When Biruni became obsessed with philosophy, he wrote a letter to Ibn Sina and tried to understand some of Aristotle’s views. Ibn Sina did not say, “You do not understand these things, understand them and then come back,” but wrote letters in response and prayed, “May my Lord keep away from you all the things you dislike in both worlds.”
Although I do not have a habit of admiring the old, I believe that the old scholars are truly timeless. Sometimes I try to find answers by asking myself, “Why do the old scholars remain timeless?” I do not know if the answers I find will convince you. At least I find the opportunity to distract myself and contemplate in this way.
Those ancients are so great that it is impossible to define their greatness. Do not think that I do not believe that the only great that cannot be defined is God. The greatness that I mean here is a scale of greatness according to the human power of measurement or appreciation in this world, as a human being. When the master Victor Hugo said, “I call the great Napoleon great!”, he was talking about the Napoleon who was small in stature and not the tall Napoleon. Something like that.
The point I want to bring up is the behavior of our ancestors towards each other in a correspondence between a giant master whom we call Abu Reyhan Muhammad b. Ahmed el-Biruni and known to us as Biruni in short, and another giant, Abu Ali el-Husayn ibn Abdullah ibn Sina (Ibn Sina). But I would like you not to forget this: What I mean by our ancestors here are our ancestors who lived before us and whose hands we should kiss.
“MAY GOD KEEP AWAY FROM YOU THE THINGS YOU DO NOT LIKE”
It is said that the master Biruni was obsessed with philosophy, and even directly with some of Aristotle’s views, and he listed his questions. He said, “Answer me master, I do not understand this or that. You are a great man, if you explain it to me, my knowledge will expand.” I do not know if he said it exactly like that. But as far as I understand from the narrations, he said something in this sense.
Mastery is that Ibn Sina did not say, “You do not understand these things, understand them and come back,” and began his answers by writing his reply letter as follows: “May Allah make you attain what you desire, may He grant you what you desire. May He grant you the happiness you desire in both worlds. May He keep away from you all the things you dislike in both worlds. May Allah make your safety permanent.”
Look at this prayer? What a beautiful prayer, my Lord. What other prayer could a person expect? By the way, let’s not forget to remind you. Our questioner, Biruni, is a little older than Ibn Sina. He is not behind in mastery either, but we do not call these men great men for nothing, he accepts Ibn Sina as a master.
I will not convey here either Biruni’s questions or Ibn Sina’s answers. However, I would like to mention one of them in order to reveal some clues to understand the greatness of those people.
Either I have difficulty in accepting or they cannot convince me
Biruni was obsessed with Aristotle’s criticism of those who said, “It is possible for another world to exist outside the one we live in and with a different nature.” You know, nowadays we encounter questions like, “Do aliens exist or not? If they do, what do they eat and drink?”, etc.
Biruni cannot grasp this. “I do not understand. If we tell a blind person that the eye is an organ that helps him see the colors in the universe, imagine those colors and that world, and say something like that. Okay, a blind person cannot understand this. But isn’t this world like that anyway?” After asking this question, he demonstrates his mastery with a geometric physics question. It is known that Master Biruni is a master of geometry and geography who can know the height and distance of a mountain if he stands by a lake and looks at it.
Ibn Sina explains the event to Biruni in the way that philosophers knew at the time and wants to close the event in summary. Ibn Sina writes something like this. “Therefore, there is no world that is contrary to this world in terms of its material characteristics. If there are many worlds, they are no different from each other in terms of their natures. However, we have previously explained that there cannot be many worlds that are the same in terms of their natures. As we said, the world is one.”
Biruni opposes this explanation. According to Biruni, another world that we do not know is possible. He is crazy about it, but being a scholar, being a master, being a man requires kindness and elegance. He makes this exquisite objection:
“Master, either I do not fully understand these views. Or these views are not convincing. Or the person who adopts these views thinks, ‘Undoubtedly, Allah, who is free from all evil attributes, is not able to create other worlds besides this one.’ Because the One who created two separate earths and two fires is certainly able to create a separate upper and lower for each of them.”
Biruni also reminds us that we should not believe in the geometric physics phenomenon we mentioned above.
NARRATIVES SHOULD BE TREATED OTHERWISE
The discussion in the correspondence does not end here. Ibn Sina also gets upset and writes: “Also, know that if the views put forward in favor of the multiplicity of worlds are accepted, this will necessarily bring us face to face with the issue of infinity. In this case, nothing can be known and the view accepted by the sophists will be fixed. However, bringing the sophists to the right path is not possible through such knowledge, but through other methods of treatment. And help is from Allah.”
As can be seen, the master Ibn Sina delivers the final blow through the “Sophists.” The key word here is “sophists.” The greatest enemy of the sophists at that time was already the master Biruni. But what they meant by sophists was not the sophists we understand today. The sophists of that day were those who tried to silence the scholars with nonsensical information on subjects such as the world, the universe, the soul, demons, and the zodiac, which had no scientific value, or rather, on which scientific knowledge was worthless. That is why they are called sophists in the plural. Ibn Sina brought the matter to this point by saying, “You too, my master, have sunk into absurd thoughts.”
However, Biruni’s answer was also strong: “Master, if you are going to declare me a sophist because of this idea of mine, then I am that sophist. And an invincible sophist who never lets his back down.”
Don’t you think that even this discussion at least demonstrates the timelessness of these men?
Quoted Sentence:
According to Biruni, another world that we do not know is possible. “Master, either I do not fully understand these views. Or these views are not convincing. Or the person who adopts these views thinks, ‘There is no doubt that Allah, who is free from all evil attributes, is not capable of creating other worlds besides this world.’ Because the One who created two separate earths and two fires is certainly able to create a lower and an upper for each of them.”
