Lesson 2: "Abu al-Rayhan al-Biruni" by Dr Abdel Halim Mansour

01First: the author

• Dr Abdel Halim Mansour: an Egyptian scientist who graduated from the Faculty of Science and took the MA and then the PhD in the philosophy of science.
• He served as dean of the Faculty of Science, and with his colleagues founded the magazine "The Message of Science (Risālat al-ʿIlm)".
• He wrote on the history of science and the lives of scholars in a simplified scientific style.
• The essay is transferred with adaptations from his writings about the Arab scholars.

02Second: the occasion of the essay and its general direction

• The essay speaks of Abu al-Rayhan al-Biruni in order to show students a model of the Arab scholar who lit up the golden age of Islamic civilisation.
• It answers those who denied the merit of the Arab scholars, using the testimony of the orientalists themselves.
• Type of essay: a scientific, historical, biographical essay (the life of a scholar) that relies on evidence and proof-texts.
• Its aim: pride in the achievements of the Arab scholars and taking them as a pattern in their qualities, above all loving science for its own sake.

03Third: idea one — al-Biruni's rank among scholars

• Al-Biruni is one of the great scholars in whom the golden age of Arab science was marked, and one of the mightiest minds in the history of the world and the greatest scholars of his age.

The testimonies of the orientalists

• Meyerhof (a German orientalist): al-Biruni's name is the most prominent name in the procession of the great, wide-horizoned scholars with whom Islamic civilisation is adorned.
• An American orientalist: in any list of the greatest scholars, al-Biruni must have a high place.
• And no enquiry in mathematics, astronomy, geography, history, anthropology or mineralogy is complete without acknowledging his great contribution.

What the testimonies signify

• The writer cites them because they are non-Arab testimonies, so they are stronger in effect when it comes to convincing.

04Fourth: idea two — doing justice to the Arab scholars

• Only a few foreign historians have done the Arab scholars justice; the majority were kept from acknowledging their merit by spite and bigotry.
• Sigrid Hunke: of every hundred books in the history of science, only two admit some merit to the Arabs.
• By this the writer affirms that doing the Arabs justice is itself a truth that needs scientific defence.

05Fifth: idea three — the conditions of the Arab scientific renaissance

• Favourable conditions came to the Arab nation and gave it a leading position in science.
• It drank from Greek science and translated books from Greek, Persian, Indian and Syriac.
• It is impossible for one nation to carry over the sciences of another without having reached the degree of advancement that qualifies it to absorb them.
• No nation in history is known to have cared for science as the Arab nation did in the brilliant Islamic age — until science became part of its life and its being.

The three greats

• Al-Biruni is counted one of three scholars with whom Islamic civilisation takes pride: Ibn Sina, Ibn al-Haytham and al-Biruni.
• They appeared in the period from the middle of the fourth century AH to the middle of the fifth, and each of them was the highest in rank and the most firmly grounded in his own field.

06Sixth: idea four — his life and his journeys

• He is Abu al-Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad, born in a suburb of Khwarazm in 362 AH.
• He visited the Arab capitals and lived in India for a long time.
• He died in 440 AH, after some eighty years filled with research, writing and study.
• He did not confine himself to the natural and mathematical sciences; he also wrote in history, geography, astronomy and trigonometry.

His journey to India

• He spent forty years in India, during which he investigated its reports, its legends, its customs, its morals and its dress.
• The result was his book "Establishing What India Holds of Sayings Acceptable to Reason or Rejected (Taḥqīq mā li-l-Hind min Maqūla)".
• Critics agree it is among the best references for knowing the news of the Eastern peoples and their ways of living.
• He drew the greatest benefit from his journey: he studied the Greek sciences and mastered the Indian sciences.

07Seventh: idea five — his writings

• After his return he settled at the Ghaznavid court and presented to Sultan Masʿud a treatise on astronomy, "The Masʿudic Canon in Astronomy and the Stars (al-Qānūn al-Masʿūdī fī al-Hayʾa wa al-Nujūm)" — a huge book in three parts.
• "Understanding the First Principles of the Art of Astrology (al-Tafahhum li-Awāʾil Ṣināʿat al-Tanjiim)": in geometry, arithmetic and astrology.
• "Pharmacy (al-Ṣaydala)": a book on medicinal substances.
• "The Compendium on Knowing Gems (al-Jawāhir)": on gems, plus a treatise on minerals.
• "Vestiges Remaining from Past Centuries (al-Āthār al-Bāqiya ʿan al-Quṛūn al-Khāliya)": a great book published by the orientalist Sachau.
• A treatise on dimensions and celestial bodies, dealing with the area of the earth, the distance of the moon from it, the diameter of the sun, the moon's shadow, and the distances and sizes of the planets.
• His writings come to one hundred and eighty books and treatises; he wrote most of them in Arabic and was also fluent in Persian.

A stand that shows his indifference to worldly gain

• The sultan wished to reward him for the Masʿudic Canon and sent him three camels loaded with silver coin — and he returned them, saying that he served science for the sake of science.

