The significance of hydrosphere in the eyes of Alberuni cannot be overemphasised. The importance of water for human beings was brought home to him by the religious scriptures such as those of the Hindus, the Jews, the Christians, the Magians, the Sabians and the Muslims as well as by his own experiences. Almost all religious books informed him that water existed before all Creation. For instance, he notes in the Torah that when the earth was without form and void the spirit of God was dwelling upon the surface of the waters.⁵⁴ Similar is the Qur 'anic view that before Creation God's Throne rested over the water.⁵⁵ It was also in his own experiences that a number of terrestrial phenomena such as evaporation, circulation of wind, precipitation and surface run-off as well as the location and survival of civilization depended on the existence of water. Thus he attributes...