Contributions of Islam To Medicine

By Ezzat Abouleish, M.D.

 

The Muslim heroes of Medicine

Here are some of the history's great Muslim contributors to medicine. Books written by them were used by Europeans as basic courses, up until the eighteenth century.

Jurjis ibn Bakhtishu and Jibril Yuhanna ibn Masawayh

700-800 (A.D.)

Speciality and Contribution: Translation from Greek and Syriac into Arabic.

Special Books:Translation of works of Hippocrates, Galen and Aristotle

Abu Bakr Al-Razi (Razes)

864-930 (A.D.)

Specialty and Contribution: Internal Medicine, Epidemiology, Ophthalmology, Chemistry, Physics, Philosophy

Special Books: Kitab Al-Munsuri (The Liber Al-Munsuris), Al-Murshid, Al Hawi (Continents), Al-Gudari wa, Al Gudari (de Peste or de Pestilentia)

Distinguished smallpox from measles for the first time in medical history.

Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

980 - 1037 CE

His major contribution was his famous book Al-Qanun, known as the "Canon" in the west. In his voluminous writings, Ibn-Sina laid out the rules for testing the effectiveness of a new drug. These principles still form the basis of modern clinical drug trials.

Abu Al-Qasim Al-Zahrawi (Albucasis)

936 -1013 (A.D.)

The greatest surgeon of the middle ages. He is best known for several breakthrough in surgery, as an inventor of several surgical instruments, and for his famous Medical Encyclopedia. AlZahrawi is considered the Father of Modern Surgery. Special Books: al-Tasrif Liman Ajiz'an al'Ta'lif

Ibn-Al-Nafis

1208 - 1288 (A.D.)

Speciality and Contribution: Pulmonary circ., Blood supply to the heart.

Special Books: Sharah Tashrih al Qanun, Al-Mujaz He was prolific writer of medical tracts and specialist in treatment of eye diseases.

Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar)

1091-1161 C.E.

He was the first to test different medicines on animals before administering to humans. He was the first parasitologist. He was also the first to give a full description of the operation tracheotomy.

Abul Waleed Ibn-Rushd (Averroes)

1126 - 1198 (A.D)

Ibn-Rushd expounded on various aspects of medicine, including diagnosis, cures and prevention of disease. He is called "The Great Commentator".

Special Books: Kitab Al-Kulliat

 

Medicine, as it stands today, did not develop overnight, It is the culmination of efforts of millions of people, some we know and others we do not. The flame of civilization, including medicine, started thousands of years ago. The flame has been handed over from one generation to another, and from one country to the other. Depending on who took the sacred responsibility of hosting it, sometimes it got brighter and sometimes it got dimmer. However, it never died away, because if it did, it would have been too hard to start all over again.

Between the ancient civilizations, namely the Egyptians, Greek, Roman, Persian, Indian, Chinese, and the Renaissance era in Europe, there was a gap, commonly called "the dark ages", during which the flame was hosted, not by the West, but by another culture and people called the Arabs or the Moslems. The nomenclature, "the dark ages" reflects the civilization in Europe between the 7th and 13th centuries, but by no means it expresses the state of affairs in the Arab world or the Islamic Empire at that time when art and science were as bright as the midday sun. That era, unjustifiably, has been commonly neglected and overpassed, as if nothing happened. This paper is an effort to elude to the important events which took place and the significant physicians who lived during that period.

Islamic Physicians

He was prolific writer of Medicine in Islam passed through three stages:

1. The first stage is the stage of translation of foreign sources into Arabic. It extended mainly during the seventh and eighth centuries.

11. The second stage is the stage of excellence and genuine contribution in which the Islamic physicians were the leaders and the source of new chapters to medicine. This stage extended during the ninth through the thirteenth centuries.

111. The third stage is the stage of decline where medicine, as well as other branches of science, became stagnant and deteriorated. The stage started mainly after the thirteenth century.

