Rereading Islamic History: Between the Loss of Sources and Reinterpretation

Introduction

If the familiar saying that “history is written by the victors” contains a considerable measure of truth, it requires us to reconsider much of the historical narrative that has reached us, especially when it concerns the history of a community whose civilization spanned many centuries.

History is not always written as a neutral record of events; rather, it is often shaped by political, military, and intellectual power. When a civilization is defeated or weakened, its history becomes vulnerable to reinterpretation, distortion, or even concealment.

For this reason, some scholars maintain that Islamic history must be read with a critical eye rather than a mindset of passive reception, particularly when we take into account the destruction inflicted on Islamic centers of learning and the subsequent transfer of manuscripts to the West during the colonial eras.

Does the history that has reached us represent the complete picture? Or is it merely part of a larger narrative written under the influence of power and domination?

First: The Destruction of Islamic Libraries and the Loss of Original Evidence

The Fall of Baghdad in 1258 CE

When the army of Hülegü Khan invaded Baghdad and overthrew the Abbasid caliphate, the city suffered immense destruction. Among the most prominent casualties of this invasion was the renowned center of learning, the “House of Wisdom,” which held thousands of manuscripts in medicine, astronomy, mathematics, and philosophy.

Historical sources such as Ibn Kathir’s “The Beginning and the End” recount that a large number of books were thrown into the Tigris River, to the point that the water was said to have changed color from the abundance of ink. However much numerical estimates may differ, what is certain is that the fall of Baghdad led to the loss of an important part of the scholarly heritage.

The Burning of Books in al-Andalus after the Fall of Granada

Following the fall of Granada in 1492 CE, a new phase began in the erasure of the Islamic presence in al-Andalus. In 1499 CE, Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros oversaw the burning of thousands of Arabic manuscripts in the city’s squares, encompassing medicine, philosophy, jurisprudence, and language. This incident was not merely a religious undertaking, but an attempt to sever the connection between new generations and their scholarly and cultural heritage.

The Destruction of the Library of Tripoli

In the eleventh century, the city of Tripoli in the Levant housed one of the largest libraries in the Islamic world. When the Crusaders took control of the city in 1109 CE, however, the library was destroyed. Some accounts indicate that it contained tens of thousands of manuscripts in various fields of knowledge.

Second: The Transfer of Manuscripts in the Colonial Era

The loss of Islamic heritage was not confined to earlier wars, but continued in different forms in the modern era. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as European colonial influence expanded, thousands of manuscripts were transferred to Europe.

Among the most prominent institutions that now hold vast collections of Islamic manuscripts are the British Library, the Vatican Library, and the National Library of France. These manuscripts reached them through various routes, including purchases from booksellers in the East, transfers during military campaigns, and collection through Orientalist expeditions.

Napoleon’s Campaign in Egypt

When Napoleon Bonaparte led his campaign in Egypt in 1798 CE, he was accompanied by dozens of scientists and researchers who collected large quantities of documents, manuscripts, and antiquities. Some of these materials were transferred to Europe and subsequently became part of Orientalist studies.

Third: Orientalism and the Reinterpretation of History

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, an intellectual current known as Orientalism emerged in Europe. Orientalists devoted themselves to studying the Arabic language, the Qur’an, and Islamic history. Among the best-known of these scholars were Bernard Lewis, Ignaz Goldziher, and Joseph Schacht.

Some of them produced important studies, but some of their views sparked extensive debate among Muslim scholars, particularly when they attempted to interpret Islamic history from a cultural or political perspective different from that of traditional narratives.

Fourth: Distorting the Image of Islamic Civilization

In some modern narratives, particularly in certain older Western curricula, the Islamic conquests were portrayed as mere military expansion, whereas numerous historical sources indicate that they also contributed to the spread of new administrative and legal systems, as well as a broad scholarly movement.

Historical figures such as Khalid ibn al-Walid and Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi have likewise appeared in historical narratives in contrasting portrayals, ranging from admiration for their military abilities to criticism of their political roles. This illustrates how readings of history are often shaped by the writer’s perspective and cultural context.

Fifth: The Great Deception in the Writing of History

When original sources of knowledge are lost, manuscripts move into different cultural environments, and events are reinterpreted through multiple schools of thought, it becomes possible for a new picture of history to take shape that differs from the original narrative.

