Ab? Ray??n al-B?r?n? Ab? al-Rayh?n Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-B?r?n?

[n 1] (born 5 September 973 in Kath, K hwarezm, died 13 December 1048 in Ghazni) known as Alberonius in Latin and Al-Bi runi in English,[3] was a Persian[4]-Chorasmian[5][6] Muslim scholar and polymat h of the 11th century. Al-Biruni is regarded as one of the greatest scholars of the medieval Islamic er a and was well versed in physics, mathematics, astronomy, and natural sciences, and also distinguished himself as a historian, chronologist and linguist.[6] He was conversant in Khwarezmian, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, and also knew Greek, H ebrew, Syriac and Berber. He spent a large part of his life in Ghazni in modernday Afghanistan, capital of the Ghaznavid dynasty which ruled eastern Iranian la nds and the northwestern Indian subcontinent. In 1017 he traveled to the Indian subcontinent and became the most important interpreter of Indian science to the Islamic world. He is given the titles the "founder of Indology" and the "first a nthropologist".[7] He was an impartial writer on custom and creeds of various na tions, and was given the title al-Ustadh ("The Master") for his remarkable descr iption of early 11th-century India.[6] He also made contributions to Earth scien ces, and is regarded as the "father of geodesy" for his important contributions to that field, along with his significant contributions to geography. Contents 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Life Mathematics and Astronomy Physics Geography Pharmacology and Mineralogy History and Chronology History of Religions Indology Works 9.1 Chronicle of Nations 9.2 Persian work 10 Legacy 11 Notes and references 12 Further reading 13 External links 13.1 Works of Al-Biruni online Life He was born in the outer district of Kath, the capital of the Afrighid dynasty o f Khwarezm (or Chorasmia).[8] The word Biruni means "from the outer-district" in Persian, and so this became his nisba: "al-B?r?n?" = "the Birunian".[8] His fir st twenty-five years were spent in Khwarezm where he studied fiqh, theology, gra mmar, mathematics, astronomy, medics and other sciences.[8] The Iranian Khwarezm ian language, which was the language of Biruni,[9][10] survived for several cent uries after Islam until the Turkification of the region, and so must some at lea st of the culture and lore of ancient Khwarezm, for it is hard to see the comman ding figure of Biruni, a repository of so much knowledge, appearing in a cultura l vacuum.[11] He was sympathetic to the Afrighids, who were overthrown by the rival dynasty of Ma'munids in 995. Leaving his homeland, he left for Bukhara, then under the Sam anid ruler Mansur II the son of Nuh. There he also corresponded with Avicenna[12 ] 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-Ath

