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Banna’, Hasan al-
Banna’, Hasan al- (Hasan al-Banna’) (Hassan al-Banna) (b. October 14, 1906, Mahmoudiyah, Beheira, Egypt – d. February 12, 1949, Cairo, Egypt), was an Egyptian social and political reformer, best known for founding the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the largest and most influential 20th century Muslim revivalist organizations. Al-Banna's leadership was critical to the growth of the brotherhood during the 1930s and 1940s. Convinced that Islamic society should return to the Qur’an and the hadith, Hasan al-Banna’ founded the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928. He was arrested several times and was assassinated in 1949 after the Brotherhood had been suppressed.
Hasan al-Banna’ was born on October 14, 1906 in Mohammediya in northern Egypt as the oldest son of a watch repairman. Banna’s family was very religious. In 1923, Banna went to Cairo Teachers College and finished his education as a teacher at the top of his class. He was then admitted to the famous al-Azhar University.
In 1927, Banna' began working as a teacher in a state school in the city of Ismailiyya near the Suez Canal. In March 1928, he established the al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun (Ikhwanu al-Muslimin) -- the Muslim Brothers -- together with his brother and five others.
The main inspiration for his religious involvement was from the magazine Al Manar which published the writings of Muhammad Rashid Rida. The organization he started when he was 22 was initially a moderate one in its instruments, but changes in the political climate and reorientations in its ideology, made the Brotherhood active in violent operations from the late 1940s.
The first Brotherhood was a youth club stressing moral and social reform, promoting this through education and propaganda.
In 1933, Banna' moved the headquarters to the capital Cairo, and, in 1942 to 1945, he travelled many times to Jordan, where he set up Brotherhood branches in many towns over the entire country.
In 1948, Banna' declared that the Egyptian government was responsible for the Arab weakness in the First Palestinian War against newly formed Israel.
On February 12, 1949, Banna' was shot dead in Cairo by secret service agents.
Banna' was a prolific writer. He wrote memoirs, as well as numerous articles and speeches. Among his most important books is his “Letter to a Muslim Student,” a book in which Banna' explains the principles of his movement.
Banna’s legacy is still active, and his movement has spread to many other Muslim countries.
Hasan al-Banna’ see Banna’, Hasan al-
Hassan al-Banna see Banna’, Hasan al-
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Bilal
Bilal (Bilal ibn Rabah) (Ibn Hamama) (Bilal ibn Habashi) (Bilal ibn Rabah) (Bilal ibn Riyah) (d.c.641). Manumitted slave of Abyssinian (Ethiopian) origin whose early interest in Islam and stentorian voice won him his freedom and the honor of being the first person to hold the position of muezzin, calling the Muslims to prayer. After being purchased and freed by Abu Bakr, he lived in Abu Bakr’s house, made the Hijra with Muhammad, and accompanied Muhammad on his campaigns. He was one of only five non-Arabs to receive stipends from the pay register drawn up by the caliph ‘Umar I.Bilal died at the age of sixty around 641 at Damascus after having participated in the Wars of the Conquest. Today, Bilal is particularly honored as being the first Muslim of African descent -- the first Black Muslim.
Bilal ibn Rabah or Bilal al-Habeshi was an Ethiopian born in Mecca in the late 6th century, sometime between 578 and 582.
The Prophet Muhammad chose Bilal as his muezzin, effectively making him the first official muezzin of the Islamic faith. He was among the slaves freed by Abu Bakr and was known for his beautiful voice with which he called people to their prayers. His name can also be spelled as, "Bilal ibn Riyah" or "ibn Rabah" and he is sometimes known as "Bilal al-Habashi" or "Bilal the Ethiopian". He died sometime between 638 to 642, dying when he was just over sixty years old.
Bilal ibn Rabah is said to have been one of the most trusted and loyal Sahaba (companions of Muhammad) and was one of Ali's earliest and most loyal followers. His respected stature during the birth of Islam is often cited by Muslims as evidence of the importance of pluralism and racial equality in the foundation of the religion.
In 622, the year of the Hijra, Bilal migrated to Medina and over the next decade accompanied Muhammad on all his military expeditions. According to Islamic tradition, Bilal served as Muhammad's mace-bearer and steward, and as a muezzin revered by Muslims for his majestically sonorous renditions of the adhan. Bilal also carried Muhammad's spear, which was used from 624 onward to point the direction of prayer.
He fought in the Battle of Badr, in the aftermath of which he killed his former master, Umayyah ibn Khalaf, in spite of the protestation of Umayyah's capturer and long-time friend Abdur Rahman bin Awf. Bilal was also present in all of the major events and battles, including the battles of Uhud and Battle of the Trench.