Deception is not always a direct conspiracy; it may instead result from the cumulative interaction of several factors: the loss of original sources, the influence of political power, and differences in scholars’ cultural backgrounds. Over time, certain interpretations become “facts” in public consciousness, even though they were originally only partial readings of history.

Sixth: How Do We Reread History?

Returning to early Islamic sources, such as the works of Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari and Abd al-Rahman ibn Khaldun. Preparing rigorous scholarly editions of old manuscripts, by comparing different copies and examining them linguistically and historically. Comparing multiple accounts, rather than relying on a single source. Drawing on auxiliary disciplines, such as archaeology and documentary studies. And Making the Noble Qur’an a normative reference in reading history, for it is the only text that describes itself as preserved from distortion:

﴿لَا يَأْتِيهِ الْبَاطِلُ مِن بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ وَلَا مِنْ خَلْفِهِ﴾ (Falsehood does not approach it from before it or from behind it.) [Fussilat: 42]

The Qur’an does not merely present historical narratives in isolation, but sets out history within a comprehensive framework: the historical dimension through accounts of earlier communities; the economic dimension through discussions of trade, wealth, and justice in the distribution of wealth; the social dimension through the regulation of relationships; the political dimension through the presentation of models of governance, justice, and injustice; and the legislative dimension through laws that regulate human life.

It can therefore be regarded as an ethical and normative reference that helps in evaluating narratives and understanding the course of civilizations, because it does not recount events merely for the sake of narration, but connects them to the regularities governing the rise and fall of nations.

Seventh: From Istanbul, Damascus, and Cairo

Istanbul. As the Ottoman state weakened in the nineteenth century, a number of Orientalists and European scholarly expeditions began collecting manuscripts from the libraries of Istanbul, which was a major center of Ottoman Islamic heritage. Many of these manuscripts were transferred to European research institutions and libraries, where they became part of the archive of Oriental studies: some through purchase or donation, and others amid weak oversight during the period of Ottoman decline.

Damascus. Over the centuries, it was an important center of learning, with libraries rich in manuscripts on jurisprudence, hadith, language, and the sciences. During the nineteenth century, a number of Orientalists collected manuscript copies from these libraries and transferred them to Europe for study and critical editing. Many eventually reached Western libraries and research centers, becoming a fundamental source for academic studies.

Cairo. As European influence increased, scholarly expeditions took an interest in collecting Arabic and Islamic manuscripts held in mosques and private libraries. Napoleon’s campaign helped draw European researchers’ attention to the value of the region’s scholarly heritage, subsequently leading to the transfer of a number of documents and manuscripts to research centers in Europe. Some of these are still undergoing critical editing today.

Eighth: From Manuscript to Print in a Time of Weakness

With the advent of the modern era, a major transformation occurred in the way knowledge was preserved and transmitted: the transition from handwritten manuscripts to printing. In the Islamic world, however, this transformation came late compared with Europe, where Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the fifteenth century. Arabic printing did not become widespread until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with the establishment of the Bulaq Press in Cairo among its most prominent manifestations.

This transition came at a time when Islamic states were undergoing a period of political and scholarly weakness. In this context, many books were transferred from manuscripts into printed editions without always undergoing a rigorous process of scholarly editing, as some publishers relied on a limited number of manuscript copies without comprehensive comparison.

As printing spread, the printed edition became the principal reference for readers and researchers, while thousands of original manuscripts remained dispersed across the world’s libraries. Over time, these editions can become the most widely circulated account, even if they represent only one of several versions of a text or accounts of an event. When educational institutions adopt these editions for teaching, the same narrative passes from generation to generation, becoming part of collective consciousness.

Conclusion: Do We Possess the Complete Picture of History?

History is not merely a record of past events; it is one of the most important instruments shaping nations’ consciousness and determining how they view themselves and the world around them. The way history is written is therefore not solely a scholarly matter, but often a matter of power, influence, and intellectual impact.

When we consider what Islamic heritage has suffered over the centuries—the destruction of libraries, the loss of manuscripts, the transfer of large numbers of them outside the Islamic world, and then the reinterpretation of events through different schools of thought—it becomes legitimate to ask: Is what we read today the complete picture of history, or is it part of a narrative shaped by particular political and cultural circumstances?

Whoever possesses the ability to formulate the historical narrative has a profound influence on shaping the consciousness of generations, because an understanding of the past is what frames a person’s conception of the present and the future.

Reclaiming the reading of history is therefore not merely an inquiry into the past, but an essential step toward understanding the present and building a more balanced awareness of the future.