Physicians from a lost history
Meet some of the little known physicians, surgeons and alchemists in the Golden Age of medicine in early Muslim civilisation.
Artistic depiction of healthcare in Muslim civilisationOriginal Source: 1001 Inventions
Muslim civilisation developed a system of healthcare that was envied by both friend and foe.
Medicine evolved into a highly complex and variegated discipline, and physicians from diverse religious, linguistic, and ethnic backgrounds shared in its scientific discourse. It had a profound impact on surrounding cultures, notably European university medicine as it developed from the 12th century onwards.
10th-century Surgeon Al-Zahrawi performing surgeryOriginal Source: 1001 Inventions
Surgery was one of the key fields developed then.
In 10th-century Spain, called Al-Andalus then, a surgeon called Al-Zahrawi (936 - 1013), known in the West as Abulcasis, used many of the instruments we still know today, writing up his findings on surgery in the 30th volume of his massive medical encyclopaedia, Al-Tasrif, or The Method of Medicine.
Clip of Al-Zahrawi from the award-winning film '1001 Inventions and the Library of Secrets'Original Source: 1001 Inventions and the Library of Secrets' award-winning short film
Al-Zahrawi provided descriptions of how to correct dislocated shoulders, set broken bones, replace missing teeth with replicas and attempt to treat cancers.
In a typically sensitive gesture, he designed a knife with a concealed blade intended to calm nervous patients.
He also used catgut systematically for sutures in surgery, a procedure continued by surgeons until the middle of the 20th century.
Manuscript describing surgical instruments of Al-Zahrawi1001 Inventions
Many instruments employed by Al-Zahrawi, like the surgical saws and scrapers in this manuscript, look similar to those we use today.
Children looking at replicas of Al-Zahwari's surgical instruments at the 1001 Inventions exhibition in the Jordan Museum.1001 Inventions
Al-Zahrawi lived in Cordoba, in southern Spain, and developed new surgical techniques and tools.
Ibn al-Quff al-Karaki, artistic interpretationOriginal Source: 1001 Inventions
Another surgeon and physician who gained fame was Ibn al-Quff (1233-1286).
He was born in the 13th century in Al-Karak in modern day Jordan.
Ibn al-Quff was a leading physician and had special interest in surgery, in particular methods of relieving patients from pain during surgery for he wrote a complete chapter on pain relief in his book Al-'Umdah Fi Sinaat Al Jiraha or Basics in the Art of Surgery.
Surgeon performing surgery, artistic impressionOriginal Source: 1001 Inventions
Ibn al-Quff was a practicing physician and a medical author who left several texts in medicine.
Ibn al-Quff's Kitāb al-ʻUmda fi 'l-Ǧirāḥa or Basics in the Art of Surgery is probably the earliest medieval Arabic treatise intended solely for surgeons. It is a general medical manual covering anatomy and drugs therapy as well as surgical care, concentrating on wounds and tumours.
Modern children stepping into Al-Razi's laboratory, imaginary sceneOriginal Source: 1001 Inventions
Mohammad Ibn Zakaraya Al-Razi, one of the most prominent physicians from Muslim civilisation, excelled as a physician, an alchemist and a mathematician.
He was born in Ray in the 9th century but lived in Baghdad. He wrote more than 200 books on medicine, music and philosophy.
18th-century Arabic treaties on chemistry showing the distillation processOriginal Source: British LIbrary Collection
Al-Razi, or Rhazes in Latin, developed new ways of classifying substances and organising chemical knowledge.
Alchemists like Al-Razi and Jabir ibn Hayyan developed and used alembic still for boiling off and condensing different parts of a liquid in a process called distillation.
Exhibition interpretation of Al-Razi's laboratory, 1001 Inventions Exhibition Amman.Original Source: 1001 Inventions
Al-Razi made discoveries in his laboratory, writing up his findings in a book entitled, in true alchemical fashion, The book of the Secrets of Secrets.
13th-century painting depicting activity in a market. A pharmacist's shop appears in the painting1001 Inventions
Pharmaceutical industry also developed. Patients had a wide choice of medicines.
Pharmacist Sabur ibn Sahl recorded a range of remedies and their uses in the 9th century. Other doctors laid out the ways in which compounds should be mixed.
Knowledge of medicinally useful substances was summarised by herbalist Ibn al-Baytar who wrote a dictionary of three thousand plants and their uses.
The cover of the Latin edition of Canon of MedicineOriginal Source: Canon of Medicine
The famous 11th-century scholar, Ibn Sina, known in the West as Avicenna, built on knowledge from ancient civilisations in his influential work, The Canon of Medicine.
The book's five volumes covered medical principles, simple drugs, diseases of various body parts, general diseases and compound drugs.
It was translated into Latin in the 12th century by Italian translator Gerard of Cremona.
Exhibit introducing Musa ibn Maymun at the 1001 Inventions exhibition1001 Inventions
Musa ibn Maymun (1135 - 1204), also known in the West as Maimonades, was born in Cordoba, in Al-Andalus, when intellectual life flourished under Muslim rule. In his twenties, he moved to Fez, Morocco and then to Cairo.
Here, he became court physician to the Grand Vizier Al Qadi al Fadil, then to Sultan Saladin.
Ibn Maymun wrote several works of logic, medicine and philosophy, most famous of which is A Guide to the Perplexed, initially written in Arabic as Dalālat al-hā'irīn.
Operating theatre interactive at the 1001 Inventions exhibitionOriginal Source: 1001 Inventions
Many more physicians, surgeons, philosophers, alchemists and those working in nursing gained fame in Muslim civilisation.
Their work was largely driven by Ibn Sina's thoughts: "Medicine is a science, from which one learns the states of the human body… in order to preserve good health when it exists, and restore it when it is lacking."
Created by 1001 Inventions
Producers: Ahmed Salim, Shaza Shannan
