Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973-1048): online bio-bibliographical resources
Portraits Biographical and bibliographical articles and books
Commemorative volumes
Anthologies
Medieval sources on al-Biruni
Useful links
Paid resources Back to main screen.
no authentic portraits exist. Many fake portraits (artist's impressions) of al-Biruni have been produced in recent years.
See the page of mathematicians on poststamps, with links to stamps with different fake portraits of al-Biruni.
(only a selection of free resources is listed here)
- Article by E.S. Kennedy on al-Biruni in C.G. Gillispie, ed., Dictionary of Scientific Biography, vol. 2, New York 1971, pp. 148-158, reprinted in SIES p. 562-572.
The article is adapted from the source http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/science-and-technology/astronomy-biographies/abu-rayhan-al-biruni (www.encyclopaedia.com) with many errors because of machine reading and without mathematical formulas; in our retyped version these errors have been corrected and the formulas have been added.
- Article on al-Biruni by M. Yano in the Biographic Dictionary of Astronomers (New York: Springer, 2007), online version
- Max Krause, Al-Biruni: ein Iranischer Forscher des Mittelalters, 1942, reprinted in IMA 36, pp. 1-15, scan.
- Article on al-Biruni in the 40-volume Diyanet Islam Ansiklopedisi (9 pages) [in Turkish].
- Index of articles on al-Biruni in the Encyclopedia Iranica (1989). The different articles deal with
life,
bibliography,
mathematics and astronomy,
geography,
pharmacology and mineralogy,
history and chronology,
Indology.
- English translation of the biography Abu Rayhan-e Biruni by Dr. Parviz Azkaei, which originally appeared in Persian (Tehran, Tarh-e Now, 1374 A.H. solar / 1995 CE, reprinted in 1382/2003 and 1390/2011)
- A.Q. Qorbani, Biruni-Nameh (new edition, 1374 A.H. (solar), in Persian)
- Biography in Russian by P.G. Bulgakov, Zhizn u trudy Beruni, , Tashkent 1973. [IGAIW]
- Biography by B.A. Rozenfeld, M.M.Rozhanskaya, E.K. Sokolovskaya, Abu-r-Raykhan al-Biruni (973-1048), Moscow 1973.
- Another Russian biography by I.V. Timofeef, Moscow 1986.
- Ali Akbar Dehkhoda, Sharh-e Hal... Abu Rayhan Mohammad ebn-e Ahmad Khwarizmi Biruni, Tehran, second edition, 1352 A.H. (solar) = 1973/4, -
(first edition 1324 A.H. solar = 1945/6), Download second edition
- For some of the Russian literature see the article on Biruni in the Russian Wikipedia, and also M.S. Khan, A Bibliography of Soviet Publications on al-Biruni, Arabica 23 (1976), pp. 77-83 available via JSTOR here
- Fuat Sezgin, Chapter F. Geographische Ortsbestimmung vom 5./11. bis zum 7./13. Jahrhundert
in: Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums vol. 10 (Mathematische Geographie und Kartographie vol. 1), pp. 150-173. Frankfurt 2000.
- Fuat Sezgin, article on al-Biruni in
in: Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums vol. 13 (Geography), pp. 279-299 (with bibliography on al-Biruni supplementary to the earlier volumes of Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums), Frankfurt, 2007.
- .salAh. al-dIn `abd al-la.tIf al-nAhI, al-khawAlid min arA' abI al-ray.hAn al-bIrUnI fI asbAb al-tamaddun wa-al-minhaj wa-al-mawAzin wa-isti`rA.d al-thaqAfAt, (Salah al-Din Abd al-Latif al-Nahi, the Glorious Views of Abu Rayhan al-Biruni on the reasons of civilization, the methods of justice, and the examination of cultures)
Amman 1975, Download from archive.org here.
- The book by M. Kamiar, Brilliant Biruni: A life story of Abu Rayhan Mohammad ibn Ahmad, Scarecrow Press, 2009, is essentially a novel. The stories on al-Biruni in this book were invented by Kamiar and the book has no historical value.
