Abu Raihan Al-Bayruni

The Polyglot & Versatile Scientist

    Judge Al-Jisabouri reports, “I visited Abu Raihan when he was on his death bed. He said to me, ‘One day you told me about such and such a problem…’ I said, “You want me to explain it when you are in such a condition?” He said: “Tell me. Is it not better that I leave this world with knowledge about this issue than dying while ignorant of it?” So I explained the subject under discussion, and he in turn taught me things he had promised to explain to me earlier. I had scarcely left him when I heard cries from his house announcing his passing away.”

     This episode sums up for us the personality of our today’s hero, to whom knowledge and search for it were his goal in life. He was, in fact, acting on Prophet Mohammad’s teaching “Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave.”

VI. Heroes of Science & Medicine

Abu Raihan Al-Bayruni

The Polyglot & Versatile Scientist

    Judge Al-Jisabouri reports, “I visited Abu Raihan when he was on his death bed. He said to me, ‘One day you told me about such and such a problem…’ I said, “You want me to explain it when you are in such a condition?” He said: “Tell me. Is it not better that I leave this world with knowledge about this issue than dying while ignorant of it?” So I explained the subject under discussion, and he in turn taught me things he had promised to explain to me earlier. I had scarcely left him when I heard cries from his house announcing his passing away.”

     This episode sums up for us the personality of our today’s hero, to whom knowledge and search for it were his goal in life. He was, in fact, acting on Prophet Mohammad’s teaching “Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave.”

     No wonder that our hero al-Bayruni contributed so much to human knowledge. We are told that a simple listing of his written works filled more than sixty pages. A well-known orientalist has this to say of our today’s hero: “Abu Raihan Mohammad Al-Bayruni (973-1048) called ‘The Master’ (al-Ustadh), a Persian physician, astronomer, mathematician, physicist, geograhper, and historian, is perhaps the most prominent figure in the phalanx of those university learned Muslim scholars who characterized the Golden Age of Islamic Science…” (Max Mayerhaff, Legacy of Islam, 332).

     Our hero Abu Raihan Muhammad al-Bayruni was born in Khwarizm (a part of modern Uzbekistan) in 362 A.H./973 G. He studied Islamic law and Arabic besides Persian, and delved in many different sources and branches of knowledge, contributing generously to everyone of them.

     As a true scientist, al-Bayruni was of the view that regardless of the subject under study one should (1) make use of every available source in its original form, (2) subject the information received from others to objective scrutiny, and (3) be empirical; i.e., investigate the subject through direct observation and experimentation. For this purpose our hero became one of the early polyglot scientists of Islam, having learned Greek, Syriac, and sanskrit, beside Arabic and Persian. He used his knowledge of those labguages very effectively to further his and human knowledge in general in manyfields of investigation. For the contributions of al-Bayruni can be seen in astronomy, mathematics, geology, geography, physics and history.

     In astronomy, our hero discovered seven different ways of finding the direction of the North and South, and discovered mathematical techniques to determine exactly the beginnings of the seasons. He also wrote about the sun andits movements and about the eclipse, besides his inventions of some instruments to help astronomical studies.

     In mathematics, our hero was pioneer in the study of the angles and trignometry, in addition to other major contributions to geometry.

     To geology and geography, al-Bayruni contributed generously through his studies on the determination of the circumference of the earth, geological eruptions and metallurgy, in addition to the measurement of the longitudes and latitudes, and methods of determining the relative position of one place to another…etc. Cartography and ethnography certainly benefitted from our hero’s genius.

     As for history, we are told by Meyerhoff that “His (Bayruni’s) Chronology of Anicent Nations and his Indian Studies are known in good English translations.” In fact, through his meticulous geographical and historical investigations our hero also contributed to comparative religion as well.

     In physics, our hero al-Bayruni discovered the specific weights of eighteen elements and compounds, including many metals and stones.

     What makes al-Bayruni of special intrest to the students of Islam and Islamic histroy is that he was an example of true Muslim scientist who benifitted from Islamic guidance in his scientific investigations, and benefitted from his scientific discoveries in strengthening his faith in his religion. He says, for example, “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.”

     It is true that our hero lived in the company of many rulers, including Mahmood al-Ghaznavi, the Muslim comqueror of India and his son Mas’ood but he never considered knowledge or search for it a means to fame, authority or material gains. We are told that when al-Bayruni finished his encyclopaedic work entitled Al-Qanoon al-Mas’oodi, (The Mas’udi Canon)the Ghaznavi Sultan Mas’ood sent him three camel loads of silver coins. Our hero politely returned the royal gift saying, I serve knowledge for the sake of knowledge, and not for money.”

     With this type of mentality and dedication and with those great contributions in many diverse fields our hero truly earned the title of USTADH (the Master or Teacher par excellence), and his age was termed byu some historians ‘the age of al-Bayruni’.