al-Khwarizmi's Surat al-Ard (geography)

Al-Khwarizmi's book on the coordinates of countries is one of four works of his that the editors of the Cairo edition of the Book of al-Jabr and al-Muqabala say have survived and that Ibn al-Nadim did not mention; they describe it as a book on the coordinates of countries in which he explained Ptolemy's views. ¹ The museum's record of its composition is Surat al-Ard composed.

The editors quote a study by the orientalist Nallino on al-Khwarizmi and his reworking of Ptolemy's geography, which holds that this reworking is not mere imitation of Greek views but new, independent geographical research as important as that of any European writer of the period. ² From this and other evidence they conclude that al-Khwarizmi was accomplished in arithmetic, geography and astronomy. ²

The text of the book was not read here; the title Surat al-Ard is the one used by the museum's event record, while the introduction describes the book without naming it.