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Medieval Medicine, Health and Hygiene

Introduction: Medicine and health care were perhaps the highest scientific achievement of the Muslims during the Middle Ages. The reason that they achieved such heights was directly related to Islam itself. The Qur'an and the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad encouraged the gaining of medical knowledge. The Prophet Muhammad said, "Make use of medical treatment, for Allah has not made a disease without appointing a remedy for it, with the exception of one disease, namely old age." [Hadith on Health.] This motivated Muslim scientists to find cures. Islam encouraged health in other ways, too. The Third Pillar of Islam was that of Charity - to help the poor and sick. The wealth of the empire was often directed to health care, too. Muslim sultans (kings) and caliphs, showing their people that they were good Muslims, built hospitals throughout the Empire. By the 900s almost every city boasted a fine hospital where all people were treated regardless of their ability to pay. Another important idea of Islam was cleanliness. Good hygiene (keeping clean) was important to the Muslims for health, as well as for religious reasons. Another reason for the high achievement in medical science was that the Muslim scientists and scholars received the vast knowledge of science from the classical Greeks (such as Hippocrates and Galen), Egyptians, and other ancient cultures. Muslim scientists and scholars translated them into Arabic, tested, and built upon this knowledge with their own research and discoveries. Finally, because the Empire was so large and easily traveled, scientists benefited from an exchange of ideas and knowledge of such far away places as China, India, the Middle East, as well as Greece and the Mediterranean Lands and Africa. Because of the Arab science of medicine, the whole world has benefited.

  • What does the Qur'an and some Hadith (sayings of the Prophet) say about health and medicine? See "Medicine (Kitab Al-Tibb)" (from U.S.C.).
 

Part I: Famous Doctors

A. Al-Razi (known in Europe as Rhazes) 864-930 A.D.

This stained glass window of Al-Razi is found in Cambridge University's Medical School (in London, England).

Al-Razi was born in Iran. At an early age he became an expert in medicine and patients and students flocked to him from distant parts of Asia. He was eventually put in charge of the most famous hospital in Baghdad.

 

His contributions were very important to the science of medicine. His writings were translated into Latin and many European languages and used in European medical schools. One was ten volumes and told about Greek-Arab medicine. Another work (Al-Hawi) became the largest medical encyclopedia ever written. It told about each medical subject and gave all important information that was available from Greek and Arab sources, and he gave his own remarks about each topic from his own experiences and opinions.

 

 

 

He is especially famous for his study of smallpox and chicken-pox. He found a treatment for kidney and gall stones, and explained the nature of various infectious diseases. He was the first to introduce the use of alcohol for medical purposes. He was also an expert surgeon and was the first to use opium for anesthesia (a drug to put patients to sleep so they won't feel pain during an operation).

 

Al-Razi thought diet was important to health. He also emphasized the importance of psychological factors on health (such as having a positive attitude, avoiding stress, etc.). He tested treatments scientifically, first on animals to evaluate in their effects and side effects.

 
 
 

 

 

B. Ibn Sina (980 - 1037 A.D.) - the Boy Genius

Ibn Sina's portrait is in the hall of the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Paris. He is known in the West as Avicenna. [Modern image.]

Ibn Sina was born in 980 C.E.. He showed exceptional intellectual powers even as a child. At the age of ten, he already had memorized the Qur'an. During the next six years he studied Muslim law, philosophy, natural science, logic, geometry, and advanced mathematics.

At the age of 17, he started to study medicine and found it "not difficult". By the age of 18 he had a reputation as a great physician (doctor) and was summoned (ordered to come) to take care of the king. In exchange he asked only to be allowed to use the royal library. He eagerly read the contents of the library. At the age of 21 he wrote his first book.

After many years of working for different rulers, he moved to Ray, Iran and established a busy medical practice. When Ray was attacked, Ibn Sina fled to Hamadan where he cured that city's amir (prince, or the military ruler) and was made Prime Minister (high government position). Soldiers rebelled against him and he was imprisoned (put in jail). But then the amir again became sick, so Ibn Sina was released and returned to his position and cured him again!

