Al-Bīrūnī’s Conception of Īśvara as “Allāh”

This article examines how al-Bīrūnī (973–1048) rendered the concept of Īśvara from Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra as “Allāh” in Arabic. The translation is presented here not merely as a linguistic transfer, but as an interpretive act that re-frames the yogic notion of divinity at the intersection of philosophy and theology, and between India and the Islamic world. The article focuses on sūtras 1.23–1.24, which treat devotion to God and God’s uniqueness, and compares al-Bīrūnī’s version (Kitāb Pātanjal) with classical Indian commentarial interpretations (Vyāsa, Vācaspati Miśra, and others).

The discussion points to three main directions: (1) al-Bīrūnī draws a connection between praṇidhāna (devotion/surrender) and ʿibāda (worship/service of God) in an Islamic context, thereby emphasizing a personal relation to God and shaping a religious-practical horizon of reading for the Arabic reader. (2) His portrayal of Īśvara includes attributes such as absolute supremacy, independence from time, and infinite knowledge, presenting Īśvara as an entity that grants inspiration and knowledge to human beings – traits that bring it closer to the image of “Allāh” in the Islamic tradition. (3) The article raises the possibility that al-Bīrūnī’s textual source was not only the Pātañjala-Yoga-śāstra, as argued by Maas and Verdon, but also drew on ancillary sources (other commentaries and even oral traditions), thereby sharpening the question of the status of the “text” that stands behind his translation.

In conclusion, a complex picture emerges of al-Bīrūnī as a cultural mediator: through translation he shapes the figure of the yogic “God” such that Īśvara is presented as not different in essence from the God of Islam, thus offering a distinctly theistic reading of divinity in yoga. Yet the result is not fully absorbed into Islam, nor does it fully coincide with the framework of classical India; it exists in a tense intermediate space of resemblance, translation, and conceptual negotiation.