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Primary sourcePainting1307

Punishment of a Sect Member

Al-Biruni · 1307

An illustrated page from a 1307 copy of al-Biruni's chronology, depicting the punishment of a member of the Ibn Abi Zakariyya religious group.

Al-Biruni documented this religious group's customs and punishments as part of his comparative study of calendars and cultures.

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Illuminated manuscript page with Arabic text above and below a framed painting. The painting shows a bearded figure in a blue robe with a halo, a prone figure lying on the ground, and a winged figure at left and a figure in green at right.
Punishment of a sect member, Chronology of Ancient Nations by Al-Biruni, 1307 copy. University of Edinburgh.

About this source

What it is

This page is from a 1307 manuscript copy of al-Biruni's Chronology of Ancient Nations, held by the University of Edinburgh. It illustrates the punishment of a member of the Ibn Abi Zakariyya religious group, dragged bound along the ground as described in the surrounding text.

Why it matters

Al-Biruni's chronology included detailed descriptions of the customs, laws and punishments of different religious communities. This page shows his role as an early comparative scholar of religion, recording practices that reveal the beliefs and social rules of groups he studied.

Look closer

  • What does the image tell you about how this community enforced its rules?
  • Why might al-Biruni have recorded such detailed, sometimes uncomfortable, customs of other groups?
  • What questions would you want to ask about how reliable this account is?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Al-Biruni on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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