By Zakaria Virk, Toronto

“al-Biruni (973-1048), ibn-e Sena’s second illustrious contemporary, worked
                in today’s Afghanistan. He was an empirical scientist, as modern and as
                un-medieval in outlook as Galileo, six centuries later”.
                                                                                      Nobel Laureate Dr. Abdus Salam

                Solving scientific problems is analogous to untying knots.
                                                                                                Al-Biruni

 

Abu Rehan al-Biruni (973-1048) was a distinguished scientist of Afghanistan in the 11th century. He is described as founder of Indology, father of geodesy, founder of the discipline of comparative religion , history of religion, history of science.and created hydrodynamics.  He was Central Asia’s most astute student of societies, who founded the field of anthropology and pioneered the field of intercultural studies. He dabbled in the heliocentric and geocentric hypotheses.

He also studied the moon and its rotation and in the 18th century, Richard Dunthorne (1775) used his data to determine the acceleration of the moon. Six hundred years before Galileo, al-Biruni asserted that the earth rotates on its axis, unlike Galileo his ideas were accepted by religious scholars.

 As someone naturally endowed with a scientific mind, he would think through every problem, look at the evidence, worked through the arguments, thinking of unintended consequences. He suffered many frustrations and indignities at the hands of his patrons, on whom he depended as he had no independent source of income. Despite this he lived a dignified life, contended and worked until the last breadth

Al-Biruni was accused by a contemporary divine of heresy when he used Byzantine (solar) calendar for an instrument he had invented for determining the times of the Salat- 5 Islamic prayers. Al-Biruni retorted by saying: The Byzantine also partake of bread. Will you now promulgate a religious sanction against bread?

An empirical scientist

Dr. Abdus Salam (1996), the Nobel Laureate in Physics in 1979, observes “the golden age of Islam was doubtless the age around the year 1000 CE, the Age of Ibne Sena the last of the medievalists, and of his contemporaries, the first of the moderns, Ibn al-Haitham and al-Biruni… al-Biruni (973-1048), ibne Sena’s second illustrious contemporary, worked in today’s Afghanistan. He was an empirical scientist, as modern and as un-medieval in outlook as Galileo, six centuries later”.

In his long life al-Biruni saw many political changes & turmoil’s in the life of Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Iran. He also witnessed considerable changes in his intellectual pursuits. He was not interested in religious studies, linguistic sciences, literature or medicine. He was steeped in mathematics, astronomy, geography, & comparative religion. He was a genius, continued to produce excellent works whatever the circumstances.

As a prolific writer al-Biruni was the author of 146 works, of which major works are 14, extant 22 and published 13. “He was a captive scholar looking over his shoulders”, says Prof Saleem Khan, “as the King, his courtiers, officials and others who could be jealous; nor did he have freedom about which he complained. The atmosphere as long as Sultan Mahmud lived, was both painful and poisonous. This was marred by fear, instability and sycophancy. al-Biruni must have felt like a fish out of water but he had to live and do his researches to please the powers that be but to satisfy himself and he did a wonderful work”. .

   Google doodle celebrating the anniversary of abu Rehan al-Biruni

Jamal al-Din Yaqut (1179–1229) who lived during the reign of Sutan Iltumish in India, says his works in astronomy, logic, medicine, were numerous, because he had witnessed the catalogue of Birun’s books in Grand mosque of Merv spread over 60 pages. Like Samarqand and Bukhara, Merv was a city of Muslim scholarship where celebrated historian Yaqut had studied in its dozen or more libraries.

One of al-Biruni’s earliest biographers, historian Shams al-Din Shahrazuri (1288) writes that Biruni never had a pen out of his hand, nor his eyes off a book and his thoughts were always occupied with his studies except two days of the year, namely Nouroz and Mehrjan. Even on his death bed he is said to have been occupied with a problem of Islamic inheritance.

He insisted on the necessity of observation and experiment. For example he analyzed Aristotle’s views on physics and heavens, and vehemently disagreed with him. Not only that, he discussed these differences with his contemporary eminent scientist Ibn Sena, who was pro-Aristotle. Both Ibn Sena and al-Biruni had corresponded with each other, discussing 18 questions in a written debate. One of the first question al-Biruni asked was: why Aristotle asserted that the heavenly bodies have neither levity nor gravity and why did he deny absence of motion from and to the center?

Saleem Khan describes his qualities as a superior scientist in these words: His training and work in exact sciences of the time have generated in him a temperament of seeking exactitude, authenticity, objectivity, and comprehensiveness, and shunning vagueness, desultoriness, exaggeration and prejudice. This made him a researcher of modern age through he lived in the medieval period. It does not however mean that there are no traces of medievalism in him. It may also be pointed out that at places he appears to fail in objectivity”.

