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It was during the conquests following the death of the prophet Muhammad that Muslims came into contact with the scientific traditions of the ancient world. Specialists of the Byzantine or Sassanid Empire such as physicians or astrologers entered the service of the new rulers. Also in the libraries of the conquered countries the Arabs found treasures of knowledge and these texts were gradually translated into Arabic. To the scholars working in the field of medicine the newly discovered works of Galen and Hippocrates were of particular interest. The most famous translator of Greek into Arabic, the ninth century physician Hunain ibn Ishâq (808-873 or 877), claims to have translated 129 treatises of Galen, a statement which impressively illustrates the importance of this Greek author for the Muslims of that period. Arabic became the common academic language, playing a role similar to that played by Latin for the European scholars. And already in the ninth century discussions concerning these newly discovered texts had begun in the Arabic world. These discussions led to many commentaries as well as independent works.
Arabic medicine reached its first climax in the tenth and eleventh centuries with three physicians from the Persian world: these were alRâzî (Latinised Rhazes) (around 865-925), al-Madjûsî (Latinised HaIy Abbas) (died in the last quarter of the tenth century) and finally Ibn Sina (Latinised Avicenna) (980-1037). Their fame is based on the medical encyclopaedias they compiled.
The encyclopaedia written by Avicenna is called the "Canon of Medicine" (al-Qânûn fi 1-tibb) and was to become the most important book for the study of medicine in the East and West for centuries. Avicenna is no less famous for his philosophical and medical writings in Europe than in Islamic regions. This extraordinary scholar was born around 980 in Af shan a near Bukhara in present-day Uzbekistan. At the age of eighteen he was appointed court physician by the Samanid ruler of Bukhara in appreciation of his great medical skills. After the fall of the Samanid Empire in 999 he worked at different courts of Persian princes. The last fourteen years of his life he spent as the personal physician of the prince at the court of Isfahan. He died in 1037 in Hamadhan.
Avicenna's writings are famous for their integration...