Bilal's finest hour came in January 630, on an occasion regarded as one of the most hallowed moments in Islamic history. After the Muslim forces had captured Mecca, Muhammad's muezzin ascended to the top of the Kaaba to call the believers to prayer, - the first time the call to prayer was heard within Islam's holiest city..
There are contradictory reports about what happened to Bilal after the death of Muhammad in 632. What seems clear is that at some point Bilal accompanied the Muslim armies to Syria.
Bilal died there between 638 and 642, though the exact date of death and place of burial are disputed.
If there is some disagreement concerning the hard facts of Bilal's life and death, his importance on a number of levels is incontestable. Muezzin guilds, especially those in Turkey and Africa, have traditionally venerated the original practitioner of their noble profession, and African Muslims as a whole feel a special closeness and kinship to him. After all, he was an Ethiopian who had been exceptionally close to Muhammad, and is a model of steadfastness and devotion to the faith. The story of Bilal, in fact, remains the classic and most frequently cited demonstration that in Muhammad's eyes, the measure of a man was neither nationality nor social status nor race, but piety.
Bilal ibn Rabah see Bilal
Bilal al-Habeshi
Bilal the Ethiopian see Bilal
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Biruni
Biruni (Abu Raihan Muhammad al-Biruni) (Abu al-Rayhan al-Biruni) (Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad Biruni) (Alberuni) (September 5, 973 - December 13, 1048). One of the most original and profound scholars of medieval Islam. Of Iranian origin, he was equally versed in the mathematical, astronomic, physical and natural sciences and also distinguished himself as a geographer and historian, chronologist and linguist and as an impartial observer of customs and creeds.
Al-Biruni is considered to be one of the most prominent (if not "the" most prominent) of figures in the phalanx of those universally learned Muslim scholars who characterize the Golden Age of Islamic Science. His great contributions in so many diverse fields earned him the title al-Ustadh -- “the Master” -- the Professor par excellence. Indeed, some historians have called the period of his activity as “The Age of al-Biruni.”
Abu Raihan Muhammad al-Biruni was born in Khwarizm (now Kara-kalpakskaya in present day Uzbekistan) in 973. He studied Arabic, Islamic law, and several other fields of knowledge. Later, he learned Greek, Syriac, and Sanskrit. His knowledge of several languages helped him in understanding the available disparate scholarship and to bring a fresh and original approach to his work. Al-Biruni was of the view that whatever the subject one should use every available source in its original form, investigate the available work with objective scrutiny, and carry out research through direct observation and experimentation.
Al-Biruni was a contemporary of the famous physician Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and is known to have corresponded with him. Al-Biruni’s contributions are so extensive that an index of his written works covers more than sixty pages. His scientific work combined with the contributions of al-Haitham (Al-Hazen) and other Muslim scientists laid down the early foundation of modern science.
Al-Biruni made original and important contributions to science. He discovered seven different ways of finding the direction of the north and south, and discovered mathematical techniques to determine exactly the beginnings of the season. He also wrote about the sun and its movements and the eclipse. In addition, he invented a number of astronomical instruments. Many centuries before the rest of the world, Al-Biruni theorized that the earth rotated on its axis and made accurate calculations of latitude and longitude. These observations are contained in his book Al-Athar al-Baqia. He wrote a treatise on timekeeping in the year 1000 of the Christian calendar.
Al-Biruni was the first to conduct elaborate experiments related to astronomical phenomena. He stated that the speed of light is immense as compared with the speed of sound. He described the Milky Way as a collection of countless fragments of the nature of nebulous stars. Al-Biruni described his observation of the solar eclipse of April 8, 1019, and the lunar eclipse of September 17, 1019. He observed the lunar eclipse at Ghazna and gave precise details of the exact altitude of various well-known stars at the moment of first contact. Al-Biruni’s book Al-Tafhim-li-Awail Sina’at al-Tanjim summarizes work on mathematics and astronomy.
Al-Biruni’s contributions in physics include an accurate determination of the specific weight of eighteen elements and compounds including many metals and precious stones. His book Kitab-al-Jamahir discusses the properties of various precious stones. He was a pioneer in the study of angles and trigonometry. He worked on shadows and chords of circles and developed a method for the trisection of an angle. He elaborated on the principle of position and discussed Indian numerals.
