Evidence from Three Early Historians that the Library of Alexandria was Destroyed by Order of Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab

"Then one day Yaḥyā said to ʿAmr, “You have control of everything in Alexandria, and have seized all sorts of things in it.” “Anything which is of use to you I will not object to, but anything which is not useful to you we have a priority over you,” said ʿAmr to him, (adding) “What do you want of them?” (Yaḥyā) said, “The books of wisdom which are in the royal stores; they have fallen under your responsibility, but you don’t have any use for them, while we do need them.” (ʿAmr) said to him: “Who gathered [vii] these books, and what is (so) important about them?” and Yaḥyā answered him: “Ptolemy Philadelphus, one of the kings of Alexandria; in his reign, science and the people of science were in esteem, and he searched for the books of knowledge and ordered them to be collected, and he dedicated a special store-houses to them. They were assembled, and he entrusted the responsibility to a man named Zamira [viii]; and he supported him in order that he could collect them, [after] searching for them and buying them and inciting sellers to bring them and he did so. And in a short time he had assembled 54,120 books.

"When the king was informed of the [successful] collection and verified this number he told Zamīra: “Do you think that there is a book remaining in the world that we don’t have?” And Zamīra said: There are still in the world a great mass [of books], as in Sind, and in India and in Persia and in Jurjan [ancient Hyrcania] and in Armenia and Babylonia and Mosul and among the Byzantines [ix]. And the king was pleased with this and he told him: “Continue in pursuing [your duty]; and so he did until the death of the king. And these books are until today kept and preserved as the responsibility of the governors working for the kings and their successors. And ‘Amr started to wish [to have] for himself what he was hearing from Yaḥyā and he was impressed with it, but he told him: “I cannot make any order without first asking the permission of the Prince of the Believers [x] ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb; and he wrote to ‘Umar, informing him of Yaḥyā’s speech as we have reported it and asking for his instructions about what to do. And he received a letter from ‘Umar telling him [what follows]: “As for the books you mention, if there is in it what complies with the Book of God [Q’uran], then it is already there and is not needed and if what is in these books contradict the Book of God there is no need for it. And you can then proceed in destroying them.” ‘Amr ibn al-‘Āṣ then ordered by law [xi] that they should be dispersed in the public baths and to burn them in the bath’s heaters. And I was told that at that time several public baths used [the books] for heating, bringing some fame to new public baths which later on were forgotten afterwards and it is said that they had enough heating for six months. One who listens to what has happened can only be amazed!"

In another blog post dated October 5, 2017 Dioscorus Boles quoted a parallel acdount of the destruction of the Alexandrian library by the 13th century archbishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Persia, Gregory Bar Hebraeus. Here I quote all of Boles' comments and translation except for his extensive footnotes, the links to which are preserved:

"As we have seen in a previous article, it was the 13^th century Arab historian of the Ayyubid period, al-Qifti (c. 1172–1248), who first wrote about the destruction of the Library of Alexandria at the hands of the Arabs who invaded Egypt and occupied it in 642 AD. Another writer who wrote about it in the 13^th century was Gregory Bar Hebraeus (1226 – 1286), an archbishop of Syriac Orthodox Church in Persia.

"Bar Hebraeus wrote in Syriac and Arabic many books. One of his Arabic books on history is called Mukhtasar fî’l-Duwal, which was published and translated into Latin by the English scholar Edward Pococke (1604 – 1691) under the title Historia Compendiosa Dynastiarum.[1] I have translated the passage describing the destruction of the Library of Alexandria in Bar Hebraeus, Historia Compendiosa Dynastiarum.[2] AS the reader will see, Bar Herbaeus takes from al-Qifti. The translation is as follows:

"And in this time Yahya[3] who is known to us by the name Grammaticus[4], which means al Nahawi (the Grammarian), became famous with the Muslims. He was Alexandrian and used to believe in the faith of the Jacobite[5] Nazarenes[6] , and confess the beliefs of Saweres[7]. He then recanted what the Nazarenes used to believe in the Trinity, and the bishops met up with him in Misr[8] and requested him to return back from what he was at, and he did not return back to their faith, and he lived until Amr ibn al-Ass[9] conquered the city of Alexandria. Amr entered Alexandria and got to know about Yahya’s position in sciences, and Amr was generous to him; and he heard his philosophical sayings which the Arabs were not familiar with, and he became fond of him. And Amr was sensible, a good listener and thinker; so Yahya accompanied Amr and did not depart from him. Then one day Yahya said to Amr, “You have control of everything in Alexandria, and seized all sorts of things in it. Anything which is of use to you I will not object to it, but anything which is not useful to you we deserve it more.” Amr said, “What things you are in need of?” He replied, “The books of wisdom that are in the royal stores.” Amr said to him, “I cannot issue orders about them until the Amir of the Believers, Umar ibn al-Khattab[10], gives his permission.” And Amr wrote to Omar and told him of what Yahya had said. Omar wrote to him saying, “About the books you have mentioned, if there is something in them that goes along with what is in the Book of Allah[11], the Book of Allah suffices; and if in them there is something that contradicts the Book of Allah, then there is no need for them.” And he ordered that they get destroyed; and so Amr ibn al-As started distributing them to the baths of Alexandria to be burned in their furnaces, and so the books heated the baths for a period of six month. Listen to what had happened, and marvel at it!"

