Abū Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Al-Bīrūnī (Persian: ابوریحان محمد بن احمد البیرونی Abū
Rayḥān Bērōnī; New Persian: Abū Rayḥān Bīrūnī) (973–after
1050), known as Biruni (Persian: بیرونی) or
Al-Biruni (Arabic: البيروني)
in English language, was an Iranian scholar
and polymath. He was from Khwarazm – a region which encompasses
modern-day western Uzbekistan, and northern Turkmenistan.
Biruni is regarded as one of the greatest scholars of the medieval Islamic
era and was well versed in physics, mathematics, astronomy, and natural
sciences, and also distinguished himself as a historian, chronologist and
linguist. He studied almost all fields of science and was compensated for his
research and strenuous work. Royalty and powerful members of society sought out
Al-Biruni to conduct research and study to uncover certain findings. He lived
during the Islamic Golden Age, in which scholarly thought went hand in hand
with the thinking and methodology of the Islamic religion. In addition to this
type of influence, Al-Biruni was also influenced by other nations, such as the
Greeks, who he took inspiration from when he turned to studies of philosophy.
He was conversant in Khwarezmian, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, and also knew
Greek, Hebrew and Syriac. He spent much of his life in Ghazni, then capital of
the Ghaznavid dynasty, in modern-day central-eastern Afghanistan.
In 1017 he
travelled to South Asia and authored a study of Indian culture (Tahqiq ma
li-l-hind...) after exploring the Hinduism practised in India.[a] He was given
the title "founder of Indology". He was an impartial writer on
customs and creeds of various nations, and was given the title al-Ustadh
("The Master") for his remarkable description of early 11th-century
India.
Life
He was born in the outer district (Bīrūn) of Kath, the capital of the
Afrighid dynasty of Khwarezm in Central Asia (or Chorasmia). To conduct
research, Al-Biruni used different methods to tackle the various fields he
studied. Many consider Al-Biruni one of the greatest scientists in history, and
especially of Islam because of his discoveries and methodology. He lived during
the Islamic Golden Age, which promoted astronomy and encouraged all scholars to
work on their research. Al-Biruni spent the first twenty-five years of his life
in Khwarezm where he studied Islamic jurisprudence, theology, grammar,
mathematics, astronomy, medicine, philosophy and also dabbled in the field of
physics and most other sciences as well.
The Iranian Khwarezmian language, which was the language of Biruni,
survived for several centuries after Islam until the Turkification of the
region, and so must some at least of the culture and lore of ancient Khwarezm,
for it is hard to see the commanding figure of Biruni, a repository of so much
knowledge, appearing in a cultural vacuum. He was sympathetic to the Afrighids,
who were overthrown by the rival dynasty of Ma'munids in 995. He left his
homeland for Bukhara, then under the Samanid ruler Mansur II the son of Nuh.
There he corresponded with Avicenna and there are extant exchanges of views
between these two scholars.
In 998, he went to the court of the Ziyarid amir of Tabaristan, Shams
al-Mo'ali Abol-hasan Ghaboos ibn Wushmgir. There he wrote his first important
work, al-Athar al-Baqqiya 'an al-Qorun al-Khaliyya (literally: "The
remaining traces of past centuries" and translated as "Chronology of
ancient nations" or "Vestiges of the Past") on historical and
scientific chronology, probably around 1000 A.D., though he later made some
amendments to the book. He also visited the court of the Bavandid ruler
Al-Marzuban. Accepting the definite demise of the Afrighids at the hands of the
Ma'munids, he made peace with the latter who then ruled Khwarezm. Their court
at Gorganj (also in Khwarezm) was gaining fame for its gathering of brilliant
scientists.
