Al-Khwarazmi is a somewhat obscure figure. He was born in 935 in
Khwarazm, the birthplace of his father. His mother was a native of
Amol in
Tabaristan. He periodically refers to himself as al-Khwarazmi or al-Tabari, while other sources refer to him as al-Tabarkhazmi or al-Tabarkhazi. Al-Khwarizmi may have been a nephew of
al-Tabari, the prominent Persian historian. For a time, al-Khwarizmi worked as a clerk in the
Samanid court at
Bukhara in
Transoxania, where he acquired his nickname, “al-
Katib’’ which literally means “the secretary” or “the scribe”. While at the Samanid court, he compiled his best-known work, Mafātīḥ al-ʿulūm [
The Keys of the Sciences], an early Islamic encyclopedia of the sciences, intended as a reference work for court officials. It was produced at the request of
Abū l-Ḥasan al-ʿUtbī a vizier in the court of Amir,
Nuh II. and the work is dedicated to al-Utbi which establishes a date for its completion of around 977. In Nishapur, Al-Khwarizmi wrote a number of
rihla (short, humorous accounts of a journey; partly written in verse and partly in literary prose), of which only fragments survive. Locally, he achieved great fame as a leading scholar and writer. However, his reputation was eclipsed following the arrival of an aspiring young scholar and writer,
Badi' al-Zaman al-Hamadani in 383/992. Hamadani composed a new form of prose that gained enormous popularity firstly in Nishapur and later across the Arabic speaking world; this innovative genre became known as
maqama. Al-Khwārizmī and Hamadani fell into competition with each other, exchanged insults and they eventually fell out. ==Work==