al-Biruni

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 31 August 2017

⏱️ 42 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Central Asian polymath al-Biruni and his eleventh-century book the India.Born in around 973 in the central Asian region of Chorasmia, al-Biruni became an itinerant scholar of immense learning, a master of mathematics, medicine, astronomy and many languages. He corresponded with the age's greatest scientist, Avicenna, and made significant contributions to many fields of knowledge.In 1017 al-Biruni became a member of the court of the ruler Mahmud of Ghazna. Over the course of the next thirteen years he wrote the India, a comprehensive account of Hindu culture which was the first book about India by a Muslim scholar. It contains detailed information about Hindu religion, science and everyday life which have caused some to call it the first work of anthropology.With:James MontgomeryProfessor of Classical Arabic at the University of CambridgeHugh KennedyProfessor of Arabic in the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of LondonAmira BennisonSenior Lecturer in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of CambridgeProducer: Thomas Morris.

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0:00.0	Thanks for downloading the Inartime podcast. For more details about Inartime and for our terms of use, please go to bbc.co.uk forward slash radio for.
0:09.3	I hope you enjoy the program.
0:11.2	Hello, if you were to point a reasonably powerful telescope at the surface of the moon at latitude 17.9 degrees,
0:18.2	longitude 92.5 degrees, you'll find yourself looking at the Alburooney crater.
0:23.7	This lunar feature is named in honour of a 10th century Muslim scholar,
0:27.7	who was not only one of the greatest figures of medieval science,
0:31.0	but is also claimed as one of the outstanding scholars of all time.
0:34.9	Born in Central Asia, Alburooney was an astonishing polymath,
0:38.8	master of mathematics, astronomy and medicine,
0:41.3	New Zekely at home, in five languages and was as great a scholar of the humanities as he was a scientist.
0:46.8	Perhaps Alburooney's most remarkable book is The India,
0:49.8	a comprehensive account of Hindu religion, science, history and customs.
0:54.2	It's the first work about India by a Muslim scholar
0:56.8	and is so compelling a portrait of one culture seen from the perspective of another
1:00.9	of another that has been described as the first work of anthropology.
1:04.6	With me to discuss Alburooney and his groundbreaking work are Amira Beneson,
1:09.8	senior lecturer in Middle East and in Islamic studies at the University of Cambridge,
1:14.2	Hugh Kennedy, professor of Arabic in the School of Oriental and African Studies at University of London,
1:19.7	and James Montgomery, professor of classical Arabic at the University of Cambridge.
1:24.1	Hugh Kennedy, can you give us Alburooney's full name, first of all, and then we'll go on from there?
1:29.5	It's his Abu Raihan Muhammad al-Biruni,
1:32.6	and the Biruni bit, by which he's always known,
	...

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