He turned to him for help...

He turned to him for help, wrote to him, and asked permission to send him what he chose of the old books stored in Rome. He (the Romanian King) responded to him after a refusal. Accordingly, al-Mamūn delegated for that a group of persons including al-Hajjājj b. Matar, Ibn al-Batriq, Salam (the keeper of the House of Wisdom), and [1] Tamhid Li Tārikh al-Falsafa, p. 47. others. They chose books from what they found.

When they brought them to al-Mamūn, he ordered them to carry the books to the Depository of Wisdom. [1] Of course, the books translated into Arabic developed Arab and Islamic thought and, in addition, they contributed in improving sciences in Islamic world, for may students worked in studying and understanding them.

The Maps and Observatories Among the aspects of the scientific progress of that time is that al-Mamūn ordered a world map to be drawn and it was called al-Mamūns Map (al-Sura al-Mamūniya) , and it was the first world map to be drawn during the Abbāsid time, as well as he ordered an observatory to be established, and it was established at al-Shammāsiya, a district in Baghdad.

[2] The Dominating Sciences As for the sciences which dominated that time, they were the sciences of the Qurān, which are as follows: 1. The Interpretation of the Qurān This science means interpreting the verses of the Holy Qurān, clarifying their meanings, distinguishing the abrogating verses from the abrogated, the unlimited verses from the limited, the general from the specific, and so on. The interpreters followed two ways in their interpretations: A.

Interpreting the Qurān according to transmitted traditions, by this we mean interpreting the Holy Qurān according to the traditions transmitted from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and his family, and the good Imāms; this method was followed by most Shiite interpreters such as the Interpretation of al-Qummi, al-Burhān, al-Askari, and others. The argument of Shiites concerning this method [1] Ibn al-Nadim, al-Fihrast, p. 339. [2] 'Asr al-Ma'mūn, vol. 1, p. 375.

of interpreting is that it is the Imāms who were singled out for the knowledge of the Qurān, and that it is they who were knowledgeable in interpreting it. Imām Abū Jafar al-Bāqir, peace be on him, said: None can claim that he has knowledge of the surface and deep meaning of the Qurān except the testamentary trustees (i.e. the Imāms).