al-Biruni facts for kids

Abu Rayhan al-Biruni
ابوریحان محمد بن احمد البیرونی
An imaginary rendition of Al Biruni on a 1973 Soviet postage stamp
Religion	Islam
Denomination	Sunni
Personal
Born	973 Kath, Khwarezm, Afrighid dynasty (modern-day Uzbekistan)
Died	c. 1050 (aged 77) Ghazni, Ghaznavid Empire (modern-day Afghanistan)
Influenced	al-Sijzi, Omar Khayyam, al-Khazini, Zakariya al-Qazwini

Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (born 973, died around 1050), often called al-Biruni, was a brilliant scholar from Khwarezm (part of modern-day Uzbekistan). He lived during the Islamic Golden Age, a time when science and learning thrived.

Al-Biruni was a true polymath, meaning he was an expert in many different subjects. People have called him the "founder of Indology" (the study of India), the "Father of Comparative Religion", the "Father of modern geodesy" (measuring the Earth), and even the first anthropologist (someone who studies human societies and cultures).

He knew a lot about physics, mathematics, astronomy, and natural sciences. He was also a great historian, a expert on time, and a linguist (someone who knows many languages). Al-Biruni studied almost all the sciences known in his time. Kings and powerful people supported his work.

Al-Biruni spoke Khwarezmian, Persian, Arabic, and Sanskrit. He also knew some Greek, Hebrew, and Syriac. He spent much of his life in Ghazni, which is now in Afghanistan. In 1017, he traveled to India and wrote an important book about Indian culture called The History of India. He was very fair in his writings about different cultures. Because of his amazing descriptions of India, people called him al-Ustadh ("The Master").

What's in a Name?

Al-Biruni's name comes from the Persian word bērūn or bīrūn. This word means "outskirts." He was born in an area outside of Kath, the capital city of Khwarazm. Today, that city is called Beruniy and is in Uzbekistan.

Al-Biruni's Life Journey

Al-Biruni spent his first 25 years in Khwarezm. There, he studied many subjects. These included Islamic jurisprudence (Islamic law), theology (study of religion), grammar, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and philosophy. He also explored physics and many other sciences.

He left his home around 995 and went to Bukhara. There, he exchanged ideas with another famous scholar, Avicenna. In 998, he moved to the court of a ruler named Qabus. He wrote his first major work there, called The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries. This book was about history and how to keep track of time.

In 1017, Mahmud of Ghazni took control of the city of Rey. Many scholars, including Al-Biruni, were taken to Ghazni. This city was the capital of the Ghaznavid kingdom. Al-Biruni became a court astrologer and went with Mahmud on his trips to India. He lived in India for several years.

During his time in India, Al-Biruni learned a lot about the country. He finished his famous book about India around 1030. He also continued his science studies during these travels. For example, he created a simple quadrant to measure the sun's height. His many travels helped him make great progress in his studies.

Math, Astronomy, and Time

Al-Biruni wrote 146 books, and 95 of them were about astronomy, mathematics, and related topics. These included mathematical geography. He lived during the Islamic Golden Age. During this time, leaders encouraged astronomy. This was because astronomy helped people know the correct direction for prayers in Islam.

Al-Biruni used different methods for his research. His main book on astrology was mostly about astronomy and math. He said that a good astrologer must know geometry, arithmetic, and how the universe works. He was the first to clearly separate astronomy (real science) from astrology (fortune-telling). He strongly supported astronomy. Some believe he disagreed with astrology because it wasn't based on facts.

He also discussed the idea that the Earth moves. He argued with Ibn Sina about Aristotle's ideas on the sky. Al-Biruni showed with simple experiments that a vacuum (empty space) must exist. He also questioned why Aristotle thought elliptical orbits were impossible.

In his big astronomy book, The Mas'ud Canon, Al-Biruni noticed that the Sun's highest point in the sky was not fixed. This was different from what Ptolemy had said. He also wrote about how to use an astrolabe to tell time and measure land. His work on eclipses was used much later to study the Moon's movement and Earth's past rotation.

Al-Biruni was also the first to divide the hour into minutes, seconds, and even smaller parts. He did this around the year 1000 while discussing Jewish months.

Understanding the Universe's Beginning

Al-Biruni strongly believed that the universe had a beginning. He supported the idea of creatio ex nihilo, which means creation out of nothing. He disagreed with the philosopher Avicenna on this point. Al-Biruni argued that Aristotle, whom Avicenna followed, contradicted himself. Aristotle said the universe and matter had a start, but also that matter was eternal.

Al-Biruni was proud that he followed religious texts. He did not let Greek philosophers like Aristotle change his views.

Physics Discoveries

Al-Biruni helped bring the scientific method to medieval mechanics. He created ways to find the density of things. He used a special hydrostatic balance for this. His method was very accurate. He measured the density of metals, gems, and even air. He also used this method to figure out the Earth's radius. He did this by measuring angles from a mountain top.

Al-Biruni wrote a lot about density. His work was very important. Later scientists like Galileo and Isaac Newton used his ideas in their own research.

Measuring Earth: Geography and Geodesy

Al-Biruni came up with a new way to find the Earth's radius. He did this by looking at the height of a mountain. He used trigonometry to calculate the Earth's radius. He measured the height of a hill and how much the horizon dipped from its top. His calculation for the Earth's radius was about 3928.77 miles. This was very close to the real average radius of 3847.80 miles.

