Ideas: A History from Fire to Freud

35. Angold, Op. cit., page 67. Calligraphy was important in all walks of life, political as well as religious, and many objects were adorned with writing or, in some cases, simply with beautiful letters which had no intrinsic meaning relevant to the context. Two forms of calligraphic script in particular developed in tenth-century Baghdad. These were Kufic and Nashki, the first of which emerged in a religious tradition, and the latter in a secular, bureaucratic tradition. Kufic tends now to be used in traditional religious contexts, whereas Nashki is used for historical purposes, often against richly decorated backgrounds. Hourani, Op. cit., page 56.

36. Apart from its prohibitions on the visual depiction of the human form, Islam was also inherently hostile to music. In yet another hadith, Muhammad described the musical instrument as ‘the devil’s muezzin’, the means by which he called people to worship him. Despite this, the Umayyads did patronise music at their court, to the extent that ‘four great singers’ are still remembered, one of whom, Ibn Surayj (c. 634–726), is credited with being the man who introduced the baton for conducting musical performances. Hitti, Op. cit., page 275.

37. Lewis, Op. cit., page 75.

38. Ibid., page 77.

39. Hitti, Op. cit., page 301.

40. Ibid., page 303.

41. In 988, al-Nadim composed al-Fihrist, a sort of compendium of books then available in this city and this gives some idea of the range of ideas and activities then current. He refers to manuscripts devoted to such subjects as hypnotism, sword-swallowing, glass-chewing and juggling. But there were more serious subjects too.

42. Howard R. Turner, Science in Medieval Islam

, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995, pages 28–29 and 132–133.

43. Boyer, Op. cit., pages 211ff.

44. P. M. Holt et al. (editors), The Cambridge History of Islam, volume 2, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1970, page 743.

45. Hugh Kennedy, The Court of the Caliphs: The Rise and Fall of Islam’s Greatest Dynasty, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004, pages 246 and 255. William Wightman, The Growth of Scientific Ideas, Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1950, page 322.

46. Dimitri Gutas, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture, London: Routledge, 1998, page 132. Kennedy, Op. cit., pages 258–259.

47. The translation of Greek, Persian and Indian authors was encouraged by the introduction of paper. This was a Chinese invention, probably from the first century AD. According to tradition, paper reached the Middle East in 751 after the Arabs had captured some Chinese prisoners at the battle of Talas (in modern Kyrgystan, 150 miles north-east of Tashkent). On this account, the prisoners taught their conquerors how to manufacture the new product and their lives were spared. This is now thought unlikely, however, as it appears that Chinese painters, weavers and goldsmiths were living in Kufa, in southern Iraq, at the time of the Arab conquest. Almost certainly they were familiar with papermaking as well. But it doesn’t change the point that this was another important idea/invention that flourished in Baghdad having come from outside. The ancient Arabic word for paper, kaghdad, is derived from Chinese. In Baghdad, there was an area of the city known as the Suq al-warraqin, the Stationer’s Market: lining its streets were more than a hundred shops selling paper. Baghdad was an important centre of papermaking and, for the Byzantines at least, it was the best. They referred to paper as bagdatixon and the standard size, 73 cm × 110 cm, was known as a ‘Baghdadi sheet’. There were many different types, usually named after rulers: Talhi paper, Nui paper, Tahiri paper. Paper was the new technology and the Arabs were the masters. Jonathan Bloom, Paper Before Print, Op. cit.

See also Gutas, Op. cit., page 13.

48. Howard R. Turner, Science in Medieval Islam, Op. cit., page 133.

49. Ibid., page 139.

50. Hitti, Op. cit., pages 364–365.

51. His book on this subject went through forty editions between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. Turner, Op. cit., page 135.

52. He was born in the ninth century in the central Asian region of Bukhara and, early on in his career – to great acclaim – cured the local ruler of an illness. This gave him access to that ruler’s formidable library which, combined with Ibn Sina’s phenomenal memory, turned him into one of the most impressive synthesisers of all time.