Al-Biruni was objective, detailed and thorough. He was a philosopher of science, founder of the discipline of comparative religion, history of religion and history of science. His methodology was dynamic. Prof Syed Hossein Nasr says: The basic significance of al-Biruni for the modern world, is not only is that he was the father of geodesy or that he weighed several precious stones and metals carefully or even that the he criticized Aristotelian natural philosophy profoundly. Rather it is most of all in his success in being an outstanding scientist, but not only a scientist, in being scientific without being scientistic. It is in logical without losing sight of spiritual empyrean, the knowledge of which is not irrational nor illogical but unattainable through logic and reason alone. “

Al-Biruni exemplified all the essential qualities of a great scientist because he was imbued with burning curiosity which was highly disciplined and sustained. He had a passion for truth that ruled all his thinking, he had healthy skepticism; ready to test all hypothesis. He was a remarkable seeker of knowledge, interested in everything like medicine, philosophy, mineralogy, mathematics, and astronomy. Every field of knowledge he explored, he had an open mind, a mind trained in scientific accuracy. He would gather all data with utmost care; check his methods and apply the rule of logic in the interpretations.

On the science and culture of the Hindus, he is reported to have said: “I can only compare their astronomical and mathematical literature ... to a mixture of pearl shells and sour dates, or of costly crystals and common pebbles. Both kinds of things are equal in their eyes, since they cannot rise themselves to the methods of strictly scientific deduction.”

He says: “I have truly done what everyone is bound to do in respect of any particular science. That is to accept gratefully, the original contribution of his predecessors, to correct fearlessly the errors that came to his notice and to preserve want he himself discovered and to leave record for the future generations. “What really angered him the most was intellectual deceit, or hiding the truth for the sake of gaining status.

At Sultan Mahmud’s imperial court in Ghazna Afghanistan he did not have smooth sailing because he was given not facilities for independent scientific research. Sultan Mahmud’s minister Ahmad bin Hassan Maimandi (1032), was not friendly towards him. Ahmad Maimandi who was raised as foster brother of Prince Mahmud, was the one who had famous poet Firdausi expelled from the imperial court.

 

 Map of Khorasan, Transoxiana and Tokharistan.
Al-Biruni was an acute observer in every field of knowledge i.e. astronomy, geology, mineralogy and geography. His description of flora and fauna shows him as an observer of multiple forms of nature.

His geological observation is mentioned in many of his works such as al-Asar al-Baqia (Vestiges of the Past) and Tahdid Nihaya tul Amakin. His exact judgment about the sedimentary nature of Indian basin was astounding.

On the experimental side, he worked out specific gravity of 18 precious stones and metals which was remarkably accurate. He knew that the speed of light is greater than the speed of sound. He explained the hydrostatic principles, the ascent of water in natural springs and artesian wells. He described the succession of changes in the light of the sky at dusk and dawn. He explained why the sea water is salty and bitter. In Zoology he gave abnormality of child birth, including the Siamese twins. With respect to evolution he told monkey as the last animal through whom man has evolved to reach the present form.

With regards to role of geometry in nature, he observed about flowers “among the peculiarities of flowers there is one really astonishing fact viz the number of leaves, the tops of which form a circle, when they begin to open, is in most cases , comfortable to the law of geometry. “ The number of their leaves is always 3, 4,5, 6 or 18.  

The statue of Al-Biruni in United Nations Office in Vienna as a part of Persian Scholars Pavilion denoted by Iran

His Significance as a scientist

Biruni introduced scientific method in every field of inquiry. His scientific method was similar to the modern scientific method in many ways, particularly his stress on frequent experimentation.

 

 

Sultan Mahmud receiving a robe of honor from the Abbasid C al-Qadir, thus legitimizing Mahmud as an independent monarch. Wikipedia

Iran born American scholar Prof S.H. Nasr has characterized al-Biruni in the following words: “Biruni was at once mathematician and astronomer, in fact one of the greatest, who ever lived; geologist, pharmacologist, historian, and geographer, linguist, and a scholar of religion. He is one of the few men in the Islamic history who was able to combine the analytical mind of a mathematician with the qualities of a historian concerned with descriptions and synthesis. “