In an additional blog post dated October 6, 2017 Dioscorus Boles quoted a somewhat earlier account of the destruction of the Alexandrian Library by the Arab  physician, philosopher, historian, Arabic grammarian and traveler Abd Al-Latif al-Baghdadi:  Boles wrote:

"In two previous articles, which you can access here and here, we have seen the evidence for the destruction of the Library of Alexandria as one finds in the accounts of the Muslim historian al-Qifti and the Christian scholar Bar Herbaeus, both from the 13^th century, with the latter copying from the former. Both tell us very clearly that the Library of Alexandria was destroyed by the Arabs on direct instruction by the Second Muslim Caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab (634 – 644 AD). This makes the year of its destruction lies sometime between the years 642-644, since the fall of Alexandria in the Arab hands occurred in 642 AD.

"We are told that the Arab emir, ‘Amr ibn al-‘Āṣ, consulted ibn al-Khattab on what to do with the books in the Library of Alexandria. Ibn al-Khattab’s answer came quick to him:

“As for the books you mention, if there is in it what complies with the Book of God [Q’uran], then it is already there and is not needed and if what is in these books contradict the Book of God there is no need for it. And you can then proceed in destroying them.”[1]

‘Amr ibn al-‘Āṣ then ordered that the books should be dispersed in the public baths and to burn them in the bath’s heaters. Al-Qifti adds: “And I was told that at that time several public baths used [the books] for heating, bringing some fame to new public baths which later on were forgotten afterwards and it is said that they had enough heating for six months. One who listens to what has happened can only be amazed!”[2]"

"Another Arab writer who confirms the story that the Library of Alexandria was burnt on the orders of the Muslim Caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab, is Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi (1162–1231).[3] He was born in Baghdad in the Abbasid Caliphate and travelled to Egypt and wrote a book on his findings and observations of it called in Arabic “كتاب الإفادة والاعتبار في الأمور المشاهدة والحوادث المعاينة بأرض مصر”,[4] which he finished writing in 600 AH (1203/1204 AD). On our story, he writes:[5]
[Here Boles publishes the Arabic text.]

"The translation of the above Arabic text is as follows:

"And I also saw around ‘amoud al-sawari [Pompey’s Pillar] some of the columns that were intact and some that were broken; and it looks they were [once] roofed, and that ‘amoud al-sawari had a dome which was supported by it. And I think that it was the hallway in which Aristotle and his followers after him taught; and that it was the house of sciences which Alexander [the Great] had built, and in which was the library that was burnt by Amr ibn al‘Āṣ on permission by Umar ibn al-Khattab.

"Here we have perhaps the earliest mention of the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, which the writer calls “خزانة الكتب”, by the Arabs who invaded Egypt and captured Alexandria in 642 AD after having consulted Umar ibn al-Khattab, Muhammad’s second successor."

In a different blog post on October 6, 2017 Boles cited a reference in the work of the 14th century Egyptian Arab historian Al-Maqrizi regarding the destruction of the Alexandrian library:

"In three previous articles (here, here and here) we have seen the accounts of three writers (al-Qifti, Bar Hebraeus and al-Baghdadi) on the destruction of the Library of Alexandria by the Arabs on direct commandment by the Muslim Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab (643 – 644 AD). Now, we shall look at the account of the Egyptian historian al-Maqrizi.

"Al-Maqrizi (1364–1442)[1] lived during the Burji Mamuluks who ruled Egypt from 1371 to 1517. Al-Maqrizi was a prolific writer but his fame is due mainly to his voluminous book al mawaiz wa al-‘i’tibar bi dhikr al-khitat wa al-‘athar otherwise known as al-Khitat al-maqrizia.

"In al-Khitat al-maqrizia, Maqrizi talks in a long section about what the Arabs call ‘amoud al-sawari (عمود السواري) by which they mean ‘Pompey’s Pillar’. One passage of the section reads:

"And here is its translation:

“It is to be mentioned that this pillar was one of pillars that used to support the hallway of Aristotle who used to teach wisdom in it. It was a house of learning, and khizanat al-kotob (خزانة الكتب)[the Library of Alexandria], which ‘Amr ibn al-‘As burned on the commandment of Umar ibn al-Khattab, May Allah be pleased with him, was in it.”[2]".