How does innovation happen? What kind of environment encourages it? What drives it? Who manages it and how does innovation feed expansion and growth? In short - what inspires innovation? These are just some of the questions about innovation at the heart of the business world today.
Recognizing that innovation as a process has to occur in an environment that actively encourages it, Dinar Standard is breaking with its practice of highlighting the contributions and innovations of great scholars and scientists in Muslim history.
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In this issue, we look at the person of al-Mamun and the innovative environment he created as a Caliph of the Abbasid dynasty. The atmosphere he created spurred numerous innovations. Indeed innovation itself became a culture and al-Mamun managed this setting to spur this culture. |
Al-Mamun clearly understood innovation in many terms and in various areas - theology, science, philosophy, administration, etc. He took the initiative in pursuing a number of policies that helped spur innovation in various spheres. |
We will highlight some of the salient features of al-Mamun's personal life as they apply to his support and creation of an innovative environment and look at his measures in light of modern innovation theory. Prerequisites for innovation mentioned in a Harvard Business Review article of 2002(1) entitled "Inspiring Innovation" will be used to understand how al-Mamun created this unique setting in which people from different backgrounds were able to come together in the pursuit of learning and innovation.
Al-Mamun the Man
Abu al-Abbas Abd Allah al-Mamun, commonly referred to as Mamun ar-Rashid or just al-Mamun, lived from 786-833 of the Christian era and was the seventh Abbasid caliph who ruled from 813-33 CE. He was the second son of Harun al-Rashid's and succeeded his brother al-Amin after a bitter civil war. Leaving his dynastic politics aside, which may themselves have lessons for modern corporates, Al-Mamun's reign was one of great cultural achievements, and he was especially interested in the work of philosophers and scientists who helped drive commerce and industry.
While we examine al-Mamun's policies in relation to the promotion of science and learning in general it is very important to keep in mind that he nonetheless ruled by absolute decree. In today's terms we might say that he was not the best manager - he kept certain policies open for discussion while he pursued an iron will on others and he took whatever means necessary to make others see things his way.
The tragedy of the Mihna, or Inquisition, was overseen by him and led to the imprisonment of the great Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal as well as a general confrontation with a segment of the scholars of Islam at the time. Therefore, as you read further, keep in mind that accomplishments in one sphere may be tempered by setbacks and bad judgment in another.
As a person, al-Mamun prided himself in his intellectualism which often brought him in confrontation with the orthodox as seen above. He is said to have been given a thorough training in various branches of learning and had a life long interest in learning which in turn fed his policies related to science and learning in general. Also, as a reflection of his progressive thinking in some areas, it is said that it was only after his time, in the era of the later Abbasids, that women were kept from the forefront of public life. According to Prof. Akbar Ahmed, "Arab maidens as stateswomen, as commanders of troops, as poets and as musicians were prominent" in al-Mamun's time(2).
To reiterate then, al-Mamun oversaw a truly glorious period in the sciences and arts. But he was also the cause of widespread persecution of his opponents.
Creating an Innovation Environment
Al-Mamun clearly understood innovation in many terms and in various areas - science, philosophy, administration, etc. He took the initiative in pursuing a number of policies that helped spur innovation in these spheres. Interspersed in the text are bolded phrases representing the policies needed to fully support innovation as an independent process. These phrases have been culled from the HBR article cited above.
Right: A postage stamp issued by the USSR in 1983 to commemorate the 1200th anniversary of Muhammad al-Khowarizmi, after whom algorithms are named. Khowarizmi was part of the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikma,) an institution for education and research founded by the caliph al-Ma'mun.
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Before we move on, it's important to understand that along with al-Mamun's apparent desire to spur science and learning there were other factors that fed the need to innovate and progress. For example, just as in a modern day corporation, there is growth and expansion in a state. The Abbasid Empire was often engaged in bids to expand its borders which brought new influences and ideas to the center.
Al-Mamun had to understand the challenges inherent in this process. By regulating and overseeing the process of innovation al-Mamun was able to maintain a measure of central control.
In the very least he created a model at the center for science and the arts that could be emulated at the periphery allowing similar environments to be created again and again. Also, the growing society was itself becoming aware of its position as an heir to the great civilizations of humanity which al-Mamun was to use to bring the major ideas of history to his land for debate and discussion.
As a first step al-Mamun strived to make innovation the norm by creating an environment in which discovery and experimentation were fully supported. As capital of the caliphate, Baghdad was to become the cultural capital of the Islamic world. Baghdad reached its zenith of cultural development during his time. He transformed the caliphal library, which his father had founded in Baghdad into a virtual university.
