Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Khwarizmi

Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf al-Kātib al-Khwārizmī, also referred to as al-Balkhī or al-Kātib al-Khwārizmī,, was a 10th-century Persian scholar and writer. He is best known as the author of the early encyclopedia Mafātīḥ al-ʿulūm (“Key to the Sciences”) in the Arabic language.

Life

Al-Khwarizmi is a somewhat obscure figure.[1] He was born in Balkh and lived in Nishapur. [2] His date of birth is unknown; he was actively working and writing in the latter part of the tenth century and died in 387/997.[3] He may have been a nephew of al-Tabari, the Persian historian.[4]

For a time, he worked as a clerk in the Samanid court at Bukhara in Transoxania, [5] where he acquired his nickname, “al-Katib’’ which literally means “the secretary” or “the scribe”.[6]

While at the Samanid court, he compiled his best-known work, Mafātīḥ al-ʿulūm [The Keys of the Sciences], an early Islamic encyclopedia of the sciences, intended as a reference work for court officials. It was produced at the request of Abū l-Ḥasan al-ʿUtbī a vizier in the court of Amir, Nuh II.[7] and the work is dedicated to al-Utbi which establishes a date for its completion of around 977.[8] In Nishapur, Al-Khwarizmi wrote a number of rihla (short, humorous accounts of a journey; partly written in verse and partly in literary prose), of which only fragments survive.[9] Locally, he achieved great fame as a leading scholar and writer. However, his reputation was eclipsed following the arrival of an aspiring young scholar and writer, Badi' al-Zaman al-Hamadani in 383/992. Hamadani composed a new form of prose that gained enormous popularity firstly in Nishapur and later across the Arabic speaking world. This innovative genre that became known as maqama. Al-Khwārizmīand Hamadani fell into competition with each other, exchanged insults and they eventually fell out.[10]

Work

Al-Khwārizmī authored a work on Arabic grammar, Kitāb kifāyat al-Mutaḥaffiẓ [A Classified Vocabulary of Rare of Difficult Arabic words]. However, he is best known as the author of Mafātīḥ al-ʿulūm[The Keys to the Sciences], an early Islamic Encyclopedia of the Sciences.[11] A monumental work, Mafātīḥ al-ʿulūm is part lexicography and part encyclopedia.[12] Scholars regard it as the first attempt to document the Islamic sciences.[13] The work includes sections on mathematics, alchemy, medicine and meteorology.[14]

Editions and Translations

Only limited selections of Mafātīḥ al-ʻulūm have been translated into English. Notable editions and translations include:

  • Gerlog van Volten (ed), Kitāb Liber Mafātīḥ al-ʻulūm, Leiden, Brill, 1895 (in Arabic, with an introduction in Latin)- many reprints.
  • Al-Khashshāb, Y. and al-ʻArīnī, B., ‏ضبط وتحقيق الالفاظ الإستلهية التنخية الواردة فى كتاب مفاتبح العلوم للخورزم / /ليحيى الخشاب، الباز العريني. [Ḍabṭ wa-taḥqīq al-alfāẓ al-istilahiyah al-tankhiyah al-wāridah fī kitāb Mafātīḥ al-ʻulūm lil-Khuwarizmi] Controlling and realizing the developmental vocabulary contained in the book of Mufatih, Cairo, 1958 (Arabic)
  • Khadivjam, H., Tarjumah-ʼi Mafātīḥ al-ʻulūm, Tehran, Markaz-i Intishārāt-i ʻIlmī va Farhangī, 1983 (in Persian and Arabic).
  • Al-Ibyari, I., Mafātīḥ al-ʻulūm, Beirut, 1984
  • Bosworth, C.E.,“Abū ʿAbdallāh al-Khwārizmīon the Technical Terms of the Secretary’s Art”, Journal of the Social and Economic History of the Orient, vol. 12, pp 112-164 (reprinted in Medieval Arabic Culture, no. 15, London, 1983. - annotated translation of the 4th chapter of Mafātīḥ al-ʻulūm (English)
  • Bosworth, C.E.,Al-Hwarazmi on Theology and Sects: The Chapter of Kalam in the Mafatih al-Ulum,Bulletin d'études Orientales, T. 29, MÉLANGES OFFERTS A HENRI LAOUST, VOLUME PREMIER, 1977, pp 85-95 https://www.jstor.org/stable/41604610 (English)
  • Hajudan, H., A Persian Translation of Mafātīḥ al-ʻulūm, Tehran, 1928 (in Persian)
  • Farmer, H.G.,”The Science of Music in the Mafatih alulum” in: Transactions of the Glasgow University Oriental Society, vol. 17, 1957/8, pp 1-9translation of Section 7, Part 2 (English)
  • Unvala, J.M., "The Translation of an Extract from Mafatih aI-Ulum of al-Khwarazmi," The Journal of the K.R. Cama Institute, vol. XI,1928 (English)
  • Seidel, E., "Die Medizin im Mafātīḥ al-ʻulūm", SBPMSE, vol. XLVII, 1915, pp 1-79 (in German, with extensive commentary)
  • Weidemann, B., “Über die Geometrie und Arithematik nach den Mafātīḥ al-ʻulūm,”SBPMSE, vol, 40, 1908, pp 1-64 (German)