In 1017, Mahmud of Ghazni took Rey. Most scholars, including al-Biruni,
were taken to Ghazni, the capital of the Ghaznavid dynasty. Biruni was made
court astrologer and accompanied Mahmud on his invasions into India, living
there for a few years. He was forty-four years old when he went on the journeys
with Mahmud of Ghazni. Biruni became acquainted with all things related to
India. He may even have learned some Sanskrit. During this time he wrote his
study of India, finishing it around 1030. Along with his writing, Al-Biruni
also made sure to extend his study to science while on the expeditions. He
sought to find a method to measure the height of the sun, and created an early
version of an astrolabe for that purpose. Al-Biruni was able to make much
progress in his study over the frequent travels that he went on throughout the
lands of India.
Mathematics
and astronomy
An illustration from
al-Biruni's astronomical works, explains the different phases of the moon.
Diagram illustrating a method proposed and used by
Al-Biruni
to estimate the radius and circumference of the Earth
Ninety-five of 146
books known to have been written by Bīrūnī were devoted to astronomy,
mathematics, and related subjects like mathematical geography. His
religion contributed to his research of astronomy, as in Islam, worship and
prayer require knowing the precise directions of sacred locations, which can
only be accurately found using astronomical data. Biruni's major work on
astrology is primarily an astronomical and mathematical text, only the
last chapter concerns astrological prognostication. His endorsement of astrology
is limited, in so far as he condemns horary astrology as 'sorcery'.
In discussing
speculation by other Muslim writers on the possible motion of the Earth, Biruni
acknowledged that he could neither prove nor disprove it, but commented
favourably on the idea that the Earth rotates. He wrote an extensive
commentary on Indian astronomy in the Tahqiq ma li-l-hind mostly
translation of Aryabhatta's work, in which he claims to have resolved the
matter of Earth's rotation in a work on astronomy that is no longer extant,
his Miftah-ilm-alhai'a (Key to Astronomy):
The rotation of the
earth does in no way impair the value of astronomy, as all appearances of an
astronomic character can quite as well be explained according to this theory as
to the other. There are, however, other reasons which make it impossible. This
question is most difficult to solve. The most prominent of both modern and
ancient astronomers have deeply studied the question of the moving of the
earth, and tried to refute it. We, too, have composed a book on the subject
called Miftah-ilm-alhai'a (Key to Astronomy), in which we think we have
surpassed our predecessors, if not in the words, at all events in the matter.
In his description
of Sijzi's astrolabe he hints at contemporary debates over the
movement of the earth. He carried on a lengthy correspondence and sometimes
heated debate with Ibn Sina, in which Biruni repeatedly
attacks Aristotle's celestial physics: he argues by simple experiment that
vacuum must exist; he is "amazed" by the weakness of Aristotle's
argument against elliptical orbits on the basis that they would create
vacuum; he attacks the immutability of the celestial spheres; and so
on.
In his major extant
astronomical work, the Mas'ud Canon, Biruni utilizes his
observational data to disprove Ptolemy's immobile solar apogee. Not
only did he perform research on theories, but he also wrote an in-depth
analysis and explanation of an astrolabe and how it should work. He drew many
different depictions of various instruments that are considered to be the
precursors of more modern objects such as clocks and the astrolabe, in which
other scientists were able to use to complete these inventions in the coming
years. More recently, Biruni's eclipse data was used by Dunthorne in 1749
to help determine the acceleration of the moon, and his observational
data has entered the larger astronomical historical record and is still used
today in geophysics and astronomy.
Physics
"Al-Biruni contributed to the introduction of the experimental
scientific method to mechanics, unified statics and dynamics into the science
of mechanics, and combined the fields of hydrostatics with dynamics to create
hydrodynamics. He came up with different methods for exploring densities,
weight, and even gravity. Along with those methods, Biruni went so far as to
describe instruments that go along with each of those areas as well. Although
he never entirely focuses just on physics in any of his books, the study of
physics is present throughout many of his various works. Biruni also came up
with different hypotheses about heat and light.
Geography
and Geodesy
Bīrūnī devised a method of determining the earth's radius by means of the observation of the height of a mountain. He carried it out at Nandana in Pind Dadan Khan in Pakistan. He was heavily interested in the workings of the earth and included research about the planet in many of his works. The result of his discovery of radius measurement was due to Biruni's arduous research about the earth.
