’s great book on astronomy, the Almagest.
There is a famous story telling how al-Mamun once saw Aristotle in a dream. Several versions of the story exist. Here is one transcript of the exchange:
Al-Mamun to Aristotle: What is good?
Aristotle: That which is in the mind.
Al-Mamun: What more is good?
Aristotle: That which is in the law.
Al-Mamun: What more?
Aristotle: The will of the people.
Al-Mamun: And what more?
Aristotle: There is no more.
In another more elaborate version, Aristotle explains that reason and revelation are not in opposition – that Man should seek God’s truth by opening his mind to the power of reason rather than by waiting for divine revelation. He then goes on to instruct al-Mamun to turn all resources to translating the great works of thought and knowledge into Arabic, for ‘Knowledge has no borders, wisdom has no race or nationality. To block out ideas is to block out the kingdom of God.’
The story then goes on to tell how, on waking, al-Mamun instructs men to go to Byzantium and bring back all the greatest books, to go to Gundeshapur in Persia and bring back the contents of its great library, to find all the best scholars and translators, and finally to build a centre at the court in Baghdad for learning and scholarship which he will call the House of Wisdom.