In the fields of geology and geography, al-Biruni contributed on geological eruptions and metallurgy, to the measurement of the longitudes and latitudes and methods of determining the relative position of one place to another. He explained the working of natural springs and artesian wells by the hydrostatic principle of communicating vessels. His book Al-Athar al-Baqiyah fi Qanun al-Khaliyah (The Chronology of Ancient Nations) deals with ancient history and geography. Al-Biruni observed that flowers have 3, 4, 5, 6, or 18 petals, but never seven or nine.
Al-Biruni is most commonly known by his association with Mahmud of Ghazna, a famous Muslim king who also ruled India, and his son Sultan Masud. Impressed by his scholarship and fame, Mahmud took al-Biruni along with him on his journeys to India several times. Al-Biruni traveled many places in India for about 20 years and studied Hindu philosophy, mathematics, geography and religion from various learned men. In return, he taught them Greek and Muslim sciences and philosophy.
Al-Biruni’s book Kitab al-Hind (Ta’rikh al-Hind -- History of India), completed in 1030, provides a detailed account of Indian life, religions, languages, and cultures and includes many observations on geography. He stated that the Indus Valley must be considered as an ancient sea basin filled with alluvials. In this book, al-Biruni mentions two books Patanjal and Sakaya. He translated these two Sanskrit books into Arabic. The former book deals with after death accounts, and the latter with the creation of things and their types. Abu-al-Fadal’s book Aein-i-Akbari, written six centuries later during the reign of Akbar, was influenced by al-Biruni’s book.
Al-Biruni wrote his famous book Al-Qanun al-Masudi Fi al-Hai‘a Wa al-Nujum (1030) after he returned from India. The book was dedicated to Sultan Masud and it discusses several theorems of trigonometry, astronomy, solar, lunar and planetary motions, and contains a collection of twenty-three observations of equinoxes. Another well-known books is Kitab al-Saidana. This book is an extensive materia medicia that synthesizes Arab medicine with Indian medicine. His investigations included a description of Siamese twins. He also wrote on the astrolabe and a mechanical calendar.
Al-Biruni was a scientist who was always mindful of his faith, and who believed himself to be blessed in his scientific endeavors. He said: "My experience in the study of astronomy and geometry and experiments in physics revealed to me that there must be a Planning Mind of Unlimited Power. My discoveries in astronomy showed that there are fantastic intricacies in the universe which prove that there is a creative system and a meticulous control that cannot be explained through sheer physical and material causes."
When Sultan Masud sent al-Biruni three camel loads of silver coins in appreciation of his encyclopedic work Al-Qanun al-Masudi (The Mas’udi Canon), al-Biruni politely returned the royal gift saying, "I serve knowledge for the sake of knowledge and not for money."
Some of al-Biruni's works which were well known in Medieval Europe were: The Chronology of Ancient Nations (Al-Athar al-Baqiya), in which al-Birunu treats the eras, traditions, and histories of the various religious and ethnic groups, known in medieval Islam; The Determination of Coordinates of Cities, the most extensive treatise on mathematical geography written in medieval times; and his Pharmacology, a detailed compilation of sources on drugs known in antiquity and medieval times.
Without a doubt, al-Biruni was one of the greatest scientists of all times. However, in spite of his prolific and diverse output, medieval biographers devoted only a few lines to him and the European Latin translators of Arabic manuscripts showed little interest in his works. In comparison to the honored treatment rendered his contemporaries Ibn Sina and Ibn al-Haitham, al-Biruni was relatively ignored. The reason for this disregard may lie in the fact that while obviously gifted in scientific and historical matters, al-Biruni was not particularly adept in the more esteemed philosophical matters and, as such, was not well regarded amongst his contemporaries. Nevertheless, when al-Biruni died in 1048 in Ghazna (Afghanistan), his death brought to an end an illustrious and productive forty-year career.
Al-Biruni was one of the greatest scholars of medieval Islam. He was both a singular compiler of the knowledge and scientific traditions of ancient cultures and a leading innovator in Islamic science.
Abu al-Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni was born in 973 in Khiva, Khwarizm (in modern day Uzbekistan). He was of Iranian descent and spent most of his childhood and young adult years in his homeland of Khwarizm, south of the Aral Sea. (His sobriquet derives from birun – “suburb” -- in reference to his birth in an outlying neighborhood of Khiva.) Little is known of al-Biruni’s childhood except for the important matter of his education, which was directed by the best local mathematicians and other scholars. His exceptional intellectual powers must have become apparent very early. Al-Biruni’s religious background was Shi‘a, although in later years he professed agnostic leanings. A precocious youth, while still a student in Khwarizm, al-Biruni entered into correspondence with Avicenna (Ibn Sina), one of the leading lights of Islamic medicine. Some of Avicenna’s replies are preserved in the British Museum.
