Islamic Medicine

Islamic Medicine History

The great advances in medicine in the Islamic world came during the period known as the Islamic Golden Age. It lasted from around the 7^th Century CE to the mid-13^th Century CE. During this period, there were many advances in technology, science, politics, and economics that had a profound effect on the Medieval world.

The Islamic Empire was ruled by a single person known as the Caliph. Many of the Caliphs were greatly interested in science, medicine, and technology and so allowed and actively encouraged the studying of these subjects.

Fig. 1 - A map of the Mediterranean and Middle East c.750 CE. The light green area represents the land ruled by the Umayyad Caliphate

The Spread of Islamic Ideas to Europe

Islamic ideas gradually spread over to Europe during the Medieval era. This happened for a couple of reasons.

Merchants

The preservation of texts in the Grand Library of Baghdad meant that in the 11^th and 12^th centuries, merchants brought these Arabic texts back to Europe. They were then translated, thereby spreading Islamic knowledge of medicine into Europe.

The Crusades

The spread of Islamic medical knowledge was also helped by the Crusades.

The Crusades ended in victory for the Muslims and defeat for the Christians. However, it also increased the wealth of the Catholic Church and expanded movement and trade between Europe and the Middle East.

Crusaders would return from the Middle East with scrolls and texts filled with knowledge from the Islamic Empire, which was then put into use in Europe.

Public Health in the Islamic World

In addition to learning about medical theory and inventions in the Islamic world, it is also useful to look at public health in the Islamic world, especially when compared to that of Medieval Britain.

In general, the Islamic world was a lot cleaner and more hygienic. The table below illustrates the main differences between public health in the Islamic world and Britain in the Medieval era.

Key Figures

There were several key influential figures in the history of Islamic medicine. Below are a few names that you need to remember!

Father of Islamic Medicine

Ibn Sina, known in Europe as Avicenna, was one of the most influential Islamic scholars of the Medieval period. He wrote some 450 works on philosophy and medicine and is regarded as the father of Early Modern Medicine. His most important works were 'The Canon of Medicine', published in 1025 CE, and 'The Book of Healing', published in 1027 CE.

The Canon of Medicine

'The Canon of Medicine' is by far Ibn Sina's most influential work. Essentially, it was a huge medical encyclopedia, which brought together medical knowledge from across the Islamic and European Empires, and covered practically every facet of medical knowledge, from diseases and remedies to anatomy and surgery.

Fig. 2 - Drawing of the human skeleton from Ibn Sina's Canon of Medicine

It was an enormous achievement. The Canon of Medicine became the main textbook for learning medicine for the next 600-700 years, only being replaced in the 17^th century.

Al-Zahrawi

Al-Zahrawi's work earned him the title of the 'Father of Surgery'. He invented new surgical tools and techniques, which continued to be used all over the Middle East and Europe for hundreds of years. He also wrote a large encyclopedia of medicine called 'The Method of Medicine', a.k.a. the 'Al-Tasrif', in which he detailed his theories.

Fig. 3 - A page from the Al-Tasrif, detailing surgical instruments

Here is a list of some of his most important achievements:

• The use of cauterisation to help close and heal wounds.
• How to use ligatures to stop bleeding.
• New ways to perform surgery on the eyes, ears, and throat.
• Was the first to describe an ectopic pregnancy.
• The setting of dislocated bones and fractures.
• The removal of bladder stones.

These were all ideas that would not be thought of in Europe until several centuries after Al-Zahrawi's death. His contributions to surgery and anatomy were considerable.

Al-Razi

Al-Razi was an Islamic scholar, philosopher, and scientist who is most famous for his work on children's diseases.

Fig. 4 - Portrait of Al-Razi

He had two famous works; his 'Comprehensive Book of Medicine', a.k.a. 'Kitab al-Hawi fi al-tibb', which was a study of medicine compiled with his own theories and thoughts. The other was his 'Treatise on Smallpox and Measles', a.k.a. 'Kitab al-Judari wa al-Hasbah'. In this treatise, he was the first to differentiate between the two diseases.

He also published the first known work on diseases in children. It was a description of diseases that occurred in children from newborns to toddlers and described symptoms and remedies.

Ibn Nafis

Ibn Nafis lived during the 13^th century, a lot later than the other scientists we have discussed. His main contribution was to the theory of blood circulation. He challenged Galen's theory of how blood flowed around the body and instead claimed that blood flowed from one side of the body to the other through the lungs.

Although it was not fully accurate, it was more accurate than Galen's theory. Ideas about circulation like this would not appear in Europe until the early 17^th century with the work of William Harvey.

Islamic Medicine Achievements

We have already run through some of the achievements in Islamic medicine by looking at the key figures. Below, these achievements are summarised along with a more general overview of the most important advancements in medicine made in the Medieval Islamic world.

• In surgery, Islamic surgeons used cannabis and opium as anaesthetics and vinegar, mercury, and alcohol as antiseptics.
• Islamic physicians developed processes in alchemy that could be used to make new drugs and medicines.
• They developed hospitals as places where people would be treated for illnesses, and physicians would be trained.
• Many Greek and Roman texts from the likes of Galen and Hippocrates were translated into Arabic and incorporated into Islamic medical knowledge.

Islamic Medicine Influence

Islamic medicine was hugely influential in the Medieval period. Islamic scientists and physicians made progress in nearly every area of medicine, and their discoveries formed the basis of medical knowledge and practice both in Europe and the Middle East well into the Early Modern period.

Many of the theories that Islamic scholars came up with, whilst not always entirely accurate, would not be reproduced in Europe until several centuries later, during the Renaissance and Early Modern eras. This demonstrated the sheer advancement of the Islamic world during the Medieval period.