Abu Rayhan Biruni: the founder of anthropology and intercultural communication studies

Abstract

ABSTRACT The history of anthropology and intercultural communication studies is much longer and extensive than the current literature indicates. This article looks at the life, times, and the works of Abu Rayhan Biruni, an Iranian mathematician, astronomer, historian, geographer and social scientist of the late tenth and early eleventh centuries who founded the discipline of anthropology and was the pioneer and forerunner of intercultural studies. A comparison is made between Biruni’s masterwork on the Indian culture and his universal history with the contemporary anthropological literature and intercultural studies.