Dictionary of Scientific Biography describes him as a consummate scientist: “He made full use of all the documetns that came to his hand, exercising a critical faculty that extended from the minutiae of textual emendations to the analysis of scientific theories. A strong sense of history permeates all his writings, making them prime sources for studying the work of his predecessors, as well as his own and that of his contemporaries. Biruni’s pursuit of truth was not confined to the written or spoken word. He had a strong penchant for firsthand investigation of natural phenomena, exercised at times under very trying circumstances. Alongwith this went an ingenuity in the devising of instruments and a flair for precision in observations. Because of this feeling for accuracy, and because of a well-founded fear losing precision in the course of calculations, he tended to prefer observational methods that yielded direct results, as against techniques requiring extensive reduction by computations”

American science historian George Sarton called the first half of 11th century in his monumental work as the Time of al-Biruni. In his opinion he was “one of the very greatest scientists of Islam, and, all considered, one of the greatest of all times.” There were many scientists in this half century but al-Biruni and ibn Sena stand out head and shoulder above all. The two were extremely different from each other. Al-Biruni represents the more adventurous and critical spirit, ibn Sena the synthetic spirit. Al-Biruni was a discoverer, and in that respect he came nearer to the modern scientific ideal; ibn Sena was essentially an organizer, an

encyclopedic, a philosopher. “                 

Suniti Kumar Chatterji’s assessment of al-Biruni is of special significance. “ al-Biruni… is distinguished as one of the greatest scholars of medieval times, a polymath who was equally at home in mathematics and theology, astronomy, philosophy, chemistry and chronology, history, ethnography, medicine and cosmography, and whose specific preeminence was that he was the first scientific indologist and one of the greatest of all. From his vast and exact scholarship on the one hand and his broad liberalism and objectivism on the other, al-Biruni has to be reckoned among the outstanding thought leaders of humanity”.

Kennedy writes, “a strong sense of history permeates in all his writings, making them prime sources for studying the works of his predcessors as well as his own and that of his contemporaries. Biruni’s pursuit of truth was not confined to the written or spoken workd. He had a strong penchant for first hand investigation of natural phenomena, exercised at times under very trying circumstances. Along with this went an ingenuity in the devising of instruments and a flair for precision in observation. “

American historian Anslie Embrie who has abridged his magnum opus  India (Kitab Tarikh al-Hind) , writes “a towering intellectual figure of the Islamic Middle East” and refers to the breadth of his scholarship, his insight into the dynamics of society, and above all his scientific achievements.

His qualities as an observational scientist have described by Daniel Boorstein in these words: “He combined precise observations with omnivorous curiosity”.

We end this article with the following quotation by Prof Khan; “without dilating over much on the merits and inheritance of al-Biruni one can say briefly that al-Biruni was an indefatigable researcher; with an inner urge for

knowledge which did not allow him to rest. As a matter of fact he was not only acquiring knowledge and

mparting it through his books, he was also creating knowledge which did not exist”.

 

An illustration from Biruni’s Persian book. It shows different phases of the moon.

Al-Biruni’s scientific achievements

Before he was 17 he made an improved device for determining latitudes.

• At the age of 22 he authored a short treatise on cartography.
• He suggested trigonometry as a separate discipline from mathematics.
• He postulated speed of light was infint.
• In his work Kitab Tahdid he conjectured the existence of America.
• He was first one to produce a globe.
• He found out specific gravity of 18 metals and stones.
• He was the first to introduce experiments in astronomy.
• He deduced diameter of earch 6314 km.
• He provided proofs for the roundness of the earth and said it rotates on its axis daily and around the sun once a year. In his book Kitab Tafheem he gave a round map of the earth. Will Durant says, “ (Albiruni) took it for granted that earth is round, noted the attraction of all things towards the center of the earth. The earth turns daily on its axis and annually around the Sun. “
• He invented a mechanical calendar; diagram is in Science Museum in London. He invented an astrolabe which had gears; it was helpful in making mechanical clocks.
• He calculated diameter and circumference of the earth from a 1795 foot mountain, in Dharyala Jaloop, at Nandna Fort, 42 miles from Jehlum, Pakistan. Circumference was 24,779 miles, 78 miles less than the current.
• Gravity equation formulated by Biruni and Newton are virtually the same.
• He used the radius of the circle as unity
• About fountains he proved that they emerge due to electrical and chemical changes in the bed of the earth.
• He came to know the method of measuring the depth of earth and ocean.
• He discovered that Indus valley was in fact, a bowl of ancient sea which was gradually filled with earth. Modern geologists admit big deserts were once the bowl of oceans.
• Like Malthus, Biruni blamed destruction of the eco-system on uncontrolled population growth. He argued nature’s work was like a gardener and the strongest and the fittest could survive. He thus argued for some sort of basic Darwinian theory of natural selection and evolution.

