Overview

In The Birth of Indology as an Islamic Science Mario Kozah closely examines the pioneering contribution by Biruni (d. ca. 1048) to the study of comparative religion in his major work on India. Kozah concludes that a process of Islamisation is employed through a meticulous systematization of Hindu beliefs into one Indian religion , preceding by almost a millennium the earliest definitions of Hinduism by nineteenth-century European Orientalists. This formulation of Hinduism draws on Biruni's interpretation of Yoga psychology articulated in the Kitab Batanjal, his Arabic translation of the Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali. Biruni's Islamic reading of Hinduism relies on certain common denominators that he identifies as being of fundamental importance. In the case of Hinduism he identifies metempsychosis as its unifying banner.

Full Product Details

Author:   Mario Kozah
Publisher:   Brill
Imprint:   Brill
Volume:   97
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 1.80cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.500kg
ISBN:  

9789004290297

ISBN 10:   900429029
Pages:   228
Publication Date:   22 October 2015
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix Introduction 1 1 Al-Biruni: A Brief Summary of His Life and Major Works 7 1 Al-Biruni: Prologues and Method 11 1 Al-Asʾila waʾl-Ajwiba 11 2 Al-Athar ʾl-baqiya ʿan ʾl-qurun ʾl-khaliya 12 3 Al-Qanun al-masʿudi fiʾl-hayʾa waʾl-nujum 18 4 Kitab tahqiq ma liʾl-Hind 23 5 Al-Biruni, Hindu Cosmology, and Atomism 32 2 Hindu Metaphysics According to the Hind 34 1 Mediaeval Arabic Texts on Hinduism and Their Sources 34 2 Al-Biruni's Sanskrit Sources: Kitab Sank and Kitab Batanjal 37 3 The Differentiation of Kitab Sank and Kitab Batanjal 41 4 Theology from Kitab Batanjal to the Hind 43 5 Passage 1: The Theological Interface between Kitab Batanjal and the Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali 45 6 Passage 2: The Theological Interface between Kitab Batanjal and the Citations from the Book Referred to as gita 55 7 Passage 3: Kitab Sank and the Discussion of Human and Divine Action in the Hind 65 8 Kitab Sank as Conclusion to the Comparative Triptych 71 3 Al-Nafs: the Soul in Kitab Batanjal 73 1 Introduction 73 2 From Kitab Batanjal to the Hind 74 3 The Soul and Spiritual Liberation 75 4 Al-Biruni and Western Scholarship 76 5 The Yoga-Sutra and the Psychology of Kitab Batanjal 80 4 Kitab Batanjal: the Preface and Sections i-iii 85 1 The Tripartite Preface of Kitab Batanjal 85 2 Section i: Concentration of the Heart (Mind) 96 3 Section ii: Guidance towards Praxis 106 4 Section iii: The Manner of Recompense 118 5 Conclusion 120 5 Section iv of Kitab Batanjal: Liberation and Unification, a Reading 125 1 Introduction 125 2 Section iv and the Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali: Liberation, the Soul and the Intellect 126 3 The Soul, Matter and Unification 132 4 Liberation: The Intellect, Intellected and Intellector 139 5 Ibn Sina's Treatment of the Soul and Intellect in Ahwal al-Nafs and His De Anima 146 6 Conclusion: Kitab Batanjal, Knowledge and Language 149 6 Al-Nafs: the Soul in the Hind 151 1 Introduction 151 2 The Body/Soul Relationship in the Hind 153 3 Chapter Seven of the Hind: On the Manner of Liberation from the World and the Description of the Path That Leads to It 154 4 The Part of Worship 155 5 Islamic Characteristics Attributed to the Hindu God 157 6 Liberation, Divine Unification, and Knowledge 159 7 The Nature of Liberation According to Kitab Batanjal and Kitab Sank 167 8 Conclusion: Liberation, Metempsychosis and al-Biruni's Islamic Reading of Hinduism 184 Conclusion 189 Appendix. Translation of Section iv of Kitab Batanjal 195 Glossary of Terms 206 Bibliography 209 Index of Subjects 221 Index of Modern Authors 224 Index of Names 225 Index of Ancient and Mediaeval Sources 227

Reviews

... ein auch fur die Indologie interessantes und lehrreiges Buch. Axel Michaels in Theologische Literaturzeitung, 141 (2016).

Author Information

Mario Kozah, Ph.D. (2002), University of Cambridge, is Assistant Professor of Syriac and Islamic Studies at the American University of Beirut. He has published extensively on comparative religion and literature including The Syriac Writers of Qatar in the Seventh Century (Gorgias Press, 2014).

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