Episode 11 – Master Muslim Scholar al-Biruni

Islamic Golden Age (2017)

By Eamon Gearon

Film Review

Al-Biruni was a Persian scholar born  in Uzbekistan in 973 AD. Educated in Islamic theory and the Greek sciences  jurisprudence, astronomy, medicine and math, he knew seven languages, including Sanskrit and wrote treatises on physics, math, anthropology, history, geography, astronomy and religious studies (Hinduisim, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam).

Known as the father of comparative religion, he maintained every religion had the same same core moral values, including the polytheistic religions of the Hindus and ancient Greeks.

Published in 1000 AD his first major work, The Remaining Traces of Past Civilizations or Chronology of Ancient Nations, is regarded a better historical account of the history of the Jews than most Hebrew sources.

He’s best known for History of India, a foundational text on the history and culture of India. The book describes the Hindu religion in detail, as well as Hindu investigation into math, science and astrology.

Studying and writing during a period that in which east Persia, Afghanistan, India and Central Asia were extremely unstable, the newly formed Kwarazmian Empire (an ethnically Turkish empire that adopted Persian language and culture) employed him at age 40 as court astrologer. Of the 150 titles he published, only 22 survived, some with highly complex calculations and tables.

Using trigonometry and a nearby mountain, he arrived at a more accurate measurement of the earth’s circumference than the Greek mathematician Eratosthenes (296-195 BC). 

Among his other accomplishments:

• Documenting with mathematical measurements that the planets travel around the sun in elliptical orbits.
• A textbook of pharmacology describing 1,000 different drugs in five different language.
• A scientific text on gems, listing the density and specific gravity of more than 100 precious stones.

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/5756987/5757009