Medicine
The science of Medicine
flourished during the Middle Ages throughout the Islamic
dynasty. The medical wealth of the Muslim physicians
available in the form of practices, encyclopedias and
scripts enlightened Europe for 5 centuries. Arnold and
Guillaume in "Legacy of Islam"
on Islamic science and medicine stated:
"Looking back we may say that
Islamic medicine and science reflected the light of
the Hellenic sun, when its day had fled, and that they
shone like a moon, illuminating the darkest night of
the European middle Ages; that some bright stars lent
their own light, and that moon and stars alike faded
at the dawn of a new day - the Renaissance. Since they
had their share in the direction and introduction of
that great movement, it may reasonably be claimed that
they are with us yet."
Kitab
Al-Ma'a (The Book of Water) appears to be a strange
title for the first known Encyclopedia of Medicine arranged
according to the alphabet.
It
was recently discovered in Algeria and published in
Oman.
The
author's apparent reason for naming the book as Kitab
Al-Ma'a was because the word Al-Ma'a (the water) appears
first in the book.
The
author was Abu Mohammed Abdellah Ibn Mohammed Al-Azdi,
known as Ibno Al-Thahabi, (died 1033 AD, 466 AH) in
Valencia, Muslim Spain.
He
was actually born in the city of Suhar, Oman. He moved
into Basra then to Persia where he studied under Al-Biruni
and Ibn Sina. Later he migrated to Bait Al-Maqdis (Jerusalem)
and finally settled in Valencia.
The
manuscript contains about nine hundred pages. Under
each letter of the alphabet, there are names of an illness,
a medicine, a physiological process or a treatment.
This is the first known alphabetical classification
of medical terms.
In
this encyclopedia, Ibn Al-Thahabi not only lists the
names but adds numerous original ideas about the function
of the human organs.
Indeed,
he explains an original idea of how the vision takes
place. He described how seeing is a process of an image
which goes through the pupil of the eye and strikes
the vision nerves. The brain, then, unifies the two
images into one and stores it in its memory bank. Such
explanation resembles the vision theory of Ibn Al-Haitham
who died in 1040, just 33 years before the death of
Ibn Al-Thahabi. However, it is not certain whether they
met or were aware of each other's work.
The
book contains treatment, usually herbal, of a vast number
of ailments and diseases. It also contains a course
for the treatment psychological symptoms. The main thesis
of his medication is that cure must start from controlled
food and exercise and if it persists then use specific
individual medicines if it still persists then use medical
compounds.
The
manuscript has recently been edited by Dr. Hadi Hamoudi
and published by the Ministry of National Heritage and
Culture, Oman, 1996.
by: FSTC Limited, Fri 17 January, 2003.
What
is Taught: The Italian Giovanni Morgagni
is regarded as the father of pathology because he was
the first to correctly describe the nature of disease.
What Should be Taught:
Islam's surgeons were the first pathologists. They fully
realized the nature of disease and described a variety
of diseases to modern detail. Ibn Zuhr correctly described
the nature of pleurisy, tuberculosis and pericarditis.
az-Zahrawi
13th Century
Az-Zahrawi
accurately documented the pathology of hydrocephalus
(water on the brain) and other congenital diseases.
Ibn
al-Quff and Ibn an-Nafs gave perfect descriptions of
the diseases of circulation.
Other
Muslim surgeons gave the first accurate descriptions
of certain malignancies, including cancer of the stomach,
bowel and esophagus. These surgeons were the originators
of pathology, not Giovanni Morgagni.
What is Taught: Paul Ehrlich (19th century)
is the originator of drug chemotherapy, that is the
use of specific drugs to kill microbes.
Ar-Razi
10th Century
What
Should be Taught: Muslim physicians used a
variety of specific substances to destroy microbes. They
applied sulfur topically specifically to kill the scabies
mite. Ar-Razi (10th century) used mercurial compounds
as topical antiseptics.
What
is Taught: Purified alcohol, made through distillation,
was first produced by Arnau de Villanova, a Spanish alchemist,
in 1300 A.D.
