Abū Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Bīrūnī
(born 5 September 973 in Kath, Khwarezm, died 13 December 1048 in Ghazni), known as Alberonius in Latin and Al-Biruniin English, was an ethnic Iranian-Chorasmian Muslim scholar and polymath of the 11th century.
He is considered as one of the greatest scholars of the medieval Islamic era and was well versed in mathematics, astronomy, physical and natural sciences, and also distinguished himself as a geographer, historian, chronologist and linguist. He is also considered as impartial writer on custom and creeds of various nations and was given the title al-Ustdadh ("The Master"). According to Francis Robinson, Al-Biruni earned the "founder of Indology" and "first anthropologist" titles for his remarkable description of early 11th-century India, although the first in-depth study of India by any Westerner was provided by the Greek ambassador Megas thenes (ca. 350–290 BC) in his "famous" four-volume Indica.
Life
He was born in outer district of Kath the capital of Afrighid dynasty of Chorasmia. The wordBiruni means outer-district in Persian language and due to being born in the outer district of Kath, this became his nisba. His first twenty-five years were spent in Chorasmia where he studied fiqh, theology, grammar, mathematics, astronomy, medics and other sciences. The Iranian Chorasmian language, which was the native of 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 which were overthrown by the rival dynasty of Ma'munids in 995. Leaving his homeland, he left for Bukhara then under the Samanid ruler Mansur II the son of Nuh. There he also corresponded with Avicenna and there exists 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 amendations to the book. Accepting the definitie demise of the Afrighids at the hands of the Ma'munids, he made peace with the Ma'munids who then ruled Chorasmia. Their court at Gorganj (also in Chorasmia) was gaining fame for its gathering of brilliant scientists.
Mathematics and Astronomy
Ninety-five of 146 books known to have been written by Bīrūnī, about 65 percent, were devoted to astronomy, mathematics, and related subjects like mathematical geography.
Geography
Bīrūnī also devised his own method of determining the radius of the earth by means of the observation of the height of a mountain and carried it out at Nandana in India.
Pharmacology and Mineralogy
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, Ketāb al-mosāmara fī aḵbār Ḵᵛārazm (Book of conversation concerning the affairs of Ḵᵛārazm) is now known only from quotations in Bayhaqī’s Tārīḵ-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-Āṯār al-bāqīa and in the Qānūn as well as elsewhere in the Āṯār, in India, and scattered throughout his other works.
History of Religions
Bīrūnī is one of the most important Muslim authorities on the history of religion.
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 of which he no longer possesses copies. His extant works include:
· Critical study of what India says, whether accepted by reason or refused (Arabic تحقيق ما للهند من مقولة معقولة في العقل أم مرذولة), also known as the Indica - a compendium of India's religion and philosophy
· The Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology (Kitab al-tafhim li-awa’il sina‘at al-tanjim).
· The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries (Arabic الآثار الباقية عن القرون الخالية) - a comparative study of calendars of different cultures and civilizations, interlaced with mathematical, astronomical, and historical information.
· The Mas'udi Canon (Persian قانون مسعودي) - an extensive encyclopedia on astronomy, geography, and engineering, named after Mas'ud, son of Mahmud of Ghazni, to whom he dedicated.
· Understanding Astrology (Arabic التفهيم لصناعة التنجيم) - a question and answer style book about mathematics and astronomy, in Arabic and Persian.
· Pharmacy - about drugs and medicines.
· Gems (Arabic الجماهر في معرفة الجواهر) about geology, minerals, and gems, dedicated 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
Persian work
Although he preferred Arabic to Persian in scientific writing, 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.
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