Four directions and
Political divisions of Iran by Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī
In his Codex Masudicus (1037), Al-Biruni theorized the existence of a landmass
along the vast ocean between Asia and Europe, or what is today known as the
Americas. He deduced its existence on the basis of his accurate estimations of
the Earth's circumference and Afro-Eurasia's size, which he found spanned only
two-fifths of the Earth's circumference, and his discovery of the concept of
specific gravity, from which he deduced that the geological processes that gave
rise to Eurasia must've also given rise to lands in the vast ocean between Asia
and Europe. He also theorized that the landmass must be inhabited by human
beings, which he deduced from his knowledge of humans inhabiting the broad
north-south band stretching from Russia to South India and Sub-Saharan Africa,
theorizing that the landmass would most likely lie along the same band.
Pharmacology
and mineralogy
Biruni's most important
work was a major pharmacopoeia, the "Kitab al-saydala fi
al-tibb" (Book on the Pharmacopoeia of Medicine), describing essentially
all the medicines known in his time. It lists synonyms for drug names in
Syriac, Persian, Greek, Baluchi, Afghan, Kurdi, and some Indian languages.
Due to an apparatus he
constructed himself, he succeeded in determining the specific
gravity of a certain number of metals and minerals with remarkable
precision.
History
and chronology
Biruni's main essay on
political history, Kitāb al-musāmara fī aḵbār Ḵᵛārazm (Book of
nightly conversation concerning the affairs of Ḵᵛārazm) is now known only from
quotations in Bayhaqī's Tārīkh-e masʿūdī. In addition to this various
discussions of historical events and methodology are found in connection with
the lists of kings in his al-Āthār al-bāqiya and in the Qānūn as well as
elsewhere in the Āthār, in India, and scattered throughout his other
works. Al-Biruni's study of history was not limited to the aforementioned
topics, he also touched upon the topic of the earth's creation.
He elaborated
upon the fact that the earth was created from the elements and not solely
through divine creation. Even though Islam did influence his study, he did
acknowledge the role of the elements.
History
of religions
Bīrūnī is one of the most important Muslim authorities on the history of
religion. Al-Biruni was a pioneer in the study of comparative religion. He
studied Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and
other religions. He treated religions objectively, striving to understand them
on their own terms rather than trying to prove them wrong. His underlying
concept was that all cultures are at least distant relatives of all other cultures
because they are all human constructs. "What al-Biruni seems to be arguing
is that there is a common human element in every culture that makes all
cultures distant relatives, however foreign they might seem to one
another."
Al-Biruni divides Hindus into an educated and an uneducated class. He
describes the educated as monotheistic, believing that God is one, eternal, and
omnipotent and eschewing all forms of idol worship. He recognizes that
uneducated Hindus worshiped a multiplicity of idols yet points out that even
some Muslims (such as the Jabiriyya) have adopted anthropomorphic concepts of
God.
Anthropology
Al-Biruni wrote about the peoples, customs and religions of the Indian
subcontinent. According to Akbar S. Ahmed, like modern anthropologists, he
engaged in extensive participant observation with a given group of people,
learnt their language and studied their primary texts, presenting his findings
with objectivity and neutrality using cross-cultural comparisons. Akhbar S.
Ahmed concluded that Al-Biruni can be considered as the first Anthropologist,
however, others argue that he hardly can be considered an anthropologist in the
conventional sense.