During the first stage, Syrian and Persian scholars did a marvelous job by translating honestly the ancient literature from Greek and Syriac in Arabic. They translated different branches of science including philosophy astrology, and medicine. The works of Hippocrates (460-370 BC), Aristototle (384-322 BC), and Galen (131-210 A.D.) were among those translated From Arabic, the classic Greek literature was translated into Latin, then into Greek because most of the original scripts were lost and the only source was the Arabic translation. If the Arabs did only one thing, namely, preserving the ancient literature and handing it honestly to Europe, that would have been a sufficient contribution in itself. The Moslem rulers encouraged translation, e.g. Khatif Al-Mamun Al-Abbassi paid the translator the weight of his translation in gold (liaddad 1942). Among the eminent physicians who took part in the first stage were Jurjis Ibn Bakhtisliu, his grandson Jibrit, Yuhanna Ibn-Masawaya, and Hunain Ibn-Ishak; most of them were Christians, yet they were respected and well treated by the Moslem rulers.

It is said, rightly or wrongly, that the history of a nation is the sum total of the history of a few of its individuals. This is particularly true in the history of medicine during the Arab period. In every stage of its development we find men of outstanding repute, the sum total of whose efforts has constituted this magnificent chapter. It is impossible to give an account of all the important physicians of Islam. We thus are going to discuss some of those who were known to Medieval Europe and whose books affected its thinking and practice for centuries, I chose an intemist, Al-Razi (Razes); a surgeon, Al-Zahrawi (Abuicasis); the physician-philosopher of Islam, lbn-Sina (Avicenna); the philosopher-physician of Islam, Ibn-Rushd (Averroes); a pioneer in physiology, Ibn-Al-Nafts-, and a Jewish Arab. Ibn- Maimon (Maimonides).

AL-RAZI (RAZES) 841-926 A.D.

He published several books which were translated into Latin, French, Italian, Hebrew, and Greek. One of his main books is "Al-Mansuri" (Liber Al-Mansofis) which he dedicated to his patron Prince Al-Mansur. It was composed of ten treatises and included all aspects of health and disease.

Another book written by Al-Razi was named "Al-Hawi", which means the complete text. It was composed of 22 volumes. It was one of the main text books in the medical school in Paris, especially its 9th volume on pharmacology.

He wrote a treatise on measles and smallpox called "de Peste or de Pestilentia" which was translated to Latin in 1565 A.D. It is a masterpiece in clinical medicine (Browne 1962). It describes the clinical difference between the two diseases so vividly that nothing since has been added (Keys 1971).

AL-ZAHRAWI (ALBUCASIS, BUCASIS, ALZAHRAVIUS) 930-1013 A.D.

He wrote mainly four books. One of them is "Al-Tastif Liman Ajiz'an Al-Ta'lif which is the best medieval surgical encyclopedia. It was used in Europe until the 17th century. He stressed the importance of basic sciences. Heller stated that Al-Zahrawi described the ligature of arteries long before Ambrose Pare (Khairallah 1942). Al-Zahrawi also used cautery to control bleeding. He used wax and alcohol to stop bleeding from the skull during cranial surgery. Sprengel said that Al-Zahrawi was the first to teach the lithotomy position for vaginal operations (Khairallah 1942). A17Zahrawi also described the tracheotomy operation and performed it as an emergency on one of his servants. He was the first to write on orthodontia. He showed evidence of great experience from details of clinical picture and surgical procedures e.g. His description of varicose veins strip ping, even after ten centuries, is almost like modem surgery (Al-Okbi 1971). He also wrote about fracture of the skull (Al-Okbi 197 1).AI-Zahrawi described many dental operations such as dentalextractions, fixation, re implantation, and artificial teeth. Chapter 6 of his book was all devoted to foreign bodies of the ear and their treatment. He also devoted one whole chapter to mid wifery, giving tips to midwives, and describing the problems of difficult labor and obstetrical manoeuvre. He described a total of 200 surgical and dental instruments most of them were original. During the time of AlZahrawil surgery in the Islamic world became a respected specialty practiced by reputable physicians. On the contrary in Europe, surgery was belittled and practiced by barbers and butchers. In 1163 A.D., the Council of Tours declared the following resolution "Surgery is to be abandoned by the schools of medicine and by all decent physicians."

IBN-SINA (AVICENNA) 980-1037 A.D.

