Al-Behruni was born in September 5, 973 in Khwarezm. His first twenty-five years were spent in Khwarezm where he studied fiqh, theology, grammar, mathematics, astronomy, medics and other sciences. The end of the 10^th century was the age of the social unrest in Islamic World. Thus in 995, he left for Bukhara and in 998, he went to the court of the Ziyarid amir of Tabaristan, where he wrote his first important work, al-Athar al-Baqqiya ‘an al-Qorun al-Khaliyya on historical and scientific chronology. In 1017, Al-Biruni was taken to Ghazna, by Mahmud Ghaznavi. Biruni was made court astrologe. After Indian invasion; he was sent to India, for a few years. where Biruni became familiar with all things related to India, even Sanskrit. During this time he wrote the Kitab ta’rikh al-Hind, around 1030.

 

Al-Biruni was one of the greatest scholars of the medieval Islamic era and who contributed to physics, mathematics and astronomy, Geography, Pharmacology, Mineralogy, History, Chronology, Religion and Ideology. He was aware of different languages (Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac and Berber).

 

He recorded observations of his travels of India in his book Kitab al-Hind which gives an account of the historical and social conditions of the sub-continent. He translated two Sanskrit books into Arabic.  He regarded the Indus valley as, an ancient sea basin. On his return from India, al-Biruni wrote his famous book Qanun-i Masoodi, in which he discussed several theorems of astronomy, trigonometry, solar, lunar, and planetary motions and relative topics. His other book al-Athar al-Baqia, was account of ancient history of nations, with Geography. In this book he also discussed the rotation of the earth and has given correct values of latitudes and longitudes of various places. He also wrote the Kitab-al-Saidana, about medica. His book the Kitab-al-Jamahir deals with the properties of various precious stones. Al-Biruni discussed; centuries before the rest of the world, that the earth rotates around its axis or. His book al-Tafhim-li-Awail Sina’at al-Tanjim gives a summary of mathematics and astronomy.

 

He was the first to undertake experiments related to astronomical phenomena, which laid down the early foundation of modern science and astronomy. He explained the working of normal springs and artesian wells by the hydrostatic principle of communicating vessels. He observed that flowers have 3,4,5,6, or 18 petals, but never 7 or 9. His important work was the method of determining the radius and circumference of the earth. Al-Biruni wrote about two hundred books and made a few instruments for astronomy. The illustrating method proposed and used by Al-Biruni to estimate the radius and circumference of the Earth laid the foundation of modern astronomy and became the base of astronomy.

 

Al-Biruni was a pioneer in the study of comparative religion. He studied Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and other religions. In “Tarikh Al-Hind” he explored every aspect of Indian life, including religion, history, geography, geology, science, and mathematics. He has been considered as one of the very greatest scientists of Islam. His critical spirit, love of truth, and scientific approach were combined with a sense of toleration. He died in 1048 A.D. at the age of 75, after having spent 40 years in thus gathering knowledge and making his own original contributions to it.