Indology
Al-Biruni's fame as an
Indologist rests primarily on two texts. Al-Biruni wrote an encyclopedic work
on India called Taḥqīq mā li-l-hind min maqūlah maqbūlah fī al-ʿaql aw
mardhūlah (variously translated as "Verifying All That the Indians
Recount, the Reasonable and the Unreasonable" or "The book confirming
what pertains to India, whether rational or despicable") in which he
explored nearly every aspect of Indian life, including religion, history,
geography, geology, science, and mathematics. During his journey through India,
military and political histories were not of Al-Biruni's main focus. Instead,
he decided to document the more civilian and scholarly areas of Hindu life such
as culture, science, and religion. He explores religion within a rich cultural
context. He expresses his objective with simple eloquence: He also translated
the works of Indian sage Patanjali with the title Tarjamat ketāb Bātanjalī
fi’l-ḵalāṣ men al-ertebāk.
I shall not produce the
arguments of our antagonists in order to refute such of them, as I believe to
be in the wrong. My book is nothing but a simple historic record of facts. I
shall place before the reader the theories of the Hindus exactly as they are,
and I shall mention in connection with them similar theories of the Greeks in
order to show the relationship existing between them. (1910, Vol. 1,
p. 7;1958, p. 5)
An example of
Al-Biruni's analysis is his summary of why many Hindus hate Muslims. Biruni notes
in the beginning of his book how the Muslims had a hard time learning about
Hindu knowledge and culture. He explains that Hinduism and Islam are
totally different from each other. Moreover, Hindus in 11th century India had
suffered waves of destructive attacks on many of its cities, and Islamic armies
had taken numerous Hindu slaves to Persia, which—claimed Al-Biruni—contributed
to Hindus becoming suspicious of all foreigners, not just Muslims. Hindus
considered Muslims violent and impure, and did not want to share anything with
them. Over time, Al-Biruni won the welcome of Hindu scholars. Al-Biruni
collected books and studied with these Hindu scholars to become fluent in
Sanskrit, discover and translate into Arabic the mathematics, science,
medicine, astronomy and other fields of arts as practiced in 11th-century
India. He was inspired by the arguments offered by Indian scholars who believed
earth must be globular in shape, which is the only way to fully explain the
difference in daylight hours by latitude, seasons and earth's relative
positions with moon and stars. At the same time, Al-Biruni was also critical of
Indian scribes who he believed carelessly corrupted Indian documents while
making copies of older documents. He also criticized the Hindus on what he
saw them do and not do, like their deficiencies in curiosity about history and
religion.
One of the specific
aspects of Hindu life that Al-Biruni studied was the Hindu calendar. His
scholarship on the topic exhibited great determination and focus, not to
mention the excellence in his approach of the in-depth research he performed.
He developed a method for converting the dates of the Hindu calendar to the
dates of the three different calendars that were common in the Islamic
countries of his time period, the Greek, the Arab/Muslim, and the Persian.
Biruni also employed astronomy in the determination of his theories, which were
complex mathematical equations and scientific calculation that allows one to
convert dates and years between the different calendars.
The book does not limit
itself to tedious records of battle because Al-Biruni found the social culture
to be more important. The work includes research on a vast array of topics of
Indian culture, including descriptions of their traditions and customs.
Although he tried to stay away from political and military history, Biruni did
indeed record important dates and noted actual sites of where significant
battles occurred. Additionally, he chronicled stories of Indian rulers and told
of how they ruled over their people with their beneficial actions and acted in
the interests of the nation. But, his details are brief and mostly just list
rulers without referring to their real names. He did not go on about deeds that
each one carried out during their reign, which keeps in line with Al-Biruni's
mission to try to stay away from political histories. Al-Biruni also described
the geography of India in his work. He documented different bodies of water and
other natural phenomena. These descriptions are useful to today's modern
historians because they are able to use Biruni's scholarship to locate certain
destinations in modern-day India. Historians are able to make some matches
while also concluding that certain areas seem to have disappeared and been
replaced with different cities. Different forts and landmarks were able to be
located, legitimizing Al-Biruni's contributions with their usefulness to even
modern history and archeology.
The dispassionate
account of Hinduism given by Al-Biruni was remarkable for its time. He stated
that he was fully objective in his writings, remaining unbiased like a proper
historian should. Biruni documented everything about India just as it happened.