Avicenna wrote 100 treatises, 21 of them were major of which 16 were in medicine. He wrote in philosophy, medicine, named Al-Qanon fi Al- Tibb (Canon of Medicine). It was an encyclopedia containing more than one million words. It was composed of 5 volumes:

Volume I- described the principles and theories of medicine.

Volume II- contained the simple drugs arranged alphabetically.

Volume III- described localized diseases of the body from the head to the toes.

Volume IV- was addressed to generalized diseases of the body e.g. fevers.

Volume V- explained compound drugs.

The Canon contained all medical knowledge up to the IOth century. It was translated to many languages and was the reference for medical schools in Europe up to the 17th century.

IBN-RUSHD (AVERROES) 1126-1198 A.D.

His important contribution to medicine was "Al- Kulliyat ft AlTibb" (Colliyet). It was a summary of the medical science at the time and composed of seven parts. He wrote another book, "Al Taisir" on practical medicine. It consisted of useful excerpts an a clinical description of diseases including serous pericarditis and mediastinal abscens.

IBN-ZUHR (AVENZOAR) (1113-1162)

Ibn Zuhr or Avenzoar was born near Seville, Spain, the son of an outstanding physician. He was considered the medical leader of the Cordovan (western) caliphate. Avenzoar, in his day, was known as "The Famous Wise Man." This Arab was the first pr ponent of the nutrient enema. The clyster was a goat's bladder filled with milk, eggs, and gruel. He advocated for dysphagia, cannula of silver to feed into the esophagus. His literary contribution was Theisir or "Rectification of Health," a treatise on medicine. He was the first to test different medicines on anim before administering to humans. He was the first parasitologis He was also the first to give a full description of the operation tracheotomy.

IBN-EL-NAFIS 1208 - 1288 A.D.

In medicine he wrote many books, two of them are "Mujaz AlQanun" which means the "Summary of the Canon". In these two books which were based on avicenna's writings, he criticized the short comings of Avicenna's book and of Galen's views and added to them. That is why he was named by some as Avicenna the Second. When Galen came, he described blood to pass from the right side of the heart to the left side through minute openings in the septum of the heart, then it mixed with air from the lungs, and sequently distributed to the whole body. For centuries this was the prevalent belief and no one, including the Arab physicians and their eminent writer Avicenna, could dare to challenge this sacred view. Ibn-El-Nafis did. lbn-El-Nafis also made other contributions in the circulation. Avicenna, following Galen's description of the anatomy, stated that the human heart has three ventricles. Ibn-El-Nafis rejected that as he said "...And his statement (Avicenna's) that the heart has three ventricles is not correct, as the heart has only tow ventricles..." He was also the first to describe the coronary circulation as he wrote "...Again, his statement (Avicenna!s) that the blood in the right side is to nourish the heart is not true at all, for the nourishment of the heart is from the blood that goes through the vessels that permeate the body of the heart...

Three centuries after the discovery of the pulmonary circulation by Ibn- El-Nafts, others, such as Michael Servetus, Realdus Colombus, Carlo Ruini, Andrea Cesalpino, and Francois Rabelais, claimed the same thing (Mayerhof 1935). There is a strong suspicion that these authors obtained their knowledge from the Arabic literature which was available at that time to the European investigators without giving credit to Ibn-El-Nafis (Keys 1971, Haddad 1942).

ARABS AND ANESTHESIA

First, in anesthesia, the Arabs described in detail the pharmacology of important narcotics such as opium and other central nervous system depressants such as hyoscyamus and hashish (Khairalial 1942). Burton (I 886 A.D.) stated that "anesthetics have been used in surgery throughout the East for centuries before ether and chloroform became the fashion in the civilized West. The Arabs also introduced "the Soporific Sponge" which was commonly used for anesthesia in the middle ages. The sponge was soaked with aromatics and narcotics to be sucked and then held under the nostril to provide anesthesia prior to surgery (Keys 1971).

CONCLUSION

One cannot help but look with admiration upon the way the Muslims handled their responsibility towards mankind. They not only preserved, but also added to earlier achievements in medicine. They have fostered the flame of civilization, made it brighter, and handed it over to Europe in the best possible condition. Europe, in turn, passed it to the United States of America, and the cycle continues.