Bayt al-Hikmah and its importance during translation period

Establishing dominance over a wide territory with the newly conquered regions, Muslims came in contact with different cultures and civilisations in these lands. Both the internal dynamics of the religion of Islam and also various social, cultural and political factors transformed the city of Baghdad, the capital city of the Abbasids in the 9th century AD, into a centre of science and philosophy. As a result of the translation activities that climaxed with Bayt al-Hikmah, which completed its development and systematised during the reign of al-Ma'mun, the philosophy and science literature produced in languages like Greek, in particular, Syriac, Persian and Hindi was translated into Arabic and thus the heritage of ancient civilisations became accessible to Muslims. In the first part of the study, historical process and intellectual background that opened the way for the translation movement were addressed in detail. In the second part the foundation of the Bayt al-Hikmah and its working were evaluated. Also examining the topic of patronage, translators, and their translations, the impact of translation in Islamic culture was discussed. As a result, the present study analysed the influence of the Bayt al-Hikmah and translation activities on the formation of the philosophical thought in the world of Islam. Keywords: House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikma), period of translations, translation activities, Abbasids