Al-Bīrūinī produced well over one hundred scholarly works, of which twenty-two have survived. His major works are primarily devoted to astronomy, but other prominent texts include his massive work entitled India and The Chronology of Ancient Nations. The latter studies the significance of time, particularly temporal cycles, in relation to religious beliefs—not only of Islam, but also of Judaism and Christianity. In his major works on astronomy—the Kitab fi istiāb al-wujuh fi sanāt alasturlab [Astrolabe] (1020?), the Tahdid nihayat al-amakin li-tashih masafat al-masakin (c. 1018), the Kitab fi ifrad al-magal fi amr al-zilal [Shadows] (c. 1021), and the Kitab al-tajhim li-awa'il sinait al-tanjim [Tafhim] (1040?)—al-Bīrūnī described the many instruments he invented and improved, as well as his extensive computations of geographical coordinates, and the nature and significance of shadows. He also wrote a comprehensive treatise, the Canon (c. 1030), intended to cover the standard...