Re-reading al-Birūnī's India: A case for intercultural understanding

Abstract

It is argued that until recently the major motive behind the interest in religious traditions other than one's own has been to refute the truth-claims of the former. This attitude was based on the conviction that the religious tradition to which the student of religion belonged contained all that he or she needed to know, since whatever remained outside the authoritative revelation was at best irrelevant and at worst dangerous. Although prevalent throughout history, this approach was not the only model for studying religions other than one's own. There have been scholars within the Islamic tradition who showed genuine interest in studying and understanding other religious traditions on their own terms. Arguably, one of the best representatives of these scholars was al-Birūnī (973-1048 CE) whose accomplishments in other disciplines, notably in natural sciences, overshadowed his crucial contribution to the study of religion. This paper is an attempt to contribute to the current debate in the study of religion by analyzing the method al-Birunï employed in his treatment of the religious traditions of India. In pursuing the subject, the paper aims to elucidate the phenomenological, dialogical and comparative aspects of al-Birūnī's thought in light of contemporary scholarship. © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group Ltd.