Overview

al-Suyuti mentions that in the days of al-Ma'mun the descendants of al-Abbas were counted. They numbered thirty-three thousand, men and women, and this was in the year 200 AH. ¹

The event is tied to the caliph al-Ma'mun. The date needs an additional source; the conversion to CE is derived.

Bayt al-Hikma — the House of Wisdom

The House of Wisdom at Baghdad, the greatest library whose report survives from the first Abbasid age: al-Rashid laid its nucleus and al-Ma'mun enlarged and strengthened it. Al-Rashid put Yuhanna ibn Masawayh over the translation of the ancient medical books found in Byzantine lands with skilled scribes writing before him; Abu Sahl al-Fadl ibn Nawbakht rendered Persian wisdom-books into Arabic in its khizana, and Allan al-Shu'ubi copied for al-Rashid, al-Ma'mun and the Barmakids. Al-Ma'mun widened it, sending to the Byzantine emperor for the ancient sciences an embassy of al-Hajjaj ibn Matar, Ibn al-Bitriq and Salm the master of the House, and making Sahl ibn Harun keeper of its treasuries — though its precise organisation and site remain wrapped in obscurity.

Census of the Descendants of al-Abbas in the Year 200

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Bayt al-Hikma — the House of Wisdom