Al-Biruni tomb in Ghazni, Afghanistan as it looks today

Instruments

Biruni invented a number of astronomical instruments. He wrote the first treatises on the planisphere (the earliest star chart) and the orthographical astrolabe, as well as a treatise on the armillary sphere, and he was able to mathematically determine the direction of the Qibla from any place in the world. He also wrote the earliest treatise on the sextant.

He also invented an early hodometer, and the first mechanical lunisolar calendar computer which employed a gear train and eight gear-wheels. These were early examples of fixed-wired knowledge processing machines.

In his Exhaustive Treatise on Shadows, (Kitab Amr Fee al-Zalal) he explained the calculation of Salat prayer times according to the shadow cast by the gnomon of a sundial. (manuscript  at U of Toronto Robarts library, author of this article has studied it).

The first description of an “observation tube” is found in a work of Biruni, in a section “dedicated to verifying the presence of the new crescent on the horizon.” Though these early observation tubes did not have lenses, they “enabled an observer to focus on a part of the sky by eliminating light interference.” These observation tubes were later adopted in Latin-speaking Europe, where they influenced the development of the telescope.

Better to dye knowing than ignorant

The story is told of his death by a contemporary who says: I heard al-Biruni was dying. I hurried to his house for a last look; one could see that he would not survive long. When he was informed of my coming, he opened his eyes and asked: are you so and so? I said: yes. He said: I am told you know the resolution of a knotty problem in the laws of inheritance of Islam. And he alluded to a well-known puzzle. I said: Abu Rehan at this time? And al-Biruni replied: don’t you think it is better that I should die knowing, rather than ignorant. With sorrow in my heart, I am told him what I knew. Taking my leave I had not yet crossed the portals of his house when the cry arose from inside; al-Biruni is dead.

The crater Al-Biruni on the Moon is named after him. Tashkent Technical University (formerly Tashkent Polytechnic Institute) is also named after Abu Rayhan al-Biruni and a university founded by Ahmad Shah Massoud in Kapisa is named after him.

al-Biruni’s translated books into European languages:

1.Athar al-Baqiya (Chronology of ancient nations), 2.al-Qanun al-Masuni (on astronomy), 3.Kitab al-Jamahir (on precious stones) 4. Kitab al-saydanah fee al-tib (pharmacology), 5. Kitab al-Tafheem (on astrology), 6. Kitab fee ifrad al-Maqal fi amr zalal (on shadows), 7. Kitab fe tahqiq ma lil-Hind ( on India), 8. Tahdid nahayat al-amakin(determination of co-ordinates of cities).

Quotable Quotes:

For it is the same whether you take it that the Earth is in motion or the Sky. For, in both the cases, it does not affect the Astronomical Science. It is just for the Physicist to see if it is possible to refute it.

Once a sage asked why scholars always flock to the doors of the rich, whilst the rich are not inclined to call at the doors of scholars. ‘The scholars‘he answered, ‘are well aware of the use of money, but the rich are ignorant of the nobility of science.’

(On the science and culture of the Hindus) I can only compare their astronomical and mathematical literature ... to a mixture of pearl shells and sour dates, or of costly crystals and common pebbles. Both kinds of things are equal in their eyes, since they cannot rise themselves to the methods of strictly scientific deduction.

You well know ... for which reason I began searching for a number of demonstrations proving a statement due to the ancient Greeks ... and which passion I felt for the subject ... so that you reproached me my preoccupation with these chapters of geometry, not knowing the true essence of these subjects, which consists precisely in going in each matter beyond what is necessary. ... Whatever way he [the geometer] may go, through exercise will he be lifted from the physical to the divine teaachings, which are little accessible because of the difficulty to understand their meaning ... and because the circumstance that not everybody is able to have a conception of them, especially not the one who turns away from the art of demonstration.
Book on the Finding of Chords

Bibliography

Dr Abdus Salam, Ideals & Realities, Singapore 1989

1. Zakaria Virk, Biography of al-Biruni, Kitabi Duniya, Turkman Gate, Delhi 2007
2. Saleem Khan, Albiruni Discovery of India, Delhi
3. Dictionary of Scientific Biography, various volumes
4. Zakaria Virk, 111 Muslim Scientists, Varanasi 2014, India
5. Syed Hossein Nasr, Life & Works of al-Biruni
6. Daniel Boorstein, The Discoverers
7. Will Durant, Age of Faith
8. J. Schacht, Legacy of Islam
9. D.M. Kamiar, Biruni, bio-biography, Florida
10. Hakim Muhammad Said, Biruni, Karachi