Abu'l-Nasr Al-Farabi, a Muslim of Turkman descent who studied in Baghdad, was considered in his time to be the greatest philosopher since Aristotle. Indeed, in the Islamic world he was known as the "Second Teacher," with Aristotle being the first. He was fluent in several languages, and through his translations of ancient Greek works, he was one of the earliest Islamic philosophers to introduce Greek philosophy to the Islamic world. He wrote on numerous subjects, including logic, sociology, political science, medicine, and music, but his legacy lies in his work in philosophy

In writing commentaries on the works of the ancient Greeks, Al-Farabi sought to reconcile Aristotelian and Platonian thought with Islamic theology. At the same time, however, he also became the first Islamic philosopher to separate philosophy and theology, influencing scholars of many different religions who followed him. He concluded that human reason, the tool of the philosopher, was superior to revelation, the tool of religion, resulting in the advantage of philosophy over religion. He claimed that philosophy was based on intellectual perception, while religion was based on imagination. He thus attributed impressive characteristics to the philosopher, and advocated the philosopher as the ideal head of state. He blamed political upheavals in the Islamic world to the fact that the state was not run by philosophers, whose superior powers of reason and intellect would result in ideal leadership

Al-Farabi's work greatly influenced the Islamic philosophers who followed him, particularly Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd. It also sparked what would become an ongoing debate between representatives of philosophy and theology, as Islamic thinkers sought to reconcile disparities between the two fields

Abu Raihan Muhammad al-Biruni, a Persian scholar and scientist, was a contemporary of the great physician Ibn Sina, with whom he is known to have corresponded. With a gift for languages, including Turkish, Persian, Sanskrit, Hebrew, and Arabic, Al-Biruni caught the attention of the Ghaznavid ruler, Mahmud, whose territory included northern India. Mahmud often brought Al-Biruni with him on campaigns to India, where Al-Biruni spent his time studying the language, history, and science of that region. One of his most famous books, Kitab al-Hind ("Book of India") resulted from these travels. It was such a complete study of India that further works on Indian history written under Akbar 600 years later used it as a base

In addition to his work on culture and history, Al-Biruni was also an accomplished scientist. In the field of astronomy, he pioneered the notion that the speed of light was much greater than the speed of sound, observed solar and lunar eclipses, and accepted the theory that the earth rotated on an axis long before anyone else. In geography, he calculated the correct latitude and longitude of many places, and disputed the European Ptolemaic view that Africa stretched infinitely to the south; Al-Biruni insisted it was surrounded by water. In his work on India, Al-Biruni also advanced the controversial view - later proved correct - that the Indus valley was once a sea basin. He also developed a theory for calculating the qibla - the direction of Mecca from any place - which was necessary for Muslims to know in order to face Mecca when praying. In physics, he accurately determined the densities of 18 precious stones and ************ls; in botany, he observed that flowers have 3, 4, 5, 6, or 8 petals, but never 7 or 9; and he was the first to establish trigonometry as a distinct branch of mathematics. Because of his work in such diverse fields, Al-Biruni is considered to be one of the greatest scientists of all time


Al-Biruni's world map, showing the
distribution of land and sea, 1029 CE