What
Should be Taught: Numerous Muslim chemists
produced medicinal-grade alcohol through distillation
as early as the 10th century and manufactured on a large
scale the first distillation devices for use in chemistry.
They used alcohol as a solvent and antiseptic.
What
is Taught: The first surgery performed under
inhalation anesthesia was conducted by C.W. Long, an American,
in 1845.
Early
Surgeries
What
Should be Taught: Six hundred years prior to
Long, Islamic Spain's Az-Zahrawi and Ibn Zuhr, among other
Muslim surgeons, performed hundreds of surgeries under
inhalation anesthesia with the use of narcotic-soaked
sponges which were placed over the face.
11th
Century Surgical Instrument
What
is Taught: During the 16th century Paracelsus
invented the use of opium extracts for anesthesia.
What
Should be Taught: Muslim physicians introduced
the anesthetic value of opium derivatives during the Middle
Ages. Opium was originally used as an anesthetic agent
by the Greeks. Paracelus was a student of Ibn Sina's works
from which it is almost assured that he derived this idea.
What
is Taught: Modern anesthesia was invented in
the 19th century by Humphrey Davy and Horace Wells.
What
Should be Taught: Modern anesthesia was discovered,
mastered and perfected by Muslim anesthetists 900 years
before the advent of Davy and Wells. They utilized oral
as well as inhalant anesthetics.
What
is Taught: The concept of quarantine was first
developed in 1403. In Venice, a law was passed preventing
strangers from entering the city until a certain waiting
period had passed. If, by then, no sign of illness could
be found, they were allowed in.
What
Should be Taught: The concept of quarantine was first
introduced in the 7th century A.D. by the prophet Muhammad,
who wisely warned against entering or leaving a region
suffering from plague.
As
early as the 10th century, Muslim physicians innovated
the use of isolation wards for individuals suffering with
communicable diseases.
What
is Taught: The scientific use of antiseptics
in surgery was discovered by the British surgeon Joseph
Lister in 1865.
What
Should be Taught: As early as the 10th century,
Muslim physicians and surgeons were applying purified
alcohol to wounds as an antiseptic agent. Surgeons
in Islamic Spain utilized special methods for maintaining
antisepsis prior to and during surgery.
They
also originated specific protocols for maintaining hygiene
during the post-operative period. Their success rate was
so high that dignitaries throughout Europe came to Cordova,
Spain, to be treated at what was comparably the "Mayo
Clinic" of the Middle Ages.
What
is Taught: In 1545, the scientific use of surgery
was advanced by the French surgeon Ambroise Pare.
Prior
to him, surgeons attempted to stop bleeding through the
gruesome procedure of searing the wound with boiling oil.
Pare stopped the use of boiling oils and began ligating
arteries. He is considered the "father of rational
surgery." Pare
was also one of the first Europeans to condemn such grotesque
"surgical" procedures as trepanning (see reference
#6, pg. 110).
Hospital
at Damascus
What Should be Taught:
Islamic Spain's illustrious surgeon, az-Zahrawi (d. 1013),
began ligating arteries with fine sutures over 500 years
prior to Pare. He perfected the use of Catgut, that is
suture made from animal intestines.Additionally, he instituted
the use of cotton plus wax to plug bleeding wounds.
The full details of his works were made available to Europeans
through Latin translations. Despite this, barbers and
herdsmen continued be the primary individuals practicing
the "art" of surgery for nearly six centuries
after az-Zahrawi's death. Pare himself was a barber, albeit
more skilled and conscientious than the average ones.
Included in az-Zahrawi's legacy are dozens of books.
His
most famous work is a 30 volume treatise on medicine and
surgery. His books contain sections on preventive medicine,
nutrition, cosmetics, drug therapy, surgical technique,
anesthesia, pre and post-operative care as well as drawings
of some 200 surgical devices, many of which he invented.
The refined and scholarly az-Zahrawi must be regarded
as the father and founder of rational surgery, not the
uneducated Pare.
What
is Taught: William Harvey, during the early
17th century, discovered that blood circulates. He was
the first to correctly describe the function of the heart,
arteries and veins.
