The Arab Golden Age
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The Arab Golden Age
While Europe was caught in the Dark Ages in the centuries that followed the demise of the Roman Empire, the Ageless Wisdom found expression in the Arab world, centred around the city of Baghdad. People from throughout the known world converged in the newly built round city in a manner that brought new levels of prosperity and growth to society that would radiate around the world in profound ways.
Beginning with the founding of Baghdad as a city in the 8th century, what is often referred to as the Islamic Golden Age, was a period of immense growth in science, philosophy and in the way society lived and expanded. The Abbasid family lineage, related to the prophet Mohammed, held the central focus in much of western and central Asia, north Africa, and into the Iberian peninsula, for around 500 years, up until the Mongol invasion of Baghdad in the 13th century.
It was the second Abbasid, Al Mansur, who received the impulse to build a city as the centre for the burgeoning empire. This city was a round city 12 miles across, on the banks of the Tigris River. It was here that Al Mansur’s grandson, Harun Al Rashid and his family founded the House of Wisdom within this walled City, a city that was to become the largest and most prosperous centre on the planet for several centuries. Harun Al Rashid instructed those who were part of the House of Wisdom to embark on translating all the great philosophical and scientific works of antiquity into Arabic. It was here that people were drawn from around the known world to share in their expertise in language, in science, in astronomy and astrology, in music and art, and in mathematics and geography. It was truly a melting pot of religion, science and philosophy, and this was mirrored in the diversity of those men and women who not only worked together in the school, but who also lived freely in the community and society that flourished in Baghdad. Al Rashid’s mother, Al Khayzuran, was to be central within the ruling class, respected and honoured as a woman and as an equal to all men.
Why were so many drawn to Baghdad? And why was the empire as a whole so expansive, prosperous and alive at a time when Europe was suffering in contraction and darkness? The leadership of the Abbasids fostered the development of awareness and truth, and recognised the advances of those who had gone before, those of the ancient Greeks, the Egyptians, the Persians and also the wisdom held in the Far East, in India and China. They did not see themselves as superior to these prior societies, nor to the ways of those who had lineage within the empire itself, in particular the Persians. The ways of the Arabs were largely welcomed by the many. Baghdad itself was incredibly multicultural and benefited hugely from the skills and experience of the various inhabitants. The openness of society fostered the celebration of unity and togetherness resulting in shared prosperity and the expansion of the wisdom passed down from the earlier golden ages. The benefits of these advances flowed very naturally into greater society, where the truths of the Ageless Wisdom were integrated into daily life, into commerce, trade, accountancy, law and order.
Central to the House of Wisdom was a Persian man known as Al Khwarismi. A follower of the ancient Zoroastrian religion, he travelled to India on the ‘Silk Road’ through what is today Afghanistan, travelling on camel and horses. His purpose in doing this was to study the mathematics that the Hindi scholars used, as he had heard of the advanced nature of their system of using numbers and numerals. The entirety of Europe and western Asia was still using Roman numerals as a number system, and this restricted the natural development of mathematics. Al Khwarismi brought the Hindi system back to Baghdad and taught it to all in the House of Wisdom, with it subsequently becoming the accepted system for numbering and calculation throughout the caliphate. This system was later to reach Europe in time for the Renaissance there, several centuries later. This numbering system facilitated the progression of mathematics and the development of Algebra, coined by Al Khwarismi as Al Jabra, the balancing of numbers, indeed the core of which is harmony.
Harmony is definitely a term which can be used to describe the many aspects of life that unfolded within and around Baghdad. Indeed, the light of harmony shone from Baghdad in all directions around the world, as the city itself had been impulsed by and through the stars.
This had been honoured by the leaders of the time, and so a grand livingness of light unfolded within Baghdad. The importance of the Stars was central to the House of Wisdom, with both astronomy and astrology held as foundational to all science and philosophy. In this way the wisdom that was embraced through the translation of the Greek, Persian, Egyptian and Sanskrit texts was brought to life in ways that it had not been experienced before on such a scale. With all that flourished within the House of Wisdom being integrated in the community of Baghdad, a large group of Initiates worked and lived as a unified brotherhood, where creed and gender were irrelevant in the pursuit of true wisdom for all.
Baghdad was a star on earth.
Many embraced what was offered by the Arab Golden Era, for it embraced all people as equals. There was a strong focus on law and order under the rule of the Abbasids at this time. A fair and accurate tax system, laws that did not discriminate based on ethnicity, birth or status meant that society flourished and grew during this time. Invasions from China were quashed also.
The House of Wisdom and the city of Baghdad became not only a centre for society and for wealth, but a treasure place of true wisdom. Thousands of books were written, as the wisdom of the Alexandrian library had been transferred to Baghdad. Central to this was the Corpus Hermeticum, the works based on the teachings of Hermes. It is here that the importance of a connection to the Stars is founded. Astronomy was greatly studied and advanced at this time, with the stars and the entire visible universe seen as a living being which we are not only a part of, but an expression of. Life on earth was very much imbued with a living light from God through the Stars. With Europe experiencing the ‘Dark Ages’, the Arab world was responding to the light, both within and above. The stellar world was mapped with great accuracy during this time, with many expansions and corrections made to the works of Ptolemy. Parallel to the mapping of the sky was the mapping of the Earth. Geographers around the known world worked together under the instruct of Al Khwarismi and the House of Wisdom to map with accuracy the latitudes and longitudes of all localities, mountains and rivers, essentially constructing a map of the known world including the northern coast of Australia. Like the Constellations above, the topography and cartography of the Earth’s surface and Man’s relationship with this earthly realm, was studied and mapped as a unified collection of points, each connecting and relating in a particular manner. ‘As above so it is below’, the ancient parable laid out by Hermes, was lived by those who studied the temporal world and the stellar world, and so the sciences of geography and astronomy were inseparable to the Arab scholars of the world some 1200 years ago.
Baghdad as a centre, shone as a light around the planet, activating and igniting the light in many people. It held the essence of the Ageless Wisdom for all during an era when much of the world stagnated in darkness. The wisdom of earlier eras and teachers was held within the Arab world, and this was expanded upon and lived in ways that were incredibly beautiful, preparing the way for the Renaissance that was about to be ignited in Europe just a few centuries later. Indeed, much of the body of wisdom held within the Arab world was to make its way directly into Europe in the form of books translated from Arabic into Latin and other European languages. Islam, as a religion and a consciousness would meanwhile be used and abused by nations and fanatical interests. Like many movements that have a pure essence, it became corrupted.
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