Abu Abdullah al-Khwarizmi (died 997)

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The ninth and eleventh centuries AD were the period of highly developed science and great scholars in Central Asia. Abu Abdullah al-Khwarizmi was one of the most well-educated and leading scholars of that time.

Very little is known about this scientist. The scholar's full name is Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Yusuf al-Khwarizmi. His youth was spent in Khiva, Zamakhshar and Qiyot in Khorezm. He was born, grew up, lived and studied in these cities. The scholar also lived in Khorasan. His popularity peaked during his tenure as secretary to Minister Abul Hassan al-Utbi. Due to this function, he is also known as "al-kitab al-Khwarizmi". He often visited Bukhara for official duties and talked to many scholars. At the same time, the eager scientist gained the right to use the rich library of the Emir during his service. Abu Abdullah al-Khwarizmi died in 997.

The scholar's worldview was influenced by the ancient Greek philosophy and culture of the time, and by the influence of the East's representatives, Yaqub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi, Abu Nasr al-Farabi, and Abu Bakr al-Razi.

Abu Abdullah al-Khwarizmi's most well-known work, Mafatih al-Ulum (The Keys of Knowledge), which, like many of his works, has survived, is written in Arabic. There are not many manuscripts of Mafatih al-Ulum. Until recently, it was considered to have four copies. Three of these four copies are in the British Museum under numbers 7528, 23429 and 2524, and in the Berlin Library under number 1051. In the 60s, the American scholar K. Bosworth discovered that six more copies of this work were in Turkish libraries. All six copies are in libraries in Istanbul.

This work by Abu Abdullah al-Khwarizmi attracted the attention of many scholars as a rare source on the history of the development of science in the Middle Ages. The first scholar to study this source and publish it in 1895 was the Dutch orientalist Van Floten. Also, I. Yu. Krachkovsky, VV Bartold, K. Brokelman, E. Videman, G. Sarton, MM Hay-rullayev, UI Karimov, GP Matviyevskaya, H. Hasanov, A. Shari-pov also studied various aspects of the work.

Mafatih al-Ulum is a unique encyclopedia that covers almost all major disciplines of the time. The author explains the content of each medieval science through interpretation.

The scholar divides the sciences into "Arabic-Shari'ah" and "non-Arabic". This shows that the scientist, like his contemporaries, remained faithful to the tradition of dividing the sciences into two parts.

His first traditional Arabic studies consisted of eleven chapters on jurisprudence, seven chapters on kalam, twelve chapters on grammar (spending and grammar), eight chapters on business, five chapters on poetry and narration, and nine chapters on history. The second part includes the following "non-Arabic" sciences: philosophy in three chapters, logic in nine chapters, medicine in eight chapters, arithmetic in five chapters, handasa in four chapters, and the science of an-nujum in four chapters. music in three chapters, mechanics in two chapters, and chemistry in three chapters.

Thus, the work consists of two parts, in which fifteen sciences are described in ninety-three chapters.

The form of Abu Abdullah al-Khwarizmi's classification of sciences is as follows:

I. Shari'a and related Arabic sciences.

1. Fiqh, that is, Muslim jurisprudence.

2. The word, that is, the foundations of religion.

3. Grammar.

4. Office work.

5. Poetry and desire.

6. History.

II. "Non-Arab" sciences (Greek and other peoples). 1. Theoretical philosophy:

a) natural sciences - medicine (medicine, celestial phenomena - meteorology, mineralogy, alchemy, mechanics) - lower;

b) mathematical sciences (arithmetic, handasa, ilm an-nujum, music) - intermediate;

c) divine, that is, metaphysics - higher science;

g) logic.

2. Applied philosophy:

a) ethics (human management);

b) housekeeping (house management);

c) politics (city, country management).

In Mafatih al-Ulum, the classification of sciences is carried out in conjunction with the definition of the subject of each science and a brief and clear description of their basic terms. Here, as we have mentioned, Abu Abdullah al-Khwarizmi, in his classification, supports the tradition of the time, that is, the division of the sciences into two, and divides them into Shari'ah and philosophical sciences.

TRADITIONAL "ARAB" SCIENCES. One of these sciences is the Qur'an, the Sunnah, the Hadith, and its variants, which are the basis of Islamic jurisprudence and reflect the Qur'an, the words of the Prophet, the words of wisdom, and the lives of the prophets. Ijma 'is the unanimous decision of the Islamic community; It focuses on the observance of the rules of the Shari'ah, such as ablution, prayer, adhan, fasting, and the payment of zakat.

The second section provides information about many of the sects that existed in the Near and Middle East at that time. In particular, the fact that these sects are divided into seven, especially the perfect details about the Mu'tazilites, is important. It also covers Greco-Christian denominations, pre-Islamic religious beliefs in Iran and Yemen, some dualistic sects and movements in India, and Zoroastrianism. This information is of great importance in the study of the history of the religions of the peoples of the Near and Middle East and Central Asia.

The grammar of the Arabic literary language and its rules are described in the grammar section. At the same time, the author dwells on Arabic poetry and its components.

Office of the State Office, types and collection of taxes, duties of tax collectors, list of soldiers, their clothing and salaries, terms used in irrigation, types of canals, water equipment, irrigation systems between the two rivers (Syrdarya and Amudarya - RB). is important because it provides information about

The history section provides detailed information on the history of Yemen, pre-Islamic Yemen, Roman and Greek history, from mythical kings to queens of different periods and countries, the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates. The division of the human community into classes in the Middle Ages is also mentioned in this section.

NON-TRADITIONAL - "NON-ARABIC" SCIENCES. Philosophy was the first of these sciences to be mentioned, along with an explanation of these scientific terms, as well as the question of the classification of sciences.

Comments on Aristotle's books on logic are reflected in the logic section of Khorezmi's work. In it, the author enriched the knowledge of this science in the Middle East and Central Asia, using the wonderful ideas put forward.

The chapters on the natural sciences are very rich in terms of studying the level of scientific progress in the Middle East. The medical section provides information on diseases, simple and complex drugs. This section provides a rare description of the disease, which was known and common in medicine at the time, as well as the diagnosis of the disease based on vascular warfare.

In the section on chemistry, Khorezmi also provides valuable information about the chemical sciences of the Middle East, which are important in the study of the development of natural sciences in the East.

The section on mathematics describes the state of the mathematical sciences in the Middle East. Al-Khwarizmi interprets the mathematical concept not as a voluntary creation of the mind, but as a reflection of certain aspects of the objective world, the relationship of objects.

For example, the author continues Farobi's ideas and divides arithmetic into two: theoretical and practical. He enriched some aspects of theoretical arithmetic by considering cubic numbers as well as formal numbers. Handasa is also divided into theoretical and practical parts, which indicates that at that time it was as highly developed as other mathematical sciences. In addition to his duties, the Department of Astronomy deals with historical issues.

In his classification, Khorezmi adds music to the mathematical sciences, describing musical instruments, the harmony of sounds, order, and words, and finally the doctrine of rhythm.

In the Mechanics section, the devices used to irrigate heavy loads and fields, such as simple machines, are discussed in terms of their structure and functions. When Khorezmi focuses on secular sciences, he tries to explain their practical significance.

In general, the play reflects the fact that Abu Abdullah al-Khwarizmi was well versed in the natural and mathematical sciences of his time, and sought to increase and emphasize their importance on the one hand, and to enrich philosophy by introducing them into theoretical philosophy. Al-Khwarizmi's Mafatih al-Ulum is important in the study of medieval culture and spirituality.