The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries

The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries
	The Investiture of Ali at Ghadir Khumm, northern Iraq or northwestern Iran, 1307-08 (Edinburgh University Library, MS Arab 161, fol. 162r).
Original title	کتاب الآثار الباقية عن القرون الخالية

The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries (Arabic: کتاب الآثار الباقية عن القرون الخالية ) Kitāb al-āthār al-bāqiyah `an al-qurūn al-khāliyah, also known as Chronology of Ancient Nations or Vestiges of the Past, after the translation published by Eduard Sachau in 1879) by Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī is a comparative study of the calendrical timekeeping of different cultures and civilizations, supported by mathematical, astronomical, and historical research. The text establishes a universal timeline and charts significant historical events, relating the customs and religions of different peoples in time.^[2]

For centuries after its publication in 1000 AD (AH 390/1), the text served as the standard reference on the history of Muslim territories.^[2] The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries is Al-Biruni's first major work, compiled in Gorgan when he was in his late twenties, at the court of Qabus, the Ziyarid ruler of Gorgan.^[3] The text is dedicated to Qabus.^[4]

^ Plate IV in Foundation, Encyclopaedia Iranica. "Encyclopaedia Iranica IL-KHANIDS". iranicaonline.org.
^ ^a ^b Scheppler, Bill (January 15, 2006). Al-Biruni: Master Astronomer and Muslim Scholar of the Eleventh Century (illustrated ed.). The Rosen Publishing Group. pp. 96–98. ISBN 1404205128.
^ Seyyed Hossein Nasr, An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines (1993), ISBN 0-7914-1515-5, p. 108.
^ Rahimieh, Nasrin (1991). "Persian Literature, ed. Ehsan Yarshater, Columbia Lectures on Iranian Studies, no. 3, New York: The Persian Heritage Foundation; Bibliotheca Persica, 1988, xi + 562 pp". Iranian Studies. 24 (1–4): 104–105. doi:10.1017/s0021086200014675. ISSN 0021-0862.

[1] Plate IV in Foundation, Encyclopaedia Iranica. "Encyclopaedia Iranica IL-KHANIDS". iranicaonline.org.

[:0-2] Scheppler, Bill (January 15, 2006). Al-Biruni: Master Astronomer and Muslim Scholar of the Eleventh Century (illustrated ed.). The Rosen Publishing Group. pp. 96–98. ISBN 1404205128.

[Seyyed_Hossein_Nasr_1993_p._108-3] Seyyed Hossein Nasr, An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines (1993), ISBN 0-7914-1515-5, p. 108.

[4] Rahimieh, Nasrin (1991). "Persian Literature, ed. Ehsan Yarshater, Columbia Lectures on Iranian Studies, no. 3, New York: The Persian Heritage Foundation; Bibliotheca Persica, 1988, xi + 562 pp". Iranian Studies. 24 (1–4): 104–105. doi:10.1017/s0021086200014675. ISSN 0021-0862.

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The Investiture of Ali at Ghadir Khumm, northern Iraq or northwestern Iran, 1307-08 (Edinburgh University Library, MS Arab 161, fol. 162r).^[1]
Original title	کتاب الآثار الباقية عن القرون الخالية