Al-Mamun founded the Bayt al Hikmah in the 8th century which included a library and an observatory. Here he maintained a staff of translators, copyists, and bookbinders. He hand picked and sponsored philosophers, linguists, physicians, mathematicians, astronomers, jurists and other scholars through the state treasury and supported the translation of texts from many languages including Greek, Syriac, and Sanskrit.
Large scale astronomical observational instruments were already in use during his reign for organized research projects and Baghdad in time became the location that gave rise to the precursor of the modern university system - the Madrasah.
Al-Mamun ruled over an Empire which extended from the shores of the Atlantic in the West to the Great Wall of China in the East. He was endowed with intelligence, administrative ability, and versatile tastes. While watching over his vast dominion al-Mamun worked to recruit the best talent and "rallied around him a galaxy of talented scholars and scientists.(3)" This ensured that the prime directive for al-Mamun was always progress and innovation.
He also encouraged the talented to experiment like crazy. For example, Al Farghani was one of al Mamun's astronomers who wrote on the astrolabe, explained the mathematical theory behind it and corrected faulty geometrical constructions of the central disc which were prevalent then.
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Muhammad Ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi also flourished under Al- Mamun at Baghdad. Khwarizmi was a mathematician, astronomer and geographer. He was the founder of several branches and basic concepts of mathematics and in the words of Phillip Hitti, he influenced mathematical thought to a greater extent than any other medieval writer. In fact his name is the source of the world algorithm and it is from his work Hisab Al-Jabr wal Mugabalah (Book of Calculations, Restoration and Reduction) that the discipline of Algebra (Al-Jabr) derived its name. |
Al-Kindi: Arab pharmacologist, musician, writer, philosopher, astronomer and calligrapher. Caliph Al-Ma'mun appointed him to the House of Wisdom in Baghdad.
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Other luminaries who flourished under his rule include Al-Kindi, a philosopher, mathematician, physicist, astronomer physician, geographer and even an expert in music as well as Al-Hasan of Baghdad who was one of the earliest scholars to build an astronomical observatory, and the Banu Musa brothers who Al-Mamun sponsored himself and encouraged in their study of engineering, astronomy, and mathematics.
Al-Mamun worked to constantly inject fresh thinking into the environment he created. He was exemplary in his treatment of non-Muslim so he hired outsiders to help his domain understand fresh ideas and to expand the horizons of knowledge. Many of the scientists under the Abbasids were not Muslims. These included Hunayn ibn Ishaq al-Ibadi, a Nestorian Christian, among many others.
Al-Mamun in fact had an academic circle of his own in which men of learning of many creeds used to meet. In order to focus these circles on learning and discovery he worked to stop the bickering and advised men of learning in his dominion to keep their discussions limited to learning without engendering controversy based on differing conceptions of religious themes. Even in general national academic circles people witnessed the mixing of experts of various branches of knowledge and various creeds with minimal polemics(4).
This allowed each circle to discuss pure knowledge in efforts to understand one another. As noted above, he used coercion in certain spheres or with certain people as well which is a glaring example of what not to do when managing an innovation environment.
Lessons for Business Today
In many ways al-Mamun oversaw an organization which was not too different from the modern corporation. He had to manage and oversee multiple ministries, maintain peace between differing ethnic and religious communities in a heterogeneous population, emphasize common goals, and establish a social network that would ensure comfort for his subjects. Similarly, in modern corporates one has to manage workers from various parts of the world, create focus on the company's vision and goals, and recruit and retain the best talent while rewarding them financially and with quality of life benefits.
Al-Mamun was able, during his 20 years of rule, to spur learning and innovation in the sciences and arts by enacting policies that allowed the free exchange of ideas and valued contributions by all types of people. The level of succession planning needed to maintain the right focal points was not a priority in a dynastic system nor was impartiality. These led to the strong arm tactics mentioned above.
It was after his reign that the caliphate began to decline owing to a shift from an emphasis on growth, learning, and innovation to stagnation and imperial pride which lost site of the need to maintain a forward looking posture. Similarly, one often finds the same problem in modern corporations where successor CEOs do not have the vision to carry forward the innovative legacies of past leaders.
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(1) "Inspiring Innovation", Harvard Business Review. August, 2002.
(2) Ahmed, A. S. Discovering Islam: Making sense of Muslim history and society. London: Routledge, 1988, 42.
(3) Ahmad, K. J. Hundred Great Muslims. Des Plaines, Library of Islam, 1987, 370.
(4) Siba'i, M. The Islamic Civilization. Milipitas, Awakening Publications, 2002, 86.
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