Journal of - International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine

Amira AUMARI
