Contributions of Muslim Scientists Al-Bīrūnī

Contributions of Muslim Scientists Abū Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Al-Bīrūnī: Born in

Afghanistan Beruni made original important contributions to science. He is conceived to be the most prominent scientists of the Islamic world who wrote around 150 books on various significant subjects concerning human existence. These subjects include Mathematics, History, Archeology, Biology, Geology, Che m is try, Religion etc. He discussed the behavior of earth, moon, and planets in his book "Qanoon Almasudi" which is also considered as an outstanding astronomical encyclopedia. He also discovered seven different ways of finding the directions of north and south and discovered mathematical techniques to determine exactly the beginning of the seasons. Another notable discovery he made was that the speed of light is faster than sound .His wide range of scientific knowledge is also revealed through his books" kitab al saidana" and "kitab al jawahar" dealing with medicine and the types of gems their gravity respectively. He was a prolific writer whose works showed his versatility as a scientist.

Abū Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Al-Bīrūnī (Chorasmian/Persian: ابوریحان محمد بن احمد البیرونی‎ Abū Rayḥān Bērōnī; New Persian: Abū Rayḥān Bīrūnī) (973–1050), known as Al-Biruni (Arabic: البيروني‎) in English, was an Iranian scholar and polymath. He was from Khwarezm — a region which encompasses modern-day western Uzbekistan, and northern Turkmenistan.

Al-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 a large part of his life in Ghazni in modern-day Afghanistan, capital of the Ghaznavid dynasty, which was based in what is now central-eastern Afghanistan. In 1017 he traveled 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.

Mathematics and astronomy

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

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.

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 worshipped 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

Bīrūnī’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.

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. 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 or "Kitab al-Hind" – 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 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 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 Khawarezm.

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. 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.