References
  1. Bosworth, C.E., Al-Hawrazmi on Theology and Sects: The Chapter on Kalim in the Mathaf al-Ulum,” Bulletin d'études Orientales, 1977,https://www.jstor.org/stable/41604610, p. 85
  2. Hossein Khadiv Jam, The Translation of Mafatih al-'Ulum (ترجمهٔ مفاتیح العلوم), Bonyad-e Farhang-e Iran, 1968, reprinted by Sherkat-e Entesharat-e Elmi o Farhangi, c. 2004
  3. Bosworth, Edmund, “Abū ʿAbdallāh al-Khwārazmī”, in: David Thomas (ed.), Christian-Muslim Relations 600 – 1500, 2010, <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1877-8054_cmri_COM_22576>
  4. Prendergast, W.J.The Maqamat Of Badi Al Zaman Al-hamadhani, Curson Press, (1915), 1973, p. 22
  5. Bosworth, C.E., Al-Hawrazmi on Theology and Sects: The Chapter on Kalim in the Mathaf al-Ulum,” Bulletin d'études Orientales, 1977, https://www.jstor.org/stable/41604610, p. 85; Bosworth, Edmund, “Abū ʿAbdallāh al-Khwārazmī”, in: David Thomas (ed.), Christian-Muslim Relations 600 - 1500, General Editor Consulted online on 21 September 2019 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1877-8054_cmri_COM_22576>
  6. Willy Hartner, Yasukatsu Maeyama, Walter Gabriel Saltzer, Prismata:Naturwissenschaftsgeschichtl. Studien: Festschrift für Willy Hartner,Steiner, 1977, p. 264
  7. Abdi, W.H., "Interaction Between Indian and Central Asian Science and Technology in Medieval Times: General ideas & methodology, astronomy, mathematics, and physical concepts", Indian National Science Academy, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, 1990, p. 2; Jam, H.K., The Translation of Mafatih al-'Ulum (ترجمهٔ مفاتیح العلوم), Bonyad-e Farhang-e Iran, 1968, reprinted by Sherkat-e Entesharat-e Elmi o Farhangi, c. 2004
  8. Bosworth, Edmund, “Mafātīḥ al-ʿulūm”, in: David Thomas (ed), Christian-Muslim Relations 600 - 1500, http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1877-8054_cmri_COM_22577; Meisami, J.E. and Starkey, P. (eds), Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, Volume 2,Taylor & Francis, 1998, p.451; Bosworth, C.E.,Al-Khwarazmi on Theology and Sects: The Chapter of Kalam in the Mafatih al-Ulum, Bulletin d'études Orientales, T. 29, MÉLANGES OFFERTS A HENRI LAOUST, VOLUME PREMIER, 1977, p. 85 https://www.jstor.org/stable/41604610
  9. Hämeen-Anttila, J., Maqama: A History of a Genre, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2002, p. 147
  10. Hämeen-Anttila, J., Maqama: A History of a Genre, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2002, pp 21-24
  11. C. E. Bosworth, "A Pioneer Arabic Encyclopedia of the Sciences: Al Khwārizmī's Keys of the Sciences," Isis, Vol. 54,1963, p. 100 (reprinted in Medieval Arabic Culture, no. 15, London, 1983
  12. Thoman, J., On the Natural Sciences: An Arabic Critical Edition and English Translation of Epistles 15-21, by C.Baffioni, Oxford University Press, [Book Review], Journal of Islamic Studies, vol. 26, no. 1, 2015, ‘https://doi.org/10.1093/jis/etu080, pp 67-69
  13. Jabbar Beg, M.A., The Origin of Islamic Science, Religion, p. 17 https://archive.org/details/the_origins_of_islamic_science
  14. Kalin, I. and Ayduz, S. (eds), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Science, and Technology in Islam, Volume 1, Oxford University Press, 2014,p. 100; Jabbar Beg, M.A., The Origin of Islamic Science, https://archive.org/details/the_origins_of_islamic_sciencep. 50.

Further reading
  • J. Vernet, "Al-Khuwārizmī, Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad Ibn Aḥmad Ibn Yūsuf", Dictionary of Scientific Biography.
  • Hossein Khadiv Jam, The Translation of Mafatih al-'Ulum (ترجمهٔ مفاتیح‌ العلوم), Bonyad-e Farhang-e Iran, 1347 AP (1968), reprinted by Sherkat-e Entesharat-e Elmi o Farhangi, 1383 AP (c. 2004 CE).
  • C. E. Bosworth, "A Pioneer Arabic Encyclopedia of the Sciences: Al Khwārizmī's Keys of the Sciences", Isis, Vol. 54, No. 1, Mar., 1963, pp. 97-111
  • Al-Xwārazmī on the Peoples of Central Asia, No. 1 (March, 1963), pp. 97–111.
  • Gerlof van Vloten, the editor of Mafātīḥ al-ʿulūm 1895 publication in Leiden, mentions in a preface to Mafātīḥ al-ʿulūm that nothing is known about al-Khwārizmī except his name and that he is also known as al-Balkhi, but Hossein Khadiv Jam, the Persian translator of Mafātīḥ al-ʿulūm mentions that after a lot of searches he has found that al-Khwārizmī "was born in Balkh, lived in Nishapur, worked as a clerk in the Samanid court for a while, and has authored the book Mafātīḥ al-ʿulūm, one of the oldest Islamic encyclopedias, at the request of Abu'l-Husain Utbi, a vizier of Nuh II, in the Arabic language."
  • Hämeen-Anttila, J., ‘’Maqama: A History of a Genre’’, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2002 (especially see pp 35-47 for a discussion of al-Khawarizmi’s maqamat)
  • C. E. Bosworth and Gerard Clauson, “Al-Xwārazmī on the Peoples of Central Asia”, The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 1/2 Apr., 1965, pp. 2-12


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