In his book Codex Masudicus (1037), Al-Biruni thought there might be a large landmass in the ocean between Asia and Europe. This is what we now call the Americas. He guessed this because he had accurately estimated the Earth's circumference. He found that Afro-Eurasia (Asia, Europe, and Africa) only covered two-fifths of the Earth's circumference. He believed that if land formed in one part of the world, it must also form in other large oceans. He also thought that some of this unknown land would be in areas where people could live.

Medicines and Minerals

Biruni wrote a book about medicines called Book on the Pharmacopoeia of Medicine. It listed different names for drugs in many languages. These included Syriac, Persian, Greek, and some Indian languages.

He used his hydrostatic balance to find how dense and pure metals and precious stones were. He sorted gems by their physical traits, like how heavy they were compared to water (specific gravity) and how hard they were. This was different from just sorting them by color.

History and Timelines

Al-Biruni's main book on political history is known from parts quoted by other writers. He also wrote about history in his other works. His book Chronology of Ancient Nations tried to figure out the exact lengths of different historical periods.

Studying Religions

Many people see Al-Biruni as one of the most important Muslim experts on the history of religion. He was a pioneer in studying different religions side by side. He looked at Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam. He thought Islam was the best religion. However, he also admired other cultures. He quoted directly from their holy books. He tried to understand other religions from their own point of view. He believed all cultures are connected because they are all made by humans.

Al-Biruni divided Hindus into two groups: educated and uneducated. He said educated Hindus believed in one God. They did not worship idols. He noted that even some Muslims used human-like ideas for God.

Understanding People: Anthropology

Al-Biruni wrote about the people, customs, and religions of India. He studied groups of people closely. He learned their languages and read their main texts. He presented his findings fairly, comparing different cultures. Some experts believe Al-Biruni was the first anthropologist.

His Study of India (Indology)

Al-Biruni is famous for his work on India, especially his book A Critical Study of What India Says. In this huge book, he explored almost every part of Indian life. This included religion, history, geography, science, and mathematics. During his travels in India, he focused on the culture, science, and religion of Hindu life. He wanted to understand these things deeply.

He also translated the Yoga sutras from Indian sage Patanjali into Arabic.

Al-Biruni explained why many Hindus disliked Muslims. He noted that Hinduism and Islam were very different. Also, Muslim armies had attacked many Indian cities. They had taken many Hindu slaves to Persia. This made Hindus suspicious of all foreigners, not just Muslims. Hindus thought Muslims were violent and unclean. They did not want to share anything with them.

Over time, Al-Biruni earned the trust of Hindu scholars. He collected books and studied with them. He became fluent in Sanskrit. He translated Indian works on mathematics, science, medicine, and astronomy into Arabic. He was impressed by Indian scholars who believed the Earth was round. They thought this was the only way to explain differences in daylight hours and seasons.

However, Al-Biruni also criticized Indian scribes. He thought they were careless when copying old documents. He also felt Hindus were not curious enough about history and religion.

One thing Al-Biruni studied was the Hindu calendar. He worked very hard on this. He found a way to change dates from the Hindu calendar to the Greek, Arab/Muslim, and Persian calendars. He used complex math and science for these calculations.

His book did not focus much on battles or politics. Al-Biruni thought social culture was more important. He described Indian traditions and customs. He did record important dates and battle sites. He also wrote about Indian rulers and their good deeds. These details are helpful to historians today. They can use Al-Biruni's work to find places in modern India.

Al-Biruni's fair account of Hinduism was amazing for his time. He said he was completely objective in his writing. He tried to be as honest as possible. One scholar compared his work to "a magic island of quiet, impartial research."

Al-Biruni's writing was very poetic. This might make it less useful for modern historians who need exact facts. But many people have used his work to check historical facts in other books.

Al-Biruni's Books

Most of Al-Biruni's books are in Arabic. This was the main language for science back then. But he also wrote Kitab al-Tafhim in both Persian and Arabic. This shows he was a master of both languages. He listed 103 of his own works. They covered astronomy, math, geography, and religion.

Some of His Surviving Books

• A Critical Study of What India Says (also called The Book on India or Indica) – a big book about India's religion and philosophy.
• Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology – written in Persian.
• The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries – compares calendars of different cultures. It includes math, astronomy, and history.
• The Mas'udi Law – a large book about astronomy, geography, and engineering.
• Understanding Astrology – a question-and-answer book about math and astronomy, in Arabic and Persian.
• Pharmacy – about drugs and medicines.
• Gems – a guide to minerals and gems.

His Persian Work

Al-Biruni wrote most of his works in Arabic. But his Persian version of Al-Tafhim is very important. It is one of the earliest science books in the Persian language. It is also a great source for Persian writing and words. The book covers four main subjects: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music.

Al-Biruni's Legacy

Sadly, after Al-Biruni died, his work was not used or mentioned for centuries. It was only much later, in the West, that people started reading and using his books again. His book on India became very important to the British Empire when they were in India in the 1800s.

A movie about his life, Abu Raykhan Beruni, was made in the Soviet Union in 1974.

The Al-Biruni crater on the Moon and the asteroid 9936 Al-Biruni are named after him.

Biruni Island in Antarctica is also named after Al-Biruni.

In Iran, Al-Biruni's birthday is celebrated as the day of the surveying engineer.

In 2009, Iran gave a special pavilion to the United Nations Office in Vienna. It has statues of four famous Iranian scholars. Al-Biruni is one of them, along with Avicenna, Zakariya Razi, and Omar Khayyam.

See Also

In Spanish: Al-Biruni para niños