Bayt al-Hikmah: The Arab legacy behind the West’s rise

Jonathan Lyons’s ‘House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilisation’ (Bloomsbury Publishing) is a powerful and extensively detailed work on how the intellectual tradition of the Arab world shaped and, in a very true sense, saved the Western thought from the darkness of ignorance and superstition.

Divided into four evocatively titled parts, ‘Al-Isha’, ‘Al-Fajar’, ‘Al-Zuhur’, and ‘Al-Asar’, the book traces the arc of knowledge from its flourishing in the East to its appropriation and erasure in the West.

At the heart of the story is Adelard of Bath, a twelfth-century English scholar who stands as the central figure in the book.

Lyons takes Adelard’s journey to the Arab East as a prism through which he examines the transmission of scientific and philosophical knowledge. Adelard’s translations of Arabic texts-most famously the works of al-Khwarizmi-inaugurated the scientific awakening of medieval Europe, yet his bequest would later be obscured by Western scholars intent upon attributing these advances solely to Greek sources and erasing the contributions of Arab thinkers.

The book commences with the Crusades and explains that the first major encounter the West had with the Arab world was not marked by intellectual curiosity but only by violence and greed.

On November 27, 1095, Pope Urban II began an address to the princes of Christendom in Clermont, France, urging them to leave behind their internecine wars and channel their aggression towards the “unbelievers” of the East.

Lyons argues that the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 -- where the Seljuks wrested Anatolia from Byzantine control -- was a catalyst, but the real driving forces behind the Crusades were Western greed and rivalry.

The Crusaders’ brutality is laid bare. Lyons documents how, even before massacring Muslims in the East, the holy warriors first turned their wrath on Jews.

Edessa was the first city to fall, and disunity among the Arab and Muslim rulers was a significant factor in facilitating the advance of the Crusaders. Jerusalem fell on July 15, 1099, yet the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad did nothing to defend the holy city, and the political fragmentation of the Muslim world was starkly evident.

From the second chapter onwards, Lyons concentrates on the intellectual thievery that followed the military campaigns. He describes how Western scholars hijacked the scientific achievements of the Arabs without often giving due recognition to them.

The cathedral school at Laon stood at the pinnacle of learning in the West and did not even understand the concept of zero while the Arab East was ablaze with scientific investigation and innovation.

Lyons points out that Catalonia, by reason of its proximity to Muslim Spain, was the most advanced region in Europe in scientific thought. He gives the example of Isidore of Seville, who insisted that the Earth was flat, and Gerbert of Aurillac, who proclaimed its roundness-a knowledge he had acquired from the Muslims.

The Arabs had built a four-way highway of learning, embarking on massive projects of translation first and then interpretation of Aristotle and the Greeks, Persians, and Hindus. Their contributions were made in mathematics, astronomy, astrology, cosmology, and other allied sciences.

The West’s ignorance was so profound that the Black Death was seen as God’s punishment. It was only because of the Muslim medical knowledge that the disease was perceived as curable.

Lyons further reveals that while in the eleventh century, the papal church was consolidating its power, the Muslim caliphate was losing its religious authority and thereby suffered internal disintegration.

The book covers the Abbasid period, and more specifically, Al-Mansur, the second Abbasid caliph, founded Baghdad - as Madinat al-Salaam - in 762, which was completed in 765.

The Abbasids defeated the Chinese at the Battle of Talas in 751, introducing paper to the Muslim world, thus starting a scientific renaissance. The first paper factory was established in Baghdad in 795, and by the time Al-Mustansiriya Madrassa was founded in 1234, its initial endowment from the caliph’s own library included 80 thousand books.

Lyons relates that Indian scholars who came at the invitation of Al-Mansur brought Hindu scientific texts with them to Baghdad, which turned out to be the turning point in Arab astronomy and mathematics.

Abbasid diplomacy was another means of knowledge acquisition. Missions sent to the Byzantine court obtained Greek texts of Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Galen, and Euclid. A copy of Ptolemy’s Almagest was even one of the conditions of peace between the two powers.

Al-Mamun, who memorised the Quran in childhood, comes across as a towering intellectual figure. Under him, astrology and classical science thrived. In 825, al-Khwarizmi translated the Hindu Siddhantas, and Al-Mamun ordered a world map prepared which also contained the Great Wall of China -- later perfected by Al-Idrisi under Roger II of Sicily, a testimony of the influence of Muslims in Europe.

Returning to Adelard of Bath, Lyons writes that long before his arrival in Antioch, the West had been cut off from centres of scientific and philosophical advancement due to ignorance, disorder, and religious isolationism.

The natural world was largely unexplored, and early scientific inquiry was often met with accusations of sorcery or demonic influence.

Lyons critiques the Renaissance scholar Roger Bacon for linking Adelard’s work to Euclid and Aristotle while erasing the Arab contributions that made such connections possible.

Adelard’s translation of al-Khwarizmi into Latin was instrumental in launching the West’s medieval scientific quest. Even the development of constitutional thought in the West, Lyons argues, was influenced by concepts originating in the Arab East, a legacy that was later distorted and denied.

‘House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilisation’ is not just a historical account, but a powerful indictment of how intellectual legacies are shaped, appropriated, and erased.

Lyons restores the Arab world to its rightful place in the history of science and philosophy, offering readers a nuanced understanding of how East and West once met -- not in battle, but in the pursuit of knowledge. What emerges is a sobering reflection on the politics of memory and the selective scaffolding of Western intellectual heritage.

By tracing the transmission of ideas across linguistic, religious, and imperial boundaries, Lyons challenges the reader to reconsider the foundations of modern scientific thought.

His work underscores the importance of historical humility and the need to acknowledge the plural origins of knowledge systems that have long been presented as monolithic.

In doing so, ‘House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilisation’ not only reclaims a suppressed legacy but also invites a broader conversation about the ethics of cultural inheritance and the enduring consequences of epistemic erasure.

Daanish Bin Nabi is a journalist based in New Delhi.