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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