- Article by J. Samso on Abu Nasr Mansur ibn Ali ibn `Iraq in C.G. Gillispie, ed., Dictionary of Scientific Biography. vol. 9, New York 1974, pp. 83-85. The article is adapted from the source https://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2830902803.html (www.encyclopaedia.com) with many errors because of machine reading and without mathematical formulas; in our retyped version these errors have been corrected and the formulas have been added.
- Article by J.L. Berggren on Abu Nasr Mansur ibn Ali ibn `Iraq in the Biographic Dictionary of Astronomers (New York: Springer, 2007)
Eilhard Wiedemann, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften XXVIII. a) Biographie von al-Baihaqi nach Yaqut. b) Biographie von al-Biruni nach Ibn Abi Usaybi`a, Sitzungsberichte der Physikalisch-Medizinischen Sozietät zu Erlangen, 44 (1912), pp. 113 - 118, scan (zobodat.at)
Al-Biruni Commemoration Volume
(Calcutta 1951)
Unesco courier 1973 on al-Biruni (on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of his birth)
Beyruni'ye Armagan (Ankara 1974)
Proceedings of a Symposium on Biruni and Indian Science (Delhi 1971), which appeared in Indian Journal of History of Science 10 (1975), pp. 89-278.
The Commemoration Volume of Biruni International Congress in Tehran B: English and French Papers
(Tehran 1976)
Hakim Mohammad Said, ed., l-Biruni commemorative volume: Proceedings of the International Conference Held in Pakistan on the Occasion of the Millenary of Abu Raihan.. al-Biruni: Nov. 26, 1973 thru December 12, 1973. Published 1979. Scan to follow.
An excellent collection of translations of selected passages is: G. Strohmayer, Al-Biruni: In den Gärten der Wissenschaft, Leipzig: Reclam, 1988, reprinted 2001. Unfortunately this is not available online.
English translation by Edward G. Browne (Cambridge 1921) of Nizami-i-Arudi (ca. 1125) of Samarqand, Chahar Maqala ("Four Treatises") (with some information on Biruni).
Biruni is mentioned in Ibn Abi `Usaybi`a, see
Arabic text (vol. 2 pp. 20-21 in Ed. Müller, Selbstverlag, 1884).
German translation by E. Wiedemann, Biographie von al-Biruni nach Ibn Abi Usaybi'a, in Beiträge zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften XXVIII, pp.820-821, Sitzungsberichte der Physikalisch-Medizinischen Sozietät zu Erlangen, 44 (1912), pp 117-118, download (zobodat.at)
English translation (search with Al-Bir)
The whole edition of Ibn Abi Usaybi`a, `uyUn al-anbA' fI .tabaqAt al-a.tibbA' by August Müller (Selbstverlag, 1884) can be downloaded here (google books)
On the date of al-Biruni's death see H. Hermelink, Zur Bestimmung von Biruni's Todestag, Sudhoff's Archiv 61 (1977) 298-300, scan
Yaqut, The Irshad al-Arib ila Ma`rifat al-Adib or Dictionary of Learned Men of Yaqut, ed. D.S. Margoliouth (E.J.W. Gibb Memorial Series) vol. 6, Leiden-London 1913, pp. 308-314, Arabic text.
The whole volume VI.6 can be downloaded here (archive.org)
See E. Wiedemann, J. Hell, Über al-Biruni, Mitteilungen zur Geschichte der Medizin und der Naturwissenschaften 11 (1912), pp. 313-321, reprinted in IMA 34, pp. 60-68, scan
(German translation of the Arabic section on al-Biruni in the work of Yaqut.)
Digital library of Iran: dl.nlai.ir
Website on manuscripts in Turkey: www.yazmalar.gov.tr
Digital library of India: https://ndl.iitkgp.ac.in
Union catalogue of manuscripts from the Islamicate [sic] world in England: www.fihrist.org.uk
Russian works by al-Biruni online: http://publ.lib.ru/ARCHIVES/B/BIRUNI_Abu_Reyhan
(only accessible through some universities):
article on Al-Biruni in Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second edition, by D.J. Boilot
(Brill website).
Article by G. Saliba on al-Biruni, pp. 405-423 in M.J.L.Young, J.D. Latham,
R.B.Serjeant, Religion, Learning and Science in the Abbasid Period, Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Jan Hogendijk
<jphogendijk _at_ gmail.com>
2023