ABSTRACT
The pre-modem scholar and translator AbO Rayhan al-BIrunl (d. 1048), whose vast learning was put to the service of the Ghaznavid empire, a polity centred in modem-day Afghanistan and extending into Iran and India, met his greatest challenge in attempting to convey the complex systems of Indian civilization to his fellow Muslim readers and patrons. At the outset of his translation project of Sanskrit scientific texts into Arabic, in his magnum opus Tahqiq ma lil Hind (Research on India), he categorically begins with remarks on the fundamental
difference between the two cultures: “[Hindus/Indians] differ from us in everything which other nations have in common. And here we first mention the language, although the difference of language also exists between other nations. If you want to conquer this difficulty (i.e. to learn Sanskrit), you will not find it easy” (Biruni 1971:17, Ernst 2003:176-78). Despite his claim of a clash of civilizations, Biruni seems to have been perspicacious enough to real ize that in spite of the huge wall of differences between the two civilizations there existed potential points of commonalities in terms of the fundamentals of their beliefs and learning that could serve as a bridge. However, he did have decided views on the topic of language, and in comparing Arabic and Persian, he notes that the latter was suited “to perpetuate historical epics dealing with the kings of yesteryear and to provide stories for evening social gatherings” whereas Arabic was intrinsically a language of science (Meisami 1987:86).