After the amir died a few years later, Ibn Sina fled (ran away) to Isfahan. He spent his final years in the service of the ruler of that city. Friends advised him to slow down and take life easier, but this was not in his character. "I prefer a short life with width to a narrow one with length," he replied. Worn out by hard work and hard living, Ibn Sina died in 1036 at the age of 58 years.

Ibn Sina's most important medical work is the al-Qanun al-Tibb ("Canon" or Encyclopedia of Medicine) which represents the final bringing together of Greek and Arabian thoughts on Medicine. He wrote about such matters as fatal (deadly) illnesses, ideas about cleanliness and hygiene, remedies and cures, anatomy (the study of the human body), and cardiac (heart) drugs. The Canon, or Encyclopedia contains about one million words and is divided into five books.

Ibn Sina first recognized the contagious nature (the way it is spread from one person to another) of tuberculosis - T.B. - a disease of the lungs, and the spread of disease by water and soil. He described diseases caused by intestinal worms. He pointed out the importance of diet (what someone eats), climate, and environment on health, and the surgical use of oral (taken by mouth) anesthetics (pain killers). Ibn Sina advised surgeons to treat cancer in its earliest stages and to remove all the diseased tissue. The Canon, or Encyclopedia identifies 760 drugs, with comments on their application (how to take the drugs and how often) and effectiveness. He recommended the testing of new drugs on animals and humans prior to (before) general use.

Ibn Sina noted the close relationship between emotions and the physical condition and felt that music had a definite effect on patients. Of the many psychological disorders that he described in the Canon, or Encyclopedia, one is "love sickness"! (Ibn Sina diagnosed this condition in a Prince who lay sick and whose illness had baffled (confused) local doctors. Ibn Sina noted a fluttering in the Prince's pulse when the name of his beloved was mentioned. The great doctor had a simple remedy: unite the sufferer with the beloved.)

The Encyclopedia was translated into Latin. It became the textbook for medical education in the schools of Europe from the 12th-17th century.

Ibn Sina is known as the 'doctor of doctors'.

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Left: Page from Ibn Sina's Canon (Encyclopedia) of Medicine, late 17th century Persian copy. Right: Image of Ibn Sina, medieval manuscript entitled "Subtilties of Truth", 1271. [Both images from Distorted Imagination.]

 

C. Al-Zahravi is called the "father of surgery". Abul Qasim al-Zahrawi (963-1013 AD) is known as Albucasis to the West. He was a famous surgeon at the court of Caliph al-Hakam II in Baghdad. Students and patients flocked to him from the Muslim world and Europe. He wrote a Medical Encyclopedia which contained 30 sections of surgical knowledge and illustrations of 200 surgical instruments, most of which he designed himself. The Encyclopedia was required reading for physicians, and even five centuries later it was being used as the standard textbook on surgery in universities in Europe.

Image from Rise of Islam, by Moktefi, Silver Burdett

Al-Zahravi also performed many delicate operations such as caesareans (by cutting open the mother's belly for the delivery of the baby) and was also the first to use silk thread for stitching wounds. He developed many surgical tools that were used for centuries throughout the world of Islam and in Europe.

Read more about Al-Zahravi's life and see a short biography by Huma Ahmad and another from Personalities Noble

 

 

D. Ibn Zuhr (known as Avenzoar in the West), was born at Seville, Spain in 1091 and graduated from Cordova Medical University. After a brief stay in Baghdad and Cairo, he returned to Spain and worked for the Muslim rulers as a physician. He died in 1161 C.E.

Ibn Zuhr was a skillful doctor and surgeon. He emphasized observation and experiment in his work. He was also excellent in the art of dissecting (cutting open for studying) dead human bodies and knew anatomy in detail. Ibn Zuhr was the first to test different medicines on animals before giving them to humans. Also, he was the first to describe diseases caused by parasites (small animals that live off of other animals) and is known as the first parasitologist (one who studies parasites). He was also the first to describe the operation of tracheotomy (cutting a hole in the wind pipe so the patient can breathe) and practiced direct feeding through a tube in the throat when normal feeding was not possible. He described intestinal problems, inflammation (redness) of the middle ear, and some kinds of tumors (growths like cancer).

