Reddit reviews The House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance

I’m not convinced that it was a widespread phenomena. A lot of it was predicated on the inclinations of the ruling caliph. There was a period when the Abbasid’s rose to power that they championed knowledge but it was not widespread, the masses never embraced the ideas and many of the well-regarded freethinkers were deemed heretics. One of the reasons for the Abbasid’s inclination was they championed Sassanian (Persian) knowledge which included astrology. The location of Baghdad was for example chosen with the help of astrologers which is strictly speaking haram (illegal) in Islam.

The Fatimid’s in Egypt continued the tradition to a certain extent but it didn’t gain much traction elsewhere and as the Abbasid / Fatimid’s faded so did the openness to ideas.

I think one of the biggest changes that needs to happen and I’ve talked about this in other comments is an honest evaluation of our history. We (those from Muslim backgrounds) need to look at history critically and see what worked and why it worked and why it did not.

Currently the narrative in most Muslim countries is that the ‘Golden Age’ existed b/c people were true Muslims and the answer is to return to being better Muslims. This is exactly the narrative that Wahhabist and Salafist strains use who claim that they are returning to the austere 7th century roots of Islam. When in contrast the more Muslims moved away from rationalism (read up on Ghazali’s book the Incoherence of Philosophers for one) the less success they had. Jim Al Khalili covers it in his book The House of Wisdom

tl;dr A lot more honesty is needed - Point out early Islam had nothing to do with the Golden Age but it had to do with lifting of restrictions and caliphs allowing doubt to flourish in the intellectual class.

I had a post regarding my recommended books on the rise of Islam. I'll post it here again for your benefit:

> Here's the best ones: Efraim Karsh's Islamic Imperialism: A History and Robert Hoyland's In God's Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire

> Edit: I have read the two books aforementioned, but I'd also recommend this book, which I haven't read: Hugh Kennedy's The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In. All these books fit your criteria. I also have Tom Holland's In the Shadow of the Sword: The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global Arab Empire, but I think this is the least recommendable because of the controversy swirling around it and the documentary it spawned. But it is interesting nevertheless.

I hope this will help!

EDIT: I'll add more recommendations, in regards to the Golden Age of Islam:

• G.R. Hawtings's The First Dynasty of Islam
  
• Amira K. Bennison's The Great Caliphs: The Golden Age of the 'Abbasid Empire
  
• Benson Bobrick's The Caliph's Splendor: Islam and the West in the Golden Age of Baghdad
  
• Halil Inalcik's The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age 1300-1600
  
• S. Frederick Starr's Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane
  
• Michael H. Morgan's Lost History: The Enduring Legacy of Muslim Scientists, Thinkers, and Artists
  
• Jim al-Khalili's The House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us The Renaissance

The House of Wisdom by Jim al-Khalili. It's in my local library, so I read it for free.

Which one: Pathfinders (2010) or House of Wisdom (2012)? Can you recommend a review? This is something I've wanted to read more about since listening to the History of Philosophy without any gaps, but haven't had a chance to, yet.