ar al-Baqqiya 'an al-Qorun al-Khaliyya (literally: "The remaining traces of past centuries" and translated as "Chronology of ancient nations" or "Vestiges of th e Past") on historical and scientific chronology, probably around 1000 A.D., tho ugh he later made some amendments to the book. Accepting the definite demise of the Afrighids at the hands of the Ma'munids, he made peace with the latter who t hen ruled Khwarezm. Their court at Gorganj (also in Khwarezm) was gaining fame f or its gathering of brilliant scientists. In 1017, Mahmud of Ghazni took Rey. Most scholars, including al-Biruni, were tak en to Ghazna, the capital of the Ghaznavid dynasty.[1] Biruni was made court ast rologer[13] and accompanied Mahmud on his invasions into India, living there for a few years. Biruni became acquainted with all things related to India. He may even have learned some Sanskrit.[14] During this time he wrote the Kitab ta'rikh al-Hind, finishing it around 1030.[15] Mathematics and Astronomy [icon] This section requires expansion. (June 2011) An illustration from al-Biruni's astronomical works, explains the different phas es of the moon. Diagram illustrating a method proposed and used by Al-Biruni to estimate the rad ius and circumference of the Earth Ninety-five of 146 books known to have been written by B?r?n?, about 65 percent, were devoted to astronomy, mathematics, and related subjects like math?ematical geography.[16] Biruni's major work on astrology[17] is primarily an astronomical and mathematic al text, only the last chapter concerns astrological prognostication. His endors ement of astrology is limited, in so far as he condemns horary astrology[18] 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 comm ented favourably on the idea that the Earth rotates.[19] He wrote an extensive c ommentary on Indian astronomy in the Kitab ta'rikh al-Hind, in which he claims t o 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): [T]he 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 accor ding to this theory as to the other. There are, however, other reasons which mak e it impossible. This question is most difficult to solve. The most prominent of both modem and ancient astronomers have deeply studied the question of the movi ng of the earth, and tried to refute it. We, too, have composed a book on the su bject called Miftah-ilm-alhai'a (Key to Astronomy), in which we think we have su rpassed our predecessors, if not in the words, at all events In the matter.[20] In his description of Sijzi's astrolabe's 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 cele stial physics: he argues by simple experiment that vacuum must exist;[21] he is "amazed" by the weakness of Aristotle's argument against elliptical orbits on th e basis that they would create vacuum;[22] he attacks the immutability of the ce lestial spheres;[23] and so on. In his major extant astronomical work, the Mas'ud Canon, Biruni utilizes his obs ervational data to disprove Ptolemy's immobile solar apogee.[24] More recently, Biruni's eclipse data was used by Dunthorne in 1749 to help determine the accele ration of the moon[25] and his observational data has entered the larger astrono mical historical record and is still used today[26] 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 co mbined the fields of hydrostatics with dynamics to create hydrodynamics.[citatio n needed] Geography [icon] This section requires expansion. (June 2011) Four directions and Political divisions of Iran by Ab? Ray??n al-B?r?n? B?r?n? also devised his own method of determining the radius of the earth by mea ns of the observation of the height of a mountain and carried it out at Nandana in Pind Dadan Khan, Pakistan.[27] See also: History_of_geodesy#Biruni Pharmacology and Mineralogy [icon] This section requires expansion. (June 2011) Due to an apparatus he constructed himself, he succeeded in determining the spec ific gravity of a certain number of metals and minerals with remarkable precisio n.[28] History and Chronology [icon] This section requires expansion. (June 2011) Biruni's main essay on political history, Kit?b al-mus?mara f? a?b?r ???razm (Bo ok of nightly conversation concerning the affairs of ???razm) is now known only from quotations in Bayhaq? s T?r?kh-e mas??d?. In addition to this various discuss ions of historical events and methodology are found in connection with the lists of kings in his al-?th?r al-b?qiya and in the Q?n?n as well as elsewhere in the ?th?r, in India, and scattered throughout his other works.[29] History of Religions [icon] This section requires expansion. (June 2011) B?r?n? is one of the most important Muslim authorities on the history of religio n.[30] Al-Biruni was a pioneer in the study of comparative religion. He studied Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and other reli gions. He treated religions objectively, striving to understand them on their ow n 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 a re all human constructs. What al-Biruni seems to be arguing is that there is a co mmon human element in every culture that makes all cultures distant relatives, h owever foreign they might seem to one another. (Rosenthal, 1976, p. 10). Al-Birun i was disgusted by scholars who failed to engage primary sources in their treatm ent of Hindu religion. He found existing sources on Hinduism to be both insuffic ient and dishonest. Guided by a sense of ethics and a desire to learn, he sought to explain the religious behavior of different groups. 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 w orshipped a multiplicity of idols yet points out that even some Muslims (such as the Jabiriyya) have adopted anthropomorphic concepts of God. (Ataman, 2005) Indology B?r?n? s fame as an Indologist rests primarily on two texts.[31] Al-Biruni wrote a n encyclopedic work on India called Tarikh Al-Hind (History of India) in which he explored nearly every aspect of Indian life, including religion, history, geogra phy, geology, science, and mathematics. He explores religion within a rich cultu ral context. He expresses his objective with simple eloquence: I shall not produ ce the arguments of our antagonists in order to refute such of them, as I believ e 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 or der 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 Musl ims. He explains that Hinduism and Islam are totally different from each other. Moreover, Hindus in 11th century India considered all foreigners, not just Musli ms, impure and refused to have any connection with them. Furthermore, when the M uslims entered India, the land had already been devastated by two previous invas ions by the Sakas and the Huns. On top of that, Mahmud of Ghazni, a contemporary of al-Biruni, invaded the region. (Ataman, 2005). Al-Biruni intended to facilit ate dialogue between Hindus and Muslims. He thought that the two groups had a gr eat deal they could learn from one another. (Biruni, 1910, Vol. 1, p. 17). Al-Bi runi collected books and studied with Hindu scholars to become fluent in Sanskri t. He translated books both from Sanskrit to Arabic and vice versa. (Ataman, 200 5). While others were killing each other over religious differences, Al-Biruni h ad a remarkable ability to engage Hindus in peaceful dialogue. Mohammad Yasin pu ts this dramatically when he says, The Indica is like a magic island of quiet, im partial research in the midst of a world of clashing swords, burning towns, and burned temples. (Indica is another name for Al-Biruni s history of India). (Yasin, 1975, p. 212). Works [icon] This section requires expansion. (June 2011) Most of the works of Al-Biruni are in Arabic although he wrote one of his master pieces, the Kitab al-Tafhim apparently in both Persian and Arabic, showing his m astery over both languages.[32] B?r?n? s catalogue of his own literary production up to his 65th lunar/63rd solar year (the end of 427/1036) lists 103 titles divi ded into 12 categories: astronomy, mathematical geography, mathematics, astrolog ical aspects and transits, astronomical instruments, chronology, comets, an unti tled category, astrology, anec?dotes, religion, and books of which he no longer possesses copies.[33] His extant works include: Critical study of what India says, whether accepted by reason or refused (Ar abic ????? ?? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ????? ?? ??????), also known as the Indic a - a compendium of India's religion and philosophy The Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology (Kitab al-ta fhim li-awa il sina at al-tanjim). The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries (Arabic ?????? ??????? ?? ?????? ????? ??) - a comparative study of calendars of different cultures and civilizations, interlaced with mathematical, astronomical, and historical information. The Mas'udi Canon (Persian ????? ??????) - an extensive encyclopedia on astr onomy, geography, and engineering, named after Mas'ud, son of Mahmud of Ghazni, to whom he dedicated. Understanding Astrology (Arabic ??????? ?????? ???????) - a question and ans wer style book about mathematics and astronomy, in Arabic and Persian. Pharmacy - about drugs and medicines. Gems (Arabic ??????? ?? ????? ???????) about geology, minerals, and gems, de dicated to Mawdud son of Mas'ud. Astrolabe. A historical summary book. History of Mahmud of Ghazni and his father. History of Khawarazm. Chronicle of Nations Wiki letter w.svg bruary 2013) Persian work This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (Fe

Although he preferred Arabic to Persian in scientific writing, his Persian versi on of the Al-Tafhim[32] is one of the most important of the early works of scien ce in the Persian language, and is a rich source for Persian prose and lexicogra

phy.[32] The book covers the Quadrivium in a detailed and skilled fashion.[32] Legacy The crater Al-Biruni on the Moon is named after him.