Although he published some material as a young student, the scope of al-Biruni’s intellectual powers only became apparent when he left Khwarizm to travel and learn abroad. In al-Biruni’s age, the key to scholarly success lay in attaching oneself to a powerful and influential court society and obtaining noble patronage. He found the first of many such benefactors in the Samanid sultan Mansur II, after whose demise he took up residence in the important intellectual center of Jurjan, southeast of the Caspian Sea. From here, al-Biruni was able to travel throughout northeastern Iran.
While at Jurjan, al-Biruni produced his first major work, al-Athar al-baqiyah ‘an al-qurun al-khaliyah (The Chronology of Ancient Nations). This work is an imposing compilation of calendars and eras from many cultures. It also deals with numerous issues in mathematics, astronomy, geography, and meteorology. The work is in Arabic -- the major scientific and cultural language of the time -- as are nearly all of al-Biruni’s later writings, although al-Biruni himself was a native speaker of an Iranian dialect. As would have been common among Muslim scholars of his time, al-Biruni was also fluent in Hebrew and Syriac, the major cultural and administrative languages in the Semitic world prior to the Arab conquest.
Around 1008, al-Biruni returned to his homeland of Khwarizm at the invitation of the local shah, who subsequently entrusted him with several important diplomatic missions. In 1017, however, his tranquil life as a scholar-diplomat took a rude turn. The shah lost his life in a military uprising, and shortly thereafter forces of the powerful Ghaznavid dynasty of neighboring Afghanistan invaded Khwarizm. Together with many other scholars -- as part of the booty of war -- al-Biruni found himself led away to Ghazna, which was to become his home base for the remainder of his life.
Ironically, this deportation afforded al-Biruni his greatest intellectual opportunity. The Ghaznavids appreciated scholarly talent, and the sultan, Mahmud, attached al-Biruni to his court as official astronomer/astrologer. Mahmud was in the process of expanding his frontiers in every direction. The most coveted lands were in India, and during the sultan’s campaigns there al-Biruni was able to steep himself in the world of Hindu learning. In India, he taught eager scholars his store of Greek, Persian, and Islamic knowledge. In return, he acquired fluency in Sanskrit, the doorway to what was, for al-Biruni, essentially a whole new intellectual universe.
In 1030, al-Biruni completed his marvelous Tar’ikh al-Hind. This masterpiece remains, in the eyes of many scholars, the most important treatise on Indian history and culture produced by anyone prior to the twentieth century. The degree of scholarly detachment and objectivity displayed in al-Biruni's history of India is almost without parallel for the time, and the work consequently is still of enormous value to contemporary scholars.
Almost at the same time, al-Biruni produced another work dedicated to the sultan Mas‘ud ibn Mahmud, heir to the Ghaznavid throne. Kitab al-qanun al-Mas‘udi fi ‘l-hay’a wa ‘l-nujum (Canon Masudicus -- c. 1030) is the largest and most important of al-Biruni’s mathematical and geographical studies.
During his long and productive life, al-Biruni authored many other treatises of varying length -- he himself claimed to have produced more than one hundred -- in addition to those mentioned above. They include essays on arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and astrology, a pioneering effort in mineralogical classification, and, toward the end of his career, material on the medical sciences. His compendia of Indian and Chinese minerals, drugs, potions, and other concoctions, still not systematically studied, may be of immense value to pharmacology. Some of these works have been lost. They are known only through references by other scholars. Many survive but await translation into European languages.
In the golden age of medieval Islam, a small number of incredibly versatile and creative intellects stood at the interface of Semitic, Hellenistic, Persian, and Hindu culture and learning. Their syntheses and insights often brought about quantum leaps in scientific and historical thought in Islam -- so vast, in fact, that in some cases their achievements were fully appreciated only by later ages better prepared to comprehend them. Al-Biruni was one of these intellects and, for some historians, the most important of all. The Chronology of Ancient Nations, for example, constitutes an unprecedented attempt to periodize the history of the known world by comparing and cross-referencing large numbers of chronologies and calendrical systems. His work provides a basis for chronological studies which has yet to be fully exploited.
In medieval Islam, the significance of scholarship may often be determined by how frequently a scholar’s materials were copied by later generations of researchers (a practice for which modern scholars are grateful, since much otherwise would now be lost. The thirteenth century geographer Yaqut, for example, cited al-Biruni extensively in his own work. Yaqut’s material on oceanography and general cosmography is drawn almost verbatim from his illustrious predecessor.
