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Lot Essay
Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni was one of the greatest scholars of the Muslim Medieval world. He was an Iranian, born in AH 362/973 AD in Kath, the capital of Kharazm and spent the first 25 years of his life in his homeland. He published a few works in these early years and corresponded with Ibn Sina, his contemporary in Bokhara. His first benefactor was the Samanid Sultan Mansur II ibn Nur in the late 10th century AD. After a spell in Jurjan, al-Biruni returned to his own country and entered the service of the Kharazmshah, Abu'l 'Abbas Ma'mun ibn Ma'mun. The Kharazmshah was assassinated by the Ghaznavids in AH 407/1016-17 AD and al-Biruni, along with other learned men including Abu Nasr, was led away to Ghazna.
It was under the patronage of Sultan Mahmud and Sultan Mas'ud ibn Mahmud that al-Biruni was to spend some of the most productive years of his life. He was retained at the court of Ghazna, possibly as court astrologer, and accompanied Sultan Mahmud on many military expeditions to North West India where he gained the store of knowledge which went into his Description of India written in 421/1030.
The present work
It was in the previous year, AH 420/1029 AD that he wrote the present work. A note on folio 27a of the present manuscript records the date of the original writing of this manuscript as 25 Ramadhan 420/6 October 1029 AD. The Kitab al-tafhim li awa'il sina'at al-tanjim (Book of instruction on the Principles of Astrology), while primarily concerned with the science of astrology may be regarded as a sort of primer for 11th century science. It includes geometry, astronomy and the use of the astrolabe for both astronomical and astrological purposes. It also has sections on geography and chronology, both favourite topics at this period. Al-Biruni insists that no one is entitled to call himself an astrologer unless he possesses a thorough knowledge of these ancillary sciences.
The work is divided into sections: geometry; arithmetic; astronomy, including descriptions of the spheres, the stars, planets, the houses of the moon and the direction of Mecca; geography; another section on astronomy; chronology, including descriptions of the months, the Hindu names for the days of the week and the Jewish, Christian and Persian calendars; the astrolabe, its various kinds and uses; a large section on astrology, divided into the signs, the planets, divisions of the signs, the Houses, Fortune and judicial astrology.
The present manuscript appears to be complete apart from the final folio which is a later addition. It has its original catch words. Where the first word on the folowing folio is in red rather that sepia, the catchword is also in red. In two places the catch word is lost due to worm damage.
Al-Biruni was an influential writer and there are 17 Arabic copies and 22 copies in Persian in libraries around the world. One of the earliest and most complete copies in Arabic is in the Bodleian Library (Bodl.Marsh Or.572). This was copied for his own use by a Copt, Abu Shakir Tuma ibn Abi al-Farah known as Ibn al-'Assal in Cairo in AH 681/1282 AD.
The present manuscript is dateable to the 14th century and from Andalusia on the basis of the calligraphy and the type of paper used. The paper is of European manufacture, either from Spain or Italy. The watermark has not been identified. A similar manuscript of the Almagest of Ptolemy dated 1381 was sold in these rooms, 28 April 1998, lot 54. That manuscript was written on watermarked paper dated to Florence of 1379.
Bibliography
Encyclopaedia of Islam, New edition, Brill, Leiden, Vol. I, pp. 1236-1237
Ramsay Wright, R.: The book of instruction in the elements of the art of astrology, by Abu'l Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni, written in Ghaznah, 1029 AD, London, 1934
It was under the patronage of Sultan Mahmud and Sultan Mas'ud ibn Mahmud that al-Biruni was to spend some of the most productive years of his life. He was retained at the court of Ghazna, possibly as court astrologer, and accompanied Sultan Mahmud on many military expeditions to North West India where he gained the store of knowledge which went into his Description of India written in 421/1030.
The present work
It was in the previous year, AH 420/1029 AD that he wrote the present work. A note on folio 27a of the present manuscript records the date of the original writing of this manuscript as 25 Ramadhan 420/6 October 1029 AD. The Kitab al-tafhim li awa'il sina'at al-tanjim (Book of instruction on the Principles of Astrology), while primarily concerned with the science of astrology may be regarded as a sort of primer for 11th century science. It includes geometry, astronomy and the use of the astrolabe for both astronomical and astrological purposes. It also has sections on geography and chronology, both favourite topics at this period. Al-Biruni insists that no one is entitled to call himself an astrologer unless he possesses a thorough knowledge of these ancillary sciences.
The work is divided into sections: geometry; arithmetic; astronomy, including descriptions of the spheres, the stars, planets, the houses of the moon and the direction of Mecca; geography; another section on astronomy; chronology, including descriptions of the months, the Hindu names for the days of the week and the Jewish, Christian and Persian calendars; the astrolabe, its various kinds and uses; a large section on astrology, divided into the signs, the planets, divisions of the signs, the Houses, Fortune and judicial astrology.
The present manuscript appears to be complete apart from the final folio which is a later addition. It has its original catch words. Where the first word on the folowing folio is in red rather that sepia, the catchword is also in red. In two places the catch word is lost due to worm damage.
Al-Biruni was an influential writer and there are 17 Arabic copies and 22 copies in Persian in libraries around the world. One of the earliest and most complete copies in Arabic is in the Bodleian Library (Bodl.Marsh Or.572). This was copied for his own use by a Copt, Abu Shakir Tuma ibn Abi al-Farah known as Ibn al-'Assal in Cairo in AH 681/1282 AD.
The present manuscript is dateable to the 14th century and from Andalusia on the basis of the calligraphy and the type of paper used. The paper is of European manufacture, either from Spain or Italy. The watermark has not been identified. A similar manuscript of the Almagest of Ptolemy dated 1381 was sold in these rooms, 28 April 1998, lot 54. That manuscript was written on watermarked paper dated to Florence of 1379.
Bibliography
Encyclopaedia of Islam, New edition, Brill, Leiden, Vol. I, pp. 1236-1237
Ramsay Wright, R.: The book of instruction in the elements of the art of astrology, by Abu'l Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni, written in Ghaznah, 1029 AD, London, 1934