AL-BIRUNI
Al-Biruni, whose full name is Abu’l-Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad Al-Biruni, was
born in 973 C.E. in what is now Khiva, Uzbekistan (formerly part of the Soviet
Union). At the time of Al-Biruni’s birth, the area was a suburb of Kath, the capital of
Khwa ̄rizm (north and northeast of ancient Parthia on the lower Oxus River in the
region south of the Aral Sea). Known to the classical Greeks and Romans as Choras-
mia, Khiva was the homeland of a people related to the Sogdian Magi who lived to
the south and southeast of Khwa ̄rizm on the Oxus in the eastern reaches of what had
once been the Persian Empire. The proximity of Al-Biruni’s general region, which was
bordered on the east by the Hindu Kush, meant that Indian cultural and scientific tra-
ditions had certainly pervaded the region for centuries. Not far away, on the western
shore of the Caspian Sea, lay the remnants of the Jewish empire of the Khazars, which
had fallen to the duke of Kiev four years prior to Al-Biruni’s birth.
Only 23 years after Al-Biruni’s birth, the last of the Khwa ̄rizmshahs, Abu ̄
Abdallah Muhammad, a direct descendant of the Khusraws (the last dynasty of Persian
kings before Islam), was overthrown by the Muslim emir Ma’mun ibn Muhammad.
Thus, Persian-Magian traditions lingered in and around Al-Biruni’s birthplace. Indeed,
despite the conversion to Islam, the whole region was steeped not only in Zoroastrian-
ism but also in Manicheanism and astrological doctrines, as is apparent from Al-
Biruni’s Chronologies of Ancient Nations, Indiaand The Book of Instruction in the Elements
of the Art of Astrology.The latter work, which was translated into English by R. Ramsay
Wright in 1934, will hereafter be referred to by its Arabic short title, the Tafhim.
Thus, Al-Biruni came from a highly cultured society known for its mathemati-
cal, scientific, astronomical, and astrological lore. In his various works, Al-Biruni
shows interest in, and familiarity with, the cultures and sciences of the peoples who
surrounded him. He shows profound and advanced knowledge of scientific subjects.
His mind was precise and he was a close observer of nature. He studied the Hindu
numeral system and showed how to determine latitude and longitude accurately.
When he visited India and viewed the Indus Valley, Al-Biruni concluded that it was
an ancient sea basin filled with alluvium. In many ways, he was ahead of his time.
Al-Biruni traveled widely, leaving his birthplace for the Samanid court of Nuh
ibn Mansur at Ghaznah in eastern Afghanistan, the Samanid capital, sometime after
990 C.E. In 998, he went to Gurgan with Qabus ibn Washmgir Shams al-Ma’ali. While
there, Al-Biruni began his Chronology of Ancient Nations,which is dedicated to
Qabus. In this work, completed in the year 1000, he shows advanced understanding of
the comparative chronologies of the surrounding peoples. He seems to have returned
to Khwa ̄rizm around age 37 and to have remained there until age 46, when his
patron, Abu’l-‘Abbas Ma’mun ibn Ma’mun, was murdered by rebellious subjects. As a
result of the murder, Mahmud of Ghaznah invaded Khwa ̄rizm and subjugated the
country, exiling its ruling class (and Al-Biruni with them) to Ghaznah in the follow-
ing year. Al-Biruni served Mahmud as court astrologer, but somehow found time
between 1016 and 1029 to travel to India and write his classic India,detailing the
social, religious, and scientific characteristics of the Indians. During this period he
also produced the Tafhim,his textbook on astrology and related subjects.Al-Biruni
[14] THEASTROLOGYBOOK