Scholarly Self-Fashioning in the Islamic Golden Age: Al-Khwarizmi and the House of Wisdom

Abstract

The House of Wisdom was a library and learning institution in Baghdad in the ninth century CE, early in the Islamic Golden Age. Its most famous scholar was Muhammad ibn Musa al–Khwarizmi, often credited with developing the new field that we now call algebra. In this work, I study scholarly life in this period, focusing on themes such as scholarly motivation and influences, cultural pressures, reputation and rivalry, and patronage in the caliphal court. We will see these themes at work in a close analysis of al–Khwarizmi's most celebrated text.