avg_rating: 4.28
name: Abu Zayd al-Balkhi
about: bƒ zayd al-balkh¬ was an encyclopedic genius whose profound contributions to knowledge covered many diverse fields that would seem, to our modern minds, to be unrelated to each other. He is also considered to be one of the world’s first known cognitive psychologists, astonishingly centuries ahead of his time, studying and suggesting cognitive treatments to anxiety and mood disorders.A polymath and prolific writer, he authored more than sixty books and manuscripts, meticulously researching disciplines as varied in scope as geography, medicine, theology, politics, philosophy, poetry, literature, Arabic grammar, astrology, astronomy, mathematics, biog- raphy, ethics, sociology as well as others. Although excelling in many fields his fame as a bƒ zayd al-balkh¬ was an encyclopedic genius whose profound contributions to knowledge covered many diverse fields that would seem, to our modern minds, to be unrelated to each other. He is also considered to be one of the world’s first known cognitive psychologists, astonishingly centuries ahead of his time, studying and suggesting cognitive treatments to anxiety and mood disorders.A polymath and prolific writer, he authored more than sixty books and manuscripts, meticulously researching disciplines as varied in scope as geography, medicine, theology, politics, philosophy, poetry, literature, Arabic grammar, astrology, astronomy, mathematics, biog- raphy, ethics, sociology as well as others. Although excelling in many fields his fame as a great scholar came actually as a result of his work in geography leading him to become the founder of what is known as the “BalkhÏ School” of terrestrial mapping. Regrettably, most of these valuable documents, hand-written manuscripts, have either been lost or lie concealed in museums or in inaccessible libraries.Similarly, very little has been written by way of biography. Most of what we know about al-BalkhÏ comes from a single biographer,born in the year 235 ah (849 ce) in a small village called Shamisitiyan, in the Persian province of Balkh, which is now part of Afghanistan. Aside from noting that he received his early education from his father, In his youth and endeavors to educate himself in the sciences and arts of his time He was generally silent, and contemplative thus exhibiting a (reserved) shy personality. This descrip- tion of his personality added to the meticulous nature of his vast and rigorously written studies in modern terminology, allows us to infer al- BalkhÏ to be a highly introverted, yet brilliant scholar. What also seems apparent is that he preferred seclusion and contemplation to socializ- ing with friends or attending parties because there is no mention in his biography of either, whether association with intimate friends or attendance of lavish parties, by lavish meaning eating, listening to music and/or captivating Arabic poetry, common in the Abbasid era. ...more