A Thematic Analysis of the Bayt al-Hikma Narrative: The Construction of History

Abstract

This study examines Bayt al-Ḥikma, one of the most frequently referenced institutions in the history of Islamic science and civilization. Commonly associated with the Abbasid era, the institution is intricately tied to the narratives surrounding the translation movement and holds a prominent position in modern academic discourse. Despite the scarcity of detailed historical sources, the persistence of elaborate and consistent portrayals of Bayt al-Ḥikma reveals a problematic contradiction in the historical record. While the available data remains limited, certain widely accepted narratives continue to circulate without undergoing critical scrutiny. This raises important questions about the relationship between the objective truth value of historical knowledge and its narrative construction.

This study aims to identify the dominant narrative frameworks concerning Bayt al-Ḥikma in contemporary Turkish academic literature and critically analyze them considering the historical and epistemological assumptions they reflect. Qualitative research methodology was adopted, and thematic analysis was employed. The sample comprised six master’s theses written in Turkey between 2015 and 2024, all of which focused on Bayt al-Ḥikma and the translation movement.

The analysis identified three central narrative categories: “the learned actor,” “institutional capacity,” and “civilizational mission.” These themes converge under the broader concept of historical construction, illustrating how events are reinterpreted through specific ideological and methodological perspectives. The findings suggest that researchers often portray historical reality as a coherent and objective entity, reflecting an underlying alignment with positivist paradigms. Overall, this study provides a critical reflection on the narrativization of the past, using Bayt al-Ḥikma as a case study to explore the possibilities and limitations of constructing comprehensive historical accounts from fragmented sources.