Libraries & Bookshops 📚

Invention/Contribution:

• Muslim civilization became a book culture, with some of the earliest and largest libraries and public bookshops in the world.

• In Baghdad, by the 9th–10th century, there were entire streets filled with bookshops.

• Major libraries like the House of Wisdom (Baghdad), Al-Hakam II’s library (Córdoba) with over 400,000 volumes, and libraries in Cairo, Damascus, and Timbuktu became legendary.

• Paper-making (learned from China, perfected in Samarkand) made books affordable and widely available.

Why it matters:

• Helped preserve knowledge from across civilizations.

• Created a culture of reading, debate, and scholarship accessible to scholars and ordinary citizens alike.

• Inspired Europe’s later printing and library systems

Books Notes:

• Public book collections were so widespread that it was impossible to find a mosque, the place of learning, without a collection of books.

• in Bagdad, there were over 36 libraries with over 10,000 volume of books per library

• Umayyad rulers of Spain had a library of over 400,000 volume of books

• Travelling scholars were given free accommodation, food, and stationary

• Librarians were appointed to take charge and this was an honoured position only for the most learned.

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”

Cicero (fits beautifully to highlight Muslim passion for libraries and books)

"The book is silent as long as you need silence, eloquent whenever you want discourse. It never interrupts you if you are engaged, but if you feel lonely it will be a good companion. It is a friend who never deceives or flatters you, and it is a companion who does not grow tired of you."

Al-Jahiz, Muslim Philosopher and Man of Literature, 8th Century, Basra, Iraq