Al-Khwarizmi – The Father of Algebra
Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer and scholar in the House of Wisdom (otherwise known as Baitul Hikmah in Arabic) in the city of Baghdad during the reign of Caliph al Ma’mun of the Abbasid Caliphate, in an era commonly referred to as (part of) the Islamic Golden Age.
His Life
Not much is known with certainty when it comes to the life of Al-Khwarizmi. As a matter of fact, one could easily argue that we know more about his works in the various sciences than we do of the man himself.
He was born in Persia around the year 780 AD (163 AH) and it is thought that he was from Khwarazm of the Greater Khorasan region (modern day Khiva, Uzbekistan) and later moved to Baghdad with his family where around 820 AD he went on to become the head of the aforementioned “House of Wisdom” or “Baitul Hikmah.”
Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari gives his name as Muḥammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmiyy al-Majusiyy al-Quṭrubbaliyy. In his book “Iraq after the Muslim conquest” on page 145, Michael. G. Morony mentions that the epithet ‘al-Qutrubbaliyy’ used by al-Tabari could in fact point to the fact he came from Qutrubbull; a district between the Tigris and Euphrates and not far from Baghdad.
On the other hand, Roshi Rashed in the book “Arab Civilisation: Challenges and Responses” (under the chapter titled ‘al-Khwarizmi’s concept of Algebra’) on page 108 mentions, “There is no need to be an expert on the period or a philologist to see that al-Tabari’s second citation should read “Muhammad ibn Mūsa al-Khwārizmī and al-Majūsi al-Qutrubbulli,” and that there are two people (al-Khwārizmī and al-Majūsi al-Qutrubbulli) between whom the letter wa [Arabic ‘و‘ for ‘and’] has been omitted in an early copy.
His Most Famous Work
The vast majority of Al-Khwarizmi’s works were completed between 813 and 833 A.D and his most notable works were his contributions to the field of mathematics and such was the immense nature of his works that he has come to be known as ‘The father of Algebra’ & ‘the grandfather of computer science’ (he developed the concept of the algorithm). It is to Al-Khwarizmi we owe the word “algebra” (al-Jabr) from the title of his most famous work “Al-Kitab al-Mukhtasar Fi Hisab al-Jabr wa’l-Muqabalah” (translated “The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing”) in that the term “algebra” was used for the first time in a title of a book to denote it being a discipline.
One of the main reasons for producing this book according to Al-Khwarizmi himself was as an act of worship to God by providing practical solutions to issues like Islamic inheritance laws and commerce.
Other Most Notable Works And Contributions
Al-Khwarizmi’s algebra is regarded as the foundation and cornerstone of the sciences but even then solely focusing on just his work on algebra is to do a disservice to him. Below are a list of his other most famous works that displays his knowledge in a number of different fields;
(1) Kitab al-Jam’a wal-Tafreeq bi Hisab al-Hindi (translated as “The Book of Addition and Subtraction According To The Hindu Calculation”):
This book was on Arithmetic and was translated into Latin under the title Algoritmi de Numero Indorum meaning “Al Khwarizmi Concerning The Hindu Art of Reckoning.” It survived in its Latin translation but has been lost in the original Arabic.
(2) Kitab Surat-al-Ard (translated as “Book of the Description of the Earth”):
This was a book on geography and was completed in 833. It was a revised work based on the 2nd century work of Ptolemy titled “The Geography of Ptolemy.”
(3) Risala Fi Istikhraj Tarikh al-Yahud (translated as “Extraction of the Jewish Era”):
This was a treatise done on the Jewish/Hebrew calendar
(4) Kitab al-Tarikh (The Chronicle) and Kitab al-Rukhmat (book about sun-dials):
Both of these have been lost.
Conclusion
Al-Khwarizmi passed away in the year in 850 A.D in Baghdad and not only is he remembered as one of the greatest scientists and mathematicians in early Islamic history as well as in all of human history, but till this day his effects can be felt and not only with angry secondary school math students 🙂 but modern technology would not exist without the efforts of Muslim mathematicians like Al-Khwarizmi.
P.S. A fun fact: A crater on the far side of the moon has been named after Al-Khwarizmi.
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