ABSTRACT
The Abbasid translation era is widely assumed to have produced but a modest volume of translation-related theory. The chapter pursues an alternative account premised on the hypothesis that theoretical cogitations on translation are not an incidental spin-off of the translation activity itself but rather the reflection of their own cultural, social and political contexts. This perspective reveals that the same objective circumstances which caused the Abbasid period to be mute about celebrated theoretical issues in the West led to the articulation of technical and professional issues, that were more attuned to the concerns of the period.
