One of the most important scholars of Islamic civilization: Who is Al-Biruni?

(973-1051/1052) Islamic scholar. He is one of the greatest scholars of astronomy, mathematics, natural sciences, geography, and history who left his mark on his age. Abu Reyhan Muhammad b.Ahmed al-Biruni was born on September 4, 973, near Kas (Ket), the capital of Western Khwarezm. According to some historians, he died in Gazne on 13 December 1048, and according to others in 1051/1052. As little is known about his life, it is not clear what origin he came from and what his mother tongue is. However, the studies that have been deepened on his works in recent years have provided important data that will help to reevaluate some information about Birûnî's life. In this context, researchers examining Tahdidu Nihâyâti'l-Emakin, which was introduced to the scientific world by Zeki Velidî Togan and claimed to be an original manuscript, explained that Birûnî's name had been misread until today and that his real name should be Beyrûnî. Again, these studies shed light on the debates on Birûnî's mother tongue, origin, and date of death. Birûnî, who wrote his works generally in Arabic and occasionally in Persian, states in the preface of Kitâbu's-Saydane that his mother tongue was insufficient in scientific matters, therefore he preferred Arabic, the language of science of his age, and Persian, the language of literature. Based on this information, the researchers put this possibility aside considering that Khwarezm, spoken in the region where Birûnî lived, was a branch of Persian and a language of advanced civilization, and by evaluating the closeness of some words in his works to Turkish, they argued that Birûnî's mother tongue was Turkish. Thus, the number of those who confronted the historians of science who claimed that Biruni was of Iranian or Arab origin, with the claim that this great Islamic scholar was of Turkish descent, has increased considerably. Again, some researchers claimed that Birunî, who stated that his age exceeded 80 (lunar year) in one of his works, died in 1051/1052, based on some data, not in 1048, as has been accepted until today.

Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni, known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously the "founder of Indology", "Father of Comparative Religion", "Father of modern geodesy", and the first anthropologist.

If various sources state that Birûnî produced more than a hundred (113 or 180) works on astronomy, mathematics, trigonometry, physics, medicine, pharmacy, natural science, mineralogy, geology, geodesy, history, geography, sociology, ethnology, philosophy, linguistics and history of religions. However, only 27 of them have survived to the present day.

Biruni, who most likely participated in the Indian expeditions of Mahmud of Ghazni in 1021 and 1022, the studies in that region were the source of Tahkîku mâ li'l-Hind, which is known as one of the most important works in the history of Indian culture and science. Biruni, who learned Sanskrit after the age of 45 in order to be able to study Indian philosophy and civilization as much as he wanted, in this work, explained the caste system in India, especially religion, philosophy, and sciences, the units of weight and measurement used, the geography of the country, traditions and customs and superstitions such as astrology and magic. takes over.

Birûnî completed el-Kanun el-Mesudi, his most important work in the field of astronomy, in 1030 and presented it to Mesud, the son of Mahmud of Ghazni, who greatly valued him and provided financial support. After a long introductory chapter devoted to trigonometry, Birûnî surpassed Ptolemy, according to many historians of science, with this work, which includes world geography, latitude and longitude calculation methods, the measurement of the Earth's radius, and tables (zic rulers) related to the positions and movements of the Sun, Moon, and planets. Birûnî, who revealed with this work that he was indeed an astronomer far ahead of his time, heralds the birth of Copernicus and modern astronomy in the 11th century. In particular, his attempt to prove that the earth is not static but rotating by opposing the Ptolemaic astronomy and Aristotelian physics, which the scientific world had unquestionably accepted until that day, is a healthy indicator of the breadth of Birûnî's universe of thought. However, it is very natural that astronomy could not solve one of these most difficult problems with the conditions, technology, and knowledge of its age.

Moreover, Birûnî not only became a valuable observer but also developed many observation and measurement tools that were used or designed by astronomers before him.

Kitâbu'l-Camâhir fî Marifetı'l-Cevâhır, written by Birûnî in 1048 and presented to Sultan Mevdud, the grandson of Mahmud of Ghazni, is a valuable work in the fields of mineralogy, chemistry, and especially experimental physics. The real value of this work, which introduces the properties of minerals and precious stones, comes from the knowledge and methods of determining specific gravity. Birûnî designed and built the device he used in these measurements, which can be considered the first example of the pycnometer in contemporary laboratories. This device, he states in his book, was a conical vessel in the form of an Erlenmeyer with a spout-like overflow tube at the neck. The water displaced by the object thrown into this water-filled container fills a smaller container at the bottom of the pipe, and the specific gravity of the object can be easily calculated when measured with a sensitive balance. Although it is based on Archimedes' method in principle, Birûnî's approach to the subject is important in terms of theory and experimentation.

Kitâbu's-Saydane, which gives information on medicinal herbs and some drug mixtures, is Birûnî's last known work. In this book, which he wrote in 1050, he explained which diseases about three thousand plants are good for, and added the equivalents of each plant in various languages and dialects to the Arabic name, creating a rich etymological study. The classification he made on the basis of the structural features of the plants he examined, most notably the number of petals, is also considered to be the pioneer of Linnaeus' method, which gave the name to today's plant classification.

Birûnî, who covers such a wide area with his works, was also a poet and thinker. However, his philosophy should not be evaluated outside of his works of history, geography, and astronomy. Because Biruni, who did not stick to the boundaries of a single subject in almost any of his works, saw the sciences as parts of an inseparable whole and evaluated them as such. Although Islamic philosophy has an important place in his views, he did not belong to any of the currents that dominated Islamic thought in his age, and like Zekeriya al-Razi, he was among the Islamic scholars who opposed Aristotle's thought. The basic point that Birûnî does not adopt in Aristotle is the thesis that the universe is eternal and that matter can be divided into infinity. He opposed Avicenna, who was attached to the philosophy of Aristotle, against this view on the grounds that accepting that the universe is "preliminary" would render the existence of God unnecessary and unnecessary, and argued that the universe was created and that all beings, together with the earth, went through stages of development.

Birûnî, whose works have been translated into most of the Western languages and published several times, and international symposiums have been organized in his name, was mentioned among the greatest scholars not only of the Islamic world but also of his age, with his objective and rational approach, and the famous historian of science George Sarton called the 11th century the "Biruni age".