Ibn Zuhr wrote many important books for medical specialist and for the common people. Several of his books were translated into Latin and Hebrew and were in great demand in Europe until the late Eighteenth century.

Ibn Zuhr's influence on the development of medical science was felt for several centuries throughout the world. Ibn Zuhr's descendants included five generations of Spanish physicians, and included two women physicians who served the household of the rulers of Islamic Spain.

 

E. Biruni (Abu Raihan Muhammad al-Biruni - 973 - 1048 AD) was a contemporary of (lived at the same time as) the famous doctor Ibn Sina and they corresponded (sent letters to each other). Biruni was best known for his study astronomy and science, but he was also a skilled physician and wrote about medicinal plants. Below is a painting which illustrates one of his books. It shows a caesarean (where a baby is taken out from the the mother's belly).

Both images below are from a manuscript page from Biruni's Medical Work.

 

 

 

Other Famous Doctors

 

 

 

Part II: Dentists

This image is from The Rise of Islam by Moktefi, illustrated by Sedat Tosun, Silver Burdett Publishers, 1985, page 53. Out of print.

A. Dental Care

Dentists made false teeth out of bone which was recommended in many books on dental care. Dentists also pulled teeth that had become decayed or damaged.

 

Below is a branch or twig that was used as a toothbrush by the medieval Muslims for cleaning their teeth.  [Courtesy of Arabnet] They sweetened their breath with herbs and spices.

 

 

 

 

B. A Famous Dentist and Orthodontist (one who straightens teeth)

Al-Zharavi, listed above as the Father of Surgery, was also an expert in oral surgery and dentistry. In one of his books he discussed the problem of non-aligned or deformed teeth and gave procedures to correct these problems. In addition, he developed the procedure for preparing and setting false teeth made from animal bones.

 

 

Learn More About It:

Images of Physicians, Medicine

Study of Medicine - For advanced study

Medical Schools and Training of Doctors

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Go to Medicine and Health - Hospitals - Page 3

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Books and Magazines about Islamic Medicine

  1. Silver Burdett Rise of Islam by Moktefi, 1986: pages 52 - 53
  2. The Arabs in the Golden Age by Moktefi and Ageorges, Millbrook Press, Conn., 1992, pages 52 - 53
  3. Arab World Notebook for Secondary by Najda, p. 206 - 207 (Teachers' Resource Book)
  4. Rise of Islam by Consortium for History Education in the Schools & The Clio Project, U.C.B. Graduate School of Education, 5507 Tolman Hall, Matthew Downey, editor, (first draft 1991); See Lesson 4, Islamic Science: Medicine and Public Health by ODell, pages 103 - 130. Lessons and student handouts.
  5. Science and Civilization in Islam, by Nasr - Chpt. Seven "Medicine" p. 184 - 229 (difficult reading)
  6. Traditional Healer's Handbook by Hakim Chishti, M.D., Healing Arts Press, 1991 In the introduction much of the theory of healing of Avicenna is presented and shows how it is adapted for modern times.(difficult reading)
  7. Children's book: Avicenna [Muslim Heroes series] from Astrolabe Press: call 1-800-39-ASTRO
  8. ARAMCO World: September-October, 1977 "Clean Streets and Fair Trade thanks to the Muhtasib" p. tells about "health inspectors" in Baghdad in the 11th-12th centuries. (Also in Arab World Notebook, p. 213 - 216 as well.)
  9. ARAMCO World: July-August, 1980 "Pox Upon Her" p. 12 - 21 This tells about the fight against smallpox through inoculation.
  10. ARAMCO World: March-April, 1974 "Nursing in the Arab East" p. 14 - 23 (small amount of history)
  11. ARAMCO World: May-June, 1997 "The Arab Roots of European Medicine" p. 20 - 31 A very good article about the history of medicine from Greek, through Islam, into Europe. It is by the same author as the website listed below of the same title.
  12. "Islam: A Global Civilization", prepared by Islamic Affairs Department, The Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Washington, D.C. [free to teachers]