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Just read this book review by Sameer Rahim over breakfast--it's scathing, but he manages to make some errors of history itself. (No thoughts on the actual book -- haven't read it.) For example....
theguardian.com/books/2019/aug…
theguardian.com/books/2019/aug…
1) The Abbasid caliph al-Maʾmūn (r. 813–33) did NOT flog Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal. The caliph did indeed institute *a* miḥnah (his wasn’t the 1st), but only the FINAL YEAR of his caliphate (833). The flogging of Ibn Ḥanbal occurred in 834, while al-Muʿṭaṣim (r. 833–42) was caliph.
2) The House of Wisdom (bayt al-ḥikmah) was NOT an Abbasid translation/science institution, but merely a library. The Abbasid translation movement was diffuse, not centralized, and translated not just Greek, but also Persian, Sanskrit, and Syriac works.
books.google.com/books?id=EUpfy…
books.google.com/books?id=EUpfy…
And that is in a mere 1,000-word review -- time to hit the books again.
*himself (not itself)
