Tales of Medieval Islam: al-Biruni

The annals of Islam are chock full of tales about wise men called into the presence of a king, saying something clever, and having the royal bounty bestowed upon them. And so it was with Abu Rayhan al-Biruni (973-1048). Alas, he had a bit of a detour along the way.

Abu Rayhan was one of the greatest astronomers and mathematicians of the Middle Ages. By his own count, he wrote 113 books. At a time when it was widely believed that the earth was stationary and the heavens revolved around it, Abu Rayhan delved into the possibility that it was the other way around: the earth revolved on its axis. But despite his brilliance, when it came to speaking to kings, he forgot the first rule:

 

It is related that once when Yaminu’d-Dawla Sultan Mahmud bin Nasiru’d-Din was sitting on the roof of a four-doored summer-house in Ghazna, in the Garden of a Thousand Trees, he turned his face to Abu Rayhan and said, “By which of these four doors shall I go out?” (for all four were practicable). “Decide and write the decision on a piece of paper, and put it under my quilt.” Abu Rayhan called for an astrolabe, took the altitude, determined the Ascendant, reflected for a while, and then wrote down his decision on a piece of paper, and placed it under the quilt. “Hast thou decided?” asked Mahmud. He answered, “I have.” Then Mahmud bade them bring a navvy [an unskilled laborer] with pick-axe and spade, and in the wall which was on the eastern side they dug out a fifth door, through which he went out. Then he bade them bring the paper. So they brought it, and on it Abu Rayhan had written, “He will go out through none of these four doors, but they will dig a fifth door in the eastern wall, by which door he will go forth.” Mahmud, on reading this, was furious, and bade them cast Abu Rayhan down in the midst of the palace, and so they did. Now there was stretched a net from the middle floor, and on it Abu Rayhan fell. The net tore, and he subsided gently to the ground, so that he received no injury. “Bring him in,” said Mahmud. So they brought him in, and Mahmud said, “O Abu Rayhan, at all events thou didst not know about this event!” “I knew it, Sire,” answered he. Said Mahmud, “Where is the proof?” So Abu Rayhan called for his servant, took the Almanac from him, and produced the prognostications out of the Almanac and amongst the predictions for that day was written:—“To-day they will cast me down from a high place, but I shall reach the earth in safety, and arise sound in body.” All this was not according to Mahmud’s mind. He waxed still angrier, and ordered Abu Rayhan to be detained in the citadel. So Abu Rayhan was confined in the citadel of Ghazna, where he remained for six months… It is said that the Prime Minister Ahmad ibn Hasan of Maymand (may God be merciful to him!) was for six months seeking an opportunity to say a word on behalf of Abu Rayhan. At length, when engaged in the chase, he found the King in a good humour, and, working from one topic to another, he brought the conversation round to Astrology. Then he said, “Poor Abu Rayhan uttered two such good prognostications, and, instead of decorations and a robe of honour, earned only bonds and imprisonment. “Know, my lord,” replied Mahmud, “for I have discovered it, and all men admit it, that this man has no equal in the world save Abu Ali [ibn] Sina (Avicenna). But both his prognostications were opposed to my will; and kings are like little children; in order to receive rewards from them, one should speak in accordance with their views. It would have been better for him on that day if one of those two prognostications had been wrong. But to-morrow order him to be brought forth, and to be given a horse caparisoned with gold, a royal robe, a satin turban, a thousand dinars, a boy slave and a handmaiden.” So…they brought forth Abu Rayhan, and the gift of honour detailed above was conferred upon him, and the King apologized to him, saying, “O Abu Rayhan, if thou desirest to reap advantage from me, speak according to my desire, not according to the dictates of thy science.” So thereafter Abu Rayhan altered his practice; and this is one of the conditions of the king’s service, that one must be with him in right or wrong, and speak according to his wish. Source: Nizami Arudi, Chahar Maqala (The Four Discourses), Edward G. Browne, tr., Mirza Muhammad, ed., London:Luzac & Co., 1921, Anecdotes XXIII-XXIV, pp. 65-67.

Michael Isenberg writes about the Muslim world, medieval and modern. His forthcoming novel, The Thread of Reason, is a murder mystery that takes place in Baghdad in the year 1092. It depicts the war for the Muslim soul between those who seek to enforce shari’a strictly, persecute Jews and Christians, and stamp out "un-Islamic" science, and those who wink at a few sins, tolerate their non-Muslim neighbors, and write science books instead of burning them.

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