in 1017, he drafted al-Biruni into service as his
court astronomer and astrologer in aFghanistan.
Between 1022 and 1030, al-Biruni accompanied
Sultan Mahmoud in a series of attacks he launched
into northern india, which provided the scholar
with an opportunity to study Hindu religion and
philosophy for a period of about 10 years. He
met with Brahmins and even studied Sanskrit,
the sacred language of Hindus. The result of
these studies was his unprecedented book, the
India Book (Kitab al-Hind), which he finished
writing in 1031 after he returned to Ghazna. The
book described in detail Hindu religious beliefs,
ritual practices, philosophy, the caste system and
marriage, as well as India’s accomplishments in
mathematics and science. He wrote it from a
comparative perspective that privileged his own
Islamic religion and culture but acknowledged the
accomplishments of the Hindus at the same time.
Al-Biruni also translated Sanskrit texts on Hindu
cosmology and philosophy into Arabic. Scholars
estimate that he wrote nearly 180 books on differ-
ent subjects in his lifetime, mostly in Arabic, but
many of these have been lost.
See also hindUism and islam.
Further reading: Al-Biruni, Alberuni’s India: An Account
of the Religion, Philosophy, Literature, Geography, Chro-
nology, Astronomy, Customs, Laws and Astrology of India
about A.D. 1030, ed. and trans. Edward C. Sachau (Delhi:
Low Price Publications, 1989); Seyyid Hossein Nasr, An
Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines (Boulder,
Colo.: Shambhala, 1964): 107–174; George Saliba, “Al-
Biruni and the Sciences of His Time.” In Religion, Learn-
ing and Science in the Abbasid Period, edited by M. J. L.
Young, J. D. Latham, and R. B Serjeant, 405–423 (Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
Bistami, Abu Yazid al- (Bayazid) (d. ca.
875) early Persian Sufi known for his ecstatic sayings
and mystical experiences
Little is known about Abu Yazid al-Bistami’s life
except for the statements attributed to him by Sufi
tradition that reflect his intense religious experi-
ences of passing away (fana) in God and mystical
flight. He is thought to have come from a Zoroas-
trian family living in the El Burz mountain area
south of the Caspian Sea in Persia (today’s iran).
He led an ascetic lifestyle, seeking detachment
from the world. Later, when he had ecstatic expe-
riences of union with God, he would make state-
ments such as “Glory be to me,” as if God were
speaking through him. This, of course, roused
the anger of conservative religious authorities,
who considered such statements to be blasphemy.
However, Sufi scholars defended Abu Yazid by
attesting to his good standing as an observant
Muslim and by explaining that statements made
while in a mystical state differ from those made
while engaged in ordinary conversation, arguing
that he may simply have been quoting God rather
than speaking as God. Abu Yazid also spoke of
becoming a bird and flying through the realms of
the universe to the divine throne, like the night
JoUrney and ascent that mUhammad was reported
to have made. According to one account, when he
reached God, he heard his voice and melted like
lead, sensing that he was so close to him that he
“was nearer to him than the spirit is to the body”
(Sells, 244). Because of such utterances, he was
classed as one of the first “intoxicated” Sufis, in
contrast to “sober” ones whose experiences were
more attuned to maintaining a distance between
the self and God. Reports of Abu Yazid’s sayings
spread through Persia to iraq, Central Asia, and
tUrkey. They were recorded in writing by the
10th century, when he had become so venerated
as a saint that learned scholars visited his tomb
to gain his blessing (baraka). The Mongol ruler of
Persia further embellished his shrine in the early
14th century. Abu Yazid was also memorialized by
having been included in the teaching lineages of
prominent Sufi brotherhoods.
See also asceticism; baqa and fana; tariqa.Further reading: Carl W. Ernst, Words of Ecstasy in
Sufism (Albany: State University of New York Press,Bistami, Abu Yazid al- 107 J