Besides the numerous public libraries (as well as many private libraries), having thousands of books, there were also a large number of small and large bookshops spread across various regions of the medieval Islamic world. Baghdad, for example, prior to destructions by Mongols in 1258, had 36 libraries and over a hundred book-dealers. The ‘Koutoubia Mosque’ the largest mosque in Marrakech, Morocco got its name from Arabic al-Koutoubiyyin for librarian as the mosque was surrounded by booksellers.

After the establishment of first paper mill in Samarqand in 751, many more paper mills were established in the 8th century in Baghdad and other cities and thus paper books became common. A large number of books were being written and published. In al-Andalus (Muslim Spain) alone, 60,000 books were published each year.

One large bookshop and renowned during the medieval period was that owned by Al-Nadim and his father in the 10th century, Baghdad. His bookshop, built on an upper storey of large building, had thousands of books on a wide variety of subjects including philosophy, religion (not only limited to Islam but other religions as well), medicine, literature and others. Al-Nadim and his father had their own scribes for the coping of books. Their bookshop was popular among scholars who also had academic discussions while having refreshments there. Al-Nadim himself was a highly learned man having acquired education from famous scholars including Ibn-Isfahani. In 987, Al-nadim wrote kitab al-Fihrist (‘The Catalogue’ or ‘Book of the Index’) that was an attempt to list all titles of books known till his time.

These bookshops and the great libraries were the result of a great desire for the quest of knowledge and love of books. Quoting Ibn al-Arabi, the 12th century Muslim philosopher.

"A book is the only orchard, I have ever seen which can be put in one's sleeve and the only park which accompanies a man as he goes. The book is the tongue of the dead and the voice of the living. He is an evening visitor who never sleeps until you sleep and never utters a word except what pleases you, never reveals a secret or abuses a deposit."

Al-Masudi, full name: Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Mas'udi, was a 9th century traveler, Historian & Geographer who was born in 896, Baghdad, Iraq and died in 956, Cairo, Eygpt. He was a descendant of Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).

Al-Masudi started traveling in the year 915 (or earlier) and spent the remainder of his life in travel. He visited East Africa, China, Arabia, Indus valley and other parts of India, Sri Lanka, Syria, Egypt, Central Asia and Turkistan. Al-Masudi sailed on the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean and the Caspian Sea.

Al-Masudi wrote the accounts of his travels, the history and geography of the places he visited and the people he met in his books. His last book was ‘Al-Tanbih’ in which he mentioned that thirty-four books had been written by him; unfortunately only four out of his thirty four works have survived.  Two of his most important works are ‘Akhbar az-zaman’ (The History of Time)  - a 30 volume book and ‘Muruj adh-dhahab wa madin al-jawahir’ (The Meadows of Gold and the Mines of Gems) that established his reputation as Historian and he was compared with the ancient Greek Historians ‘Herodotus’. Az-Zaman is now almost completely lost; Muruj adh-dhahab contains abridged text from Az-Zaman besides other text. The earliest translation of Muruj adh-dhahab is that in French, by Barbier de Meynard and Pavet de Courteille, between 1861-77.

In ‘The Meadows of Gold and the Mines of Gems’, Al-Masudi writes:

“The object of these journeys has been to satisfy our thirst for knowledge, and to learn the peculiarities of the various nations and  parts of the world, by witnessing them, and the state of foreign countries, by seeing them; in this way we travelled to India  , Ez-Zinj , Es-Sinf, Ez-Zanij. We have also traversed the East and the West. Sometimes we were in the extremity of Khorasan, other times in the centre of  Armenia  and Adherbuan  , Er-Rin  And El- Bailkax , then again in EL-Irak and in Esh-Sham (Syria). We went from one quarter of the earth to the other as the sun makes his revolutions. As some poet says: " We rambled through the different parts of the country, sometimes we were in the extreme east and other times in the west, like  the sun, the ardour of the mind which remains  unimpaired, is unsatisfied until it reaches the region (the other world,) which cannot be approached by traveling." "

On his travels, he met and interacted with people from religions other than Islam. Camilla Adang in ‘Muslim writers on Judaism and the Hebrew Bible: from Ibn Rabban to Ibn Hazm’ writes about Al-masudi:

“Wherever he went, Al-Masudi sought the company of the representative of different religions and sects. Thus he visited fire temples in Iran and discussed Zoroastrianism with mobeds and herbads; he consulted Christian priests and laymen in Takrit and Antioch, and met Sabians in Harran. It is therefore not surprising to find him in discussion with eminent Jewish scholars in Raqqa, Tiberias and Baghdad.”

