Moomtaz Emrith
(Windsor, ON, Canada)
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Al-Biruni – his full name was Abu Arrayhan Muhammed Ahmad Al-Biruni. He was born on September 15, 973 A. D., in Kath Khwarazm, Iran, now in Kara Kalpakskaya, Uzbekistan. He was primarily a mathematician but also known, among others, as the founder of “Indology. Al-Biruni, who was a gifted linguist, was reputed to have learned Sanskrit and had studied many of the Indian classics in the original Sanskrit. He would be the first to write extensively about India and its people, in the eleventh century and his work is still referred to by scholars. In fact, his book on India titled “Tarikh-al-Hind” is an account of the geography, religion, philosophy and literature of the Indian people. Al-Biruni, who would have a tumultuous life because he lived in a tumultuous time in history, would breathe his last in Ghazna – now called Ghazni — in Afghanistan, on December 13, 1048. He was hailed as one of the top scholars and scientists of Islam’s Golden Age and he was recognized for his significant contributions, amongst others, to astronomy, mathematics, physics, medicine and also history.
Al-Biruni became a protégé of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, who made him his Astrologer. Mahmud of Ghazni is notorious in Indian history for his repeated invasions of India, leaving every time death and destruction in his trail. Indians do not have good memories of Mahmud Ghazni.
Al-Biruni, the scholar, used his time in India in scholarly pursuit. He mixed with the people, learned the language and their religion and culture and later would write a fabulous book about eleventh century India which would be an “unmatched” account of almost all aspects of Indian life in the eleventh century. Al-Biruni would spend thirteen years in India during which time he got to learn the Sanskrit language and also write extensively about the country. Al-Biruni, who was a devout Muslim, has left very highly creditable and unbiased account of his observations of the Indian people and their lifestyle in what was, he says, then staunchly based on the brahmin cult. A devoted monotheist, Al-Biruni was, sure, surprised to see the Hindus as staunch polytheists.
He would travel extensively in India and closely observe the socio-cultural as well as the religious norms of the people and the country that he would well detail in his book. He also wrote about the caste system in India.
Even in the 11th century, Al-Biruni felt that because of the rigid caste system prevalent in Indian society, “there was a sense of isolation and inequality among the people in society.” He found that in the countryside, people tended “to worship several gods and goddesses” while the educated Hindus tended to “regard God as Eternal, beyond origin or end, all powerful and all knowing.”
Al-Biruni was a genius in his own right. He was an astronomer, a historian, poet, philosopher, mathematician, geographer and humanist, who exercised great influence among his fellow scholars. The simple experiment he designed to measure the radius of the earth, was remarkable and the results he obtained, using his astrolabe, was quite accurate. As a matter of fact, Al-Biruni was the first scientist who, 600 hundred years before Galileo, wrote that the “the earth rotates on its axis” but, “unlike Galileo, his ideas were accepted by religious scholars.” Al-Biruni was in many ways, far ahead of his time!
As he stated, “… it is the same whether you take it that the Earth is in motion or the Sky. For, in both cases, it does not affect the obvious real science. It is just for the Physicist to see if it is possible to refute it.”
Al-Biruni was a prolific writer. During his lifetime, he wrote over a hundred books on different subjects. Unfortunately, only some 15% of them have survived as have some of the instruments and apparatuses he invented including, among them, the mechanical astrolabes.
In 1974, on the heels of the celebration of the millennium of his birth anniversary, the UNESCO COURRIER MAGAZINE, in a tribute to his great genius and contributions to history and civilization, devoted the entire issue of the Magazine to Al-Biruni and his work.
Al-Biruni was introduced to the readers of the Magazine, which is published in several languages, including Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, among others, as “Astronomer, Historian, Botanist, Pharmacist, Geologist, Poet, Thinker, Mathematician, Geographer and Humanist.”
During his lifetime, Al-Biruni wrote profusely about his studies and discoveries on a variety of subjects including history, travels, sciences, medicines, pharmacology, mathematics and philosophy. Unfortunately, only between fifteen to twenty per cent of his work have survived. In fact, Al-Biruni’s range of output truly made him a universal genius, revered as he is, not only in the Islamic world but well beyond. His concept of knowledge was amazing and he outlines his views as follows:
“… the pleasure of searching for truth and reality, “he wrote “is among the highest pleasures. In this regard,” he continues, “what is necessary and unavoidable for man of knowledge is not to make a distinction between the sciences.” Al-Biruni defended the idea that “the earth rotates on its axis’ and also predicted that there ‘was a land behind the seas” – what he was referring to was what we know to-day as the “Americas!”
Al-Biruni died in 1048 at age of seventy-five. He would inspire scientists like Copernicus, Galileo, Isaac Newton and Torcelli in the West. UNESCO Courrier Magazine introduced him as “the universal genius who lived a thousand years ago in Central Asia.”
Al-Biruni, the genius opined:“That the path of knowledge is a difficult path. But it is not impossible to attain it.” While searching for the truth and reality, he urged, “one should hold on to the closest, most authentic, most solid information possible. While doing this, the authorities of their fields and their works are consulted. In other words, not everyone’s words and works but the words and works of scholars who are the authorities.”
Al-Biruni looked upon Islamic teaching as a cornerstone of his scientific output. He summarized his quest thus: “My experience in the study of astronomy and geometry and experiments in physics revealed to me that there must be a Planning Mind of Unlimited Power. My discoveries in Astronomy showed that there are fantastic intricacies in the universe which prove that there is a creative system and a meticulous control that cannot be explained through sheer physical and material causes”.
Al-Biruni was of the view that his intellectual pursuit was never for material gains or fame. In fact, it is related that when Sultan Masood, who had succeeded his father, the famed Mahmud Ghazni, sent him “three camel-loads of silver coins in appreciation of his encyclopedic work “Al-Qanoon al-Masoodi,” (The Mas’udi Canon), Al-Biruni acknowledged the royal gift but politely returned it saying, “I serve knowledge for the sake of knowledge and not for money.”
Al-Biruni, who passed away in Uzbekistan in 1078 A. D., has the city where he was born, re-named “Biruniy” — most probably after its famous son.
A monument of Al-Biruni in Lelah Park in Tehran, Iran.