08Eighth: idea six — the plurality of his fields of distinction

• He was distinguished in many widely differing arts, which shows a genius rare of example.
• History: a verifying, checking historian of wide reading.
• Geology: an excellent geologist, by the testimony of contemporary geologists.
• Astronomy: an excellent astronomer, by the testimony of contemporary astronomers.
• Mathematics: an excellent mathematician, by the testimony of the professors of mathematics.
• It was said of him: "a manifestation of comprehensiveness and of not being bound to one time" — for many of his borrowings were written more than a thousand years ago and precede mental methods reckoned modern today.

09Ninth: idea seven — the qualities of al-Biruni

• An exceptional genius and a rare, burning intelligence.
• Patience, endurance, persistence and a stamina at work of few parallels.
• Precision in observation and skill in induction (istiqrāʾ).
• Indifference to money and to authority.
• Turning away from petty things.

10Tenth: the honouring of the scholar

• The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union issued a commemorative volume on al-Biruni — under the supervision of the orientalist Tolstov — on the thousandth anniversary (in Hijri years) of his birth.
• And a second commemorative volume was issued in India gathering researches and articles about him, celebrating his memory and acknowledging his service to science and to humanity.
• The writer closes with this to affirm that al-Biruni's merit is acknowledged the world over.

11Eleventh: vocabulary and its meanings

12Twelfth: styles and images in the essay

• Citing sayings as proof-texts (Meyerhof, Hunke) — to strengthen the argument.
• Statistics: "two of every hundred books", "one hundred and eighty books", "forty years" — they give the speech precision.
• The assertive style, emphasised: "in truth… (wa-al-ḥaqqa anna)", "in fact… (wa-al-wāqiʿa anna)".
• Synonymy and detail-after-summary: he states his distinction in general and then details it across history, geology, astronomy and mathematics.
• Contrast: between the few who are just and the majority who are spiteful, and between pride in the achievement and bewilderment at the denial.

13Thirteenth: the traits of the writer's style

• A clear scientific manner without complexity, suited to the student and to the general reader.
• He leans on evidence and proof-texts more than on rhetorical display.
• He orders the ideas logically: the scholar's rank, then his upbringing, then his writings, then his qualities, then the honouring paid him.
• Short, tight sentences interspersed with figures and book-titles.
• His position: he is among the writers of science who bind the scientific heritage to the present and defend the merit of Arab civilisation.

14Fourteenth: the values drawn from the essay

• Loving science for its own sake: "I serve science for science's sake", not for money.
• Patience, persistence and precision are the scholar's road.
• Openness to the sciences of other nations, with absorption and originality.
• Pride in the achievements of the Arab scholars and taking them as a pattern.
• Variety in knowledge, and not restricting oneself to a single branch.

15Exam traps and key takeaways

• Type of essay = scientific, historical and biographical, resting on evidence and proof-texts; the author is a scientist of the philosophy of science (dean of the Faculty of Science, founder of "Risālat al-ʿIlm"), not a literary critic.
• Why cite orientalists? Because their testimony is non-Arab and therefore more persuasive — the standard "give the reason" answer.
• Numbers to keep exact: born 362 AH in a suburb of Khwarazm · died 440 AH · about 80 years of work · 40 years in India · 180 books and treatises · only 2 of every 100 history-of-science books credit the Arabs.
• The three greats are Ibn Sina, Ibn al-Haytham and al-Biruni, in the window from mid-4th to mid-5th century AH.
• The logic of the renaissance: no nation can transfer another's sciences unless it has reached the advancement that lets it absorb them — translation alone is not the explanation.
• Book-titles matched to their contents: "al-Qānūn al-Masʿūdī" = astronomy, three parts, gifted to Sultan Masʿud · "al-Tafahhum" = geometry, arithmetic, astrology · "al-Ṣaydala" = medicinal substances · "al-Jawāhir" = gems, plus a mineralogy treatise · "al-Āthār al-Bāqiya" = the great book published by the orientalist Sachau · the treatise on dimensions and bodies = earth's area, moon's distance, sun's diameter, moon's shadow, planetary distances and sizes.
• His India book is "Taḥqīq mā li-l-Hind…", and critics agree it is among the best references for the peoples of the East and their ways of life; the two benefits of the journey were Greek sciences studied and Indian sciences mastered.
• Do not mix the two sultans: the court was the Ghaznavid one — the Ghaznavid court itself goes back to Mahmud ibn Sabuktigin, while the dedication of the Canon was to Sultan Masʿud.
• The three camels of silver he sent back is the evidence for zuhd (indifference to money and rank) — and the quotation of his motive is "I serve science for science".
• His qualities list is five items and includes istiqraʾ (induction) defined as following particulars to reach a general ruling — a definition question.
• Ways of honouring him: the Soviet Academy's commemorative volume under the orientalist Tolstov on the Hijric millennium of his birth, and an Indian volume of researches and articles — the writer's point is universal acknowledgement of his merit.
• Stylistic evidence: statistics for precision, emphasised assertive phrases ("wa-al-ḥaqqa…"), detail after summary, the contrast of the few just historians against the spiteful majority, and proof-text citation — while his overall method is evidence over rhetoric, short sentences with numbers and titles, and a logical order rank → upbringing → writings → qualities → honour.