The  'Kitab al-Jami fi al-Adwiya al-Mufrada' (The Book of Simple Drugs and Food) is considered as of the largest botanical and pharmaceutical encyclopedia that was written by Ibn al-Baitar in the 13th century.

Ibn al-Baytar's (1188 - 1248) full name was 'Abu Muhammad Abdallah Ibn Ahmad Ibn al-Baitar Dhiya al-Din al-Malaqi' and he was born in Muslim Spain in the city of Malaga. He was the student of the famous Muslim botanist Al-Nabati (author of 'Kitab Al-Rihla' - a book on botany that is now lost but known through the works of Al-Baytar). Al-Baytar left Spain in 1219 to study and research the varieties of plants found in different regions. He traveled a lot and visited many places including Anatolia, Bugia, Constantinople, Tunis, Tripoli, Barqa, Adalia, Palestine, Syria and Arabia.

Kitab al-Jami lists plants, drugs and foods in alphabetical order, giving detailed descriptions, properties, therapeutic values, medicinal uses and synonyms. The book contains 2324 paragraphs and 3000 terms.

Kitab al-Jami was translated in Latin in 1758 and was considered one of the authority books on botany and Pharmacology until the early 19th century.

The botanical encyclopedia 'Kitab al-Nabat' (Book of Plants) was written in the 9th century by Al-Dinawari and is considered one of the earliest works on botany.

Al-dinawai's full name was Abu Hanifah Ahmad ibn Dawud Dinawari  and he was born in Dinawar (Iran) in AD 820.  He was a Muslim polymath  with expertise in Botany, Astronomy, Mathematics, Mechanics, Philosophy, Poetry, Geography and History.

Al-dinawari wrote more than sixteen books on various subjects. The 'Book of Plants' was originally a six volume book but only the third, fifth and sixth (partial)volumes have survived. The book discusses more than 637 varieties of plants, their categorization, evolution stages, medical and physiological properties.

 Al-Dinawari is regarded as the 'Father of Arabic Botany' due to his work presented in this book.

This post is slightly off-topic - something that is, unfortunately, quite frequent but nevertheless very frustrating.

One of my post was plagiarized a few weeks ago and yesterday two more instances of plagiarism of my posts 'List of Muslim scientists' and 'Ibn Sina (Avicenna)' came to my notice. It is frustrating to suddenly find your very own post, written after long hours of hard work, research and dedication, on somebody else's blog - that too under somebody else's name! I fail to understand why people plagiarize. If one doesn't have the talent to write original content, why not do something else that he/she is really good at.........nobody can be expert at everything and everybody is good at something.

To discourage further plagiarism,  I have decided to change the style of my posts. I will be putting less details in each post and would be highlighting only the significant points. This may slightly disappoint the regular readers of this blog to whom I am very grateful for their very encouraging and friendly feedbacks. I feel that the solution to this problem is to put the details in a book form. I especially wish to sincerely thank Mr.George Polley [ Tostada Speaks and  GeogePolleyAuthor ] who had been encouraging me for quite sometime to give this blog a book form. I have a high regard for him not only for his intellect and wisdom, but I truly find him a great person with a loving heart. Thanks Tostada!  One of the first readers of this blog, Tricia has supported me constantly through her positive and touching feedbacks. She has been very sick since last one month and hasn't been online since last ten days. These net friendships are so odd. You do feel the joys and sorrows and feel connected but you feel completely helpless when the other person can't go online!

I hope that my net friends and blog readers will bear this change with me. Definitely, a detailed version with references will appear in the book. I am open to suggestions regarding the blog/book and am looking forward for any input/support/guidance. A sincere thank you for all your support and kind words.