But, he did note how some of the accounts of information that he was given by natives
of the land may not have been reliable in terms of complete accuracy, however,
he did try to be as honest as possible in his writing. Mohammad Yasin
compares it to "a magic island of quiet, impartial research in the midst
of a world of clashing swords, burning towns, and plundered
temples." Biruni's writing was very poetic, which may diminish some
of the historical value of the work for modern times. The lack of description
of battle and politics makes those parts of the picture completely lost. However,
Many have used Al-Biruni's work to check facts of history in other works that
may have been ambiguous or had their validity questioned.
Works
Most of the works of
Al-Biruni are in Arabic although he wrote one of his masterpieces,
the Kitab al-Tafhim apparently in both Persian and
Arabic, showing his mastery over both languages. Bīrūnī's catalogue of his
own literary production up to his 65th lunar/63rd solar year (the end of
427/1036) lists 103 titles divided into 12 categories: astronomy, mathematical
geography, mathematics, astrological aspects and transits, astronomical
instruments, chronology, comets, an untitled category, astrology, anecdotes,
religion, and books he no longer possesses.
Selection
of extant works
· A Critical Study of
What India Says, Whether Accepted by Reason or Refused (تحقيق ما للهند من مقولة معقولة في العقل أو مرذولة); or Indica;
or Kitab al-Hind; Kitab al-Bīrūnī fī Taḥqīq mā li-al-Hind.; or Alberuni's
India (Translation) – compendium of India's religion and
philosophy.
· Book of Instruction in
the Elements of the Art of Astrology (Kitab al-tafhim li-awa’il sina‘at
al-tanjim); in Persian
· The Remaining Signs of
Past Centuries (الآثار
الباقية عن القرون الخالية) – a comparative study of calendars of cultures and
civilizations, (including several chapters on Christian cults) with
mathematical, astronomical, and historical information.
· Melkite Calendar,
or Les Fetes des Melchites – Arabic text with French
translation extract from The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries.
· The Mas'udi Law (قانون مسعودي) – encyclopedia of astronomy, geography, and engineering,
dedicated to Mas'ud, son of Mahmud of Ghazni of the eponymous title.
· Understanding Astrology
(التفهيم لصناعة التنجيم) – a question and answer style
book about mathematics and astronomy, in Arabic and Persian.
· Pharmacy – on drugs and
medicines.
· Gems (الجماهر في معرفة الجواهر) – geology manual of minerals
and gems. Dedicated to Mawdud son of Mas'ud.
· Astrolabe
· A Short History
· History of Mahmud of
Ghazni and his father
· History of Khawarezm
· Kitab al-Āthār
al-Bāqīyah ‘an al-Qurūn al-Khālīyah.
· Risālah li-al-Bīrūnī (Epître de
Berūnī)
Persian
work
Biruni wrote most of
his works in Arabic, as the scientific language of his age, however, his
Persian version of the Al-Tafhim is one of the most important of the early
works of science in the Persian language, and is a rich source for Persian
prose and lexicography. The book covers the Quadrivium in a
detailed and skilled fashion.
Legacy
After Al-Biruni's
death, in the Ghaznavid dynasty and following centuries his work was
not built on, nor referenced. It was only hundreds of years later in the West,
that his books became read and referenced again, especially his book on India
which became relevant to the British Empire's activity in India from
the 17th century.
A film about his
life, Abu Raykhan Beruni, was released in the Soviet
Union in 1974.
Lunar crater Al-Biruni,
on the far side of the Moon, as seen by Apollo 14
The lunar crater Al-Biruni and
the asteroid 9936 Al-Biruni were named in his honour.
In June
2009, Iran donated a pavilion to the United Nations Office in
Vienna—placed in the central Memorial Plaza of the Vienna International
Center. Named the Scholars Pavilion, it features the statues of four
prominent Iranian scholars: Avicenna, Abu Rayhan Biruni, Zakariya
Razi (Rhazes) and Omar Khayyam.
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