Al-Biruni Quotes on Knowledge
Al-Biruni (973–c.1050) — the Khwarezmian polymath whose mastery of mathematics, astronomy, geography, mineralogy, and Sanskrit Indology made him one of the principal intellectual figures of the eastern Islamic world — gave classical Islamic philosophy of science its most rigorous comparative empirical methodology. The Indica (Taḥqīq mā li-l-Hind, c.1030) develops the central methodological commitment in its most explicit form: knowledge of the Indian philosophical, religious, and scientific tradition can be reliably acquired only through the patient learning of Sanskrit, the unprejudiced reception of the indigenous self-understanding, and the comparative integration of this material with the corresponding Greek and Islamic traditions. The framework, integrating the methodological resources of Ptolemaic astronomy with the empirical-comparative orientation of al-Biruni’s own polymathic practice, supplied a principal early statement of the comparative method in the human sciences.
Quotes
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Attributed to Al-Biruni:
“We must distinguish between what we have seen and what we have heard.”
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Attributed to Al-Biruni:
“The Hindus differ from us in everything; we are dependent upon them, and they are independent of us.”
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Attributed to Al-Biruni:
“All theories about the world should be tested against observation.”
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Attributed to Al-Biruni:
“Geography is the science of the earth as the home of mankind.”
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Attributed to Al-Biruni:
“The variety of religions is itself an object of philosophical study.”
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“Once a sage asked why scholars always flock to the doors of the rich, whilst the rich are not inclined to call at the doors of scholars. "The scholars" he answered, "are well aware of the use of money , but the rich are ignorant of the nobility of science ".”
Quoted in: A.L. Mackay Dictionary of Scientific Quotations (London 1994). -
“Book on the Finding of Chords .”
You well know … for which reason I began searching for a number of demonstrations proving a statement due to the ancient Greeks … and which passion I felt for the subject … so that you reproached me my preoccupation with these chapters of geometry, not knowing the true essence of these subjects, which consists precisely in going in each matter beyond what is necessary. … Whatever way he [the geome -
“I have seen the astrolabe called Zuraqi invented by Abu Sa'id Sijzi . I liked it very much and praised him a great deal, as it is based on the idea entertained by some to the effect that the motion we see is due to the Earth 's movement and not to that of the sky. By my life, it is a problem difficult of solution and refutation. [...] For it is the same whether you take it that the Earth is in mot”
Quoted in Hossein Nasr , An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines (1993), p. 135. -
“About Jalam ibn Shaiban at Multan. Elliot and Dowson , Vol. I. p. 23.”
The Sun Temple at Multan has been described by early Arab geographers like Sulaimãn, Mas‘ûdî, Istakhrî and Ibn Hauqal who travelled in India during the ninth and tenth centuries of the Christian era. The Arab invaders did not destroy it because besides being a rich source of revenue, it provided protection against Hindu counter-attack. “Mûltan,” wrote Mas‘ûdî, “is one of the strongest frontier pla -
“Al-Bîrûnî records: “A famous idol of theirs was that of Multan, dedicated to the sun, and therefore called Aditya. It was of wood and covered with red Cordovan leather; in its two eyes were two red rubies. It is said to have been made in the last Kritayuga… When Muhammad Ibn Alkasim Ibn Almunabih conquered Multan, he inquired how the town had become so very flourishing and so many treasures had th”
About Jalam ibn Shaiban at Multan. Alberuni :Tãrîkhu'l-Hind in E.C. Sachau (tr.), Alberuni’s India, New Delhi Reprint, 1983, p. 116. -
“Alberuni in his India , Alberuni's India , Edward C. Sachau (translator and editor)”
A famous idol of theirs was that of Multan, dedicated to the sun. When Muhammad Ibn Alkasim Ibn Almunabbih, conquered Multan, he inquired how the town had become so very flourishing and so many treasures had there been accumulated, and then he found out that this idol was the cause, for there came pilgrims from all sides to visit it. Therefore he thought to build a mosque at the same place where t