Like many scholars in Islam’s golden age, al-Biruni was a polymath, a Renaissance man before there was a Renaissance. Some modern scholars have criticized him for writing extensively on astrology, usually at the behest of his noble patrons. Astrology, however, was in a certain sense a means of popularizing the science of the time, and al-Biruni most likely used it to reach a lay audience, just as contemporary popular science writers often simplify and make use of analogy. He seems to have regarded astrology as a gesture to simple people who wanted immediate, practical results from science.
Al-Biruni’s astounding versatility has prompted some to place him in a league with Leonardo da Vinci as one of the greatest geniuses of all time. The most appropriate description, however, comes from his students, patrons, and other contemporaries. To them, al-Biruni was simply “The Master.”
al-Ustadh see Biruni
Abu Raihan Muhammad al-Biruni see Biruni
Abu al-Rayhan al-Biruni see Biruni
“The Master” see Biruni
Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad Biruni see Biruni
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Bukhari (Muhammad ibn Isma‘il al-Bukhari) (810-870). Arab scholar. Born in Bukhara (now in Uzbekistan). As a youth he began traveling throughout the Muslim world collecting the oral traditions of the prophet Muhammad. Of the more than 600,000 traditions he collected, he compiled 7275 of them in al-Salih (The Genuine) or al-Jami al-Sahih (The Authentic Collection). Al-Salih is regarded by orthodox Muslims, the Sunnites, as being surpassed in importance only by the Qur’an. Following a theologicial dispute, al-Bukhari was banished to Kartank, near Samarkand (now in Uzbekistan), where he died. His tomb has been the destination of many pilgrimages.
Al-Bukhari is best known and revered for his encyclopedic collection of Hadith, al-Jami al-Sahih (“The Authentic Collection”). Often viewed popularly in Islam and until recently in modern scholarship as the first to assemble a comprehensive, critically selected, topically arranged corpus of the most reliable hadith, Bukhari must now be seen as one whose work followed and was based upon previous written collections. This does not diminish, however, his book’s importance among Muslims as, along with the Sahih of Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, the most respected source for reports of Muhammad’s words and deeds.
Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari, popularly known as al-Bukhari, or Imam Bukhari, was a famous Sunni Islamic scholar of Bukharian/Persian (Tajik) ancestry, best known for authoring the hadith collection named Sahih Bukhari, a collection which Sunni Muslims regard as the most authentic of all hadith compilations and the most authoritative book after the Qur'an.
His full name is Muhammad ibn Ismail ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Mughirah ibn Bardizbah al-Bukhari. He was born in 810 in the city of Bukhara (which was a part of Khorason at that time), in what is today Uzbekistan. His father, Ismail ibn Ibrahim, was a known hadith scholar who died while he was young.
At age of sixteen, al-Bukhari, together with his brother and widowed mother made the pilgrimage to Mecca (Makkah). From there he made a series of travels in order to increase his knowledge of hadith. He went through all the important centers of Islamic learning of his time, talked to scholars and exchanged information on hadith. It is said that he heard from over 1,000 men, and learned over 600,000 traditions, both authentic and rejected ones.
After sixteen years' absence he returned to Bukhara, and there drew up his al-Jami' al-Sahih, a collection of 7,275 tested traditions, arranged in chapters so as to afford bases for a complete system of jurisprudence without the use of speculative law.
His book is highly regarded among Sunni Muslims, and considered the most authentic collection of hadith (a minority of Sunni scholars consider Sahih Muslim, compiled by Bukhari's student Imam Muslim, more authentic). Most Sunni scholars consider it second only to the Qur'an in terms of authenticity. He also composed other books, including al-Adab al-Mufrad, which is a collection of hadiths on ethics and manners, as well as two books containing biographies of hadith narrators.
In the year 864, he settled in Nishapur. It was in Nishapur (Neyshabour) that he met Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj. He would be considered his student, and eventually collector and organizer of hadith collection Sahih Muslim which is considered second only to that of al-Bukhari. Political problems led him to move to Khartank, a village near Bukhara where he died in the year 870.
His works include:
Al-Jami' al-Sahih, also known as Sahih Bukhari
Al Adab Al Mufrad, Guidance in Good Manners and Etiquette for Muslims
al-Tarikh al-Kabir, The Great History, containing biographies of narrators, with a rating of each
al-Tarikh al-Saghir - The Little History, an abridged version of the Great History
Khalq Af-aal Al-'Ibaad
Muhammad ibn Isma‘il al-Bukhari see Bukhari
Muhammad ibn Ismail ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Mughirah ibn Bardizbah al-Bukhari see Bukhari
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