Chapter II: Arabization History (Part 2: Famous Translation Institutions and Translators )

1. Chapter II: Arabization History (Part 2: Famous Translation Institutions and Translators)

2. Major institutions of Arabization • House of Wisdom • Alexandria School • The School of Antakyia • The school of Haran • The school of Naseibin and Ar-Raha • The School of Gundishapur

3. House of Wisdom • 1st and most reputed translation academy, library and center. • A historic hallmark in Islamic history and civilization. • Opened because of the active movement of translation. • Founded by Ar-Rasheed and developed by Alma’moon (3rd HC, 9th GC). • Included huge number of books brought from different parts of the world.

4. Supervised by سهل بن هارون and سعيد بن هارون • Great translators worked there: حنين بن اسحاق، يوحنا بن البطريق، يوحنا بن ماسويه، عمر بن فرخان الطبري • Support from rulers and rich people. • Scholars in different fields worked there. • Books in different fields were translated. • Also, books authored. • It made knowledge available to the public.

5. Alexandria School • Founded in 332 BC. • A center for Greek culture. • Included books of Greek scholars in philosophy (Aristotle), medicine (Hippocrates and Galen), mathematics (Archimedes), geometry(Euclid), mechanics (Archimedes), and astronomy (Eratosthenes and Ptolemy). • Its influence on the Islamic civilization started in the Umayyad Era, when Khalid bin Yazeed ordered Steven the Alexandrian to translate some of the Greek books in this school. • Replaced by the School of Antakya.

6. School of Antakya • Founded in the 4th century AD. • Also, a center for Greek civilization. • Muslims chose it to replace Alexandria School because it was on the borders between the Byzantine Empire and Islamic Caliphate. • Greek and Roman books easily obtained. • Books were translated into Syriac and later into Arabic. • Later, the center of education and knowledge moved to Haran School.

7. School of Haran • No one knows when it was established exactly. • Another center for Hellenic (Greek) culture. • Became an important center at the end of the Umayyad Era. • City of Sabians who mastered astronomy. • Birthplace of famous scholars and translators: bin Qurrah, Sinan, Albattani. • Many Greek books on math and astronomy translated into Arabic. Also: medicine and philosophy.

8. Schools of Naseibin and Ar-Ruha • Naseibin was established for missionary purposes, North of Iraq. • Greek philosophy and logic (Aristotle). • Unfaithful translations, but still useful to Arabs. • Education moved to Ar-Ruha which was similar to it. • Translations from Greek into Syriac, then Arabic in the 5th HC (10th C AD).

9. School of Gundishapur • Founded by Persian King, KisraAnuSharwan. • Became important in the Abbasid era. • Another channel for Greek culture. • Its contribution to the Arabic culture is threefold: 1) books translated from Greek, Persian, and Syriac, 2) the good translators who graduated in this school, 3) the medical research that was conducted by its physicians, producing original work.

10. Classic translators in the history of Arabizations • Great translators who contributed to the prosperous development of translation in the Islamic world. • Of different nationalities, languages, and religions. • Translated from Greek, Persian, Indian, Syriac. • Credited for the scientific progress achieved by Muslims. • Were scholars themselves, added to the translations.

11. Hunain bin IshaqAlAbadi • Best translator (one of the best four), nicknamed the grandmaster. • A physician, philosopher and translator. • Multilingual: Syriac, Arabic, Greek, Persian • Known for his semantic method of translation; faithful and accurate, high quality translation. • Keen to have the original ST, if not, he would compare different copies, to ensure authenticity. • Made long arduous journeys to get originals.

12. Critical of old translations, including his own. • Retranslated some of his early translations. • Most of his translations are from Greek into Arabic, of books on medicine, philosophy and logic. • Was also a prolific author in medicine, philosophy, logic, theology and Arabic grammar and lexicography. • Wrote المقالات العشر في العين; مسائل في الطب

13. Yaqub bin IshaqAlkindi • Patronized by Almamoon and Almu’tasim. • Appointed to Bait AlHikma for his brilliance and enthusiasm for knowledge. • Known for his calligraphy. • After the death of Almu’tasim, his glamor waned. • Credited for what was to become standard Arabic philosophical vocabulary. • Encyclopedic knowledge, philosopher of the Arabs.

14. Wrote books on logic, philosophy, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy. • Areas of interest: medicine, mathematics, and philosophy (his major concern), astronomy, astrology, politics, physics, music, history, geography, and law. • Multilingual: Greek, Persian, Indian/Sanskrit • Revised, corrected, reviewed, annotated, simplified and summarized translations by others. • He had 241 works in various fields.

15. Thabet bin Qurrah • A genius in several sciences: medicine, mathematics, philosophy (main concern), astrology, logic, arithmetic and astronomy. • Multilingual: Greek, Syriac, Arabic, and other languages. • Established his own translation school at Haran. • Renowned for accuracy and good style in translation. • Translated books by Ptolemy, Aristotle, Euclid, Apollonius, and others. • Revised, reviewed, and annotated others’ translations. • Wrote books on medicine, philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy.

16. Omar bin Farkhan At-Tabari • Reputed for his high quality translations from Persian. • Served at Alhikma House.

17. Other famous translators • أبو يحيى بن البطريق • يحيى بن البطريق • قسطا بن لوقا البعلبكي • إسحق بن حنين • جيش بن الأعسم • متى بن يونس • سنان بن ثابت بن قرة • يحيى بن عدي • عيسى بن سحق بن زرعة

18. Commentary • The Tartars and Mongols destroyed Bait Alhikma, and the flourishing Islamic civilization came to an end in the 7th HC. • Burned books or threw them into the Tigris. • Works left by translators were monolithic, in various field of knowledge, treasures. • These treasures pushed Europe in the dark ages to learn the Arab knowledge. • Europeans translated Arabic books in the 9th and 10th C AD into Latin. • Preferred the Arabic translations to the originals.

19. The production of great Muslim scholars (ابن سينا، الخوارزمي، الرازي، ابن الهيثم) were based on these translations. • These scholars developed original knowledge and became authorities in their fields. • Translators used different methods: transference, naturalization, paraphrase, translation into Arabic terms. Transference/naturalization was used as a temporary procedure (used at the first occurrence of a word then the Arabic term is used later on).

20. Hunain: • العين ...مركبة من أجزاء كثيرة، و ليس بجميع أجزائها يكون البصر، بل بالرطوبة الشبيهة بالجليد، المسماة باليونانية (قريسطالويذاس)، أي الجليدية... هذه الرطوبة، أعني الجليدية، بين رطوبتين .... • Enriched the Arabic language with new vocabulary. • Majority were non-Arabs, but mastered Arabic. • Worked individually. But at some point they coordinated their work. • Specialized professionals.