Rome's
Galen had presented erroneous ideas regarding the circulatory
system, and Harvey was the first to determine that blood
is pumped throughout the body via the action of the heart
and the venous valves. Therefore,
he is regarded as the founder of human physiology.
What
Should be Taught: In the 10th century, Islam's
ar-Razi wrote an in-depth treatise on the venous system,
accurately describing the function of the veins and their
valves. Ibn an-Nafs and Ibn al-Quff (13th century) provided
full documentation that the blood circulates and correctly
described the physiology of the heart and the function
of its valves 300 years before Harvey. William
Harvey was a graduate of Italy's famous Padua University
at a time when the majority of its curriculum was based
upon Ibn Sina's and ar-Razi's textbooks.
What
is Taught: The first pharmacopeia (book of
medicines) was published by a German scholar in 1542.
According
to World Book Encyclopedia, the science of pharmacology
was begun in the 1900's as an off-shoot of chemistry due
to the analysis of crude plant materials. Chemists,
after isolating the active ingredients from plants, realized
their medicinal value.
What
Should be Taught: According to the eminent
scholar of Arab history, Phillip Hitti, the Muslims, not
the Greeks or Europeans, wrote the first "modern"
pharmacopeia. The
science of pharmacology was originated by Muslim physicians
during the 9th century. They developed it into a highly
refined and exact science.
Muslim
chemists, pharmacists and physicians produced thousands
of drugs and/or crude herbal extracts one thousand years
prior to the supposed birth of pharmacology. During the
14th century Ibn Baytar wrote a monumental pharmacopeia
listing some 1400 different drugs. Hundreds of other pharmacopeias
were published during the Islamic Era. It is likely that
the German work is an offshoot of that by Ibn Baytar,
which was widely circulated in Europe.
What
is Taught: The discovery of the scientific
use of drugs in the treatment of specific diseases was
made by Paracelsus, the Swiss-born physician, during the
16th century. He is also credited with being the first
to use practical experience as a determining factor in
the treatment of patients rather than relying exclusively
on the works of the ancients.
What Should be Taught:
Ar-Razi, Ibn Sina, al-Kindi, Ibn Rushd, az-Zahrawi, Ibn
Zuhr, Ibn Baytar, Ibn al-Jazzar, Ibn Juljul, Ibn al-Quff,
Ibn an-Nafs, al-Biruni, Ibn Sahl and hundreds of other
Muslim physicians mastered the science of drug therapy
for the treatment of specific symptoms and diseases. In
fact, this concept was entirely their invention. The word
"drug" is derived from Arabic.
Their
use of practical experience and careful observation was
extensive. Muslim physicians were the first to criticize
ancient medical theories and practices. Ar-Razi devoted
an entire book as a critique of Galen's anatomy. The works
of Paracelsus are insignificant compared to the vast volumes
of medical writings and original findings accomplished
by the medical giants of Islam.
What
is Taught: The first sound approach to the
treatment of disease was made by a German, Johann Weger,
in the 1500's.
What
Should be Taught: Harvard's George Sarton says
that modern medicine is entirely an Islamic development
and that Setting the Record Straight the Muslim physicians
of the 9th through 12th centuries were precise, scientific,
rational and sound in their approach.
Johann
Weger was among thousands of Europeans physicians during
the 15th through 17th centuries who were taught the medicine
of ar-Razi and Ibn Sina. He contributed nothing original.
What
is Taught: Medical treatment for the insane
was modernized by Philippe Pinel when in 1793 he operated
France's first insane asylum.
What
Should be Taught: As early as the 1lth century,
Islamic hospitals maintained special wards for the insane.
They
treated them kindly and presumed their disease was real
at a time when the insane were routinely burned alive
in Europe as witches and sorcerers.
A
curative approach was taken for mental illness and, for
the first time in history, the mentally ill were treated
with supportive care, drugs and psychotherapy.
Every
major Islamic city maintained an insane asylum where patients
were treated at no charge.
In
fact, the Islamic system for the treatment of the insane
excels in comparison to the current model, as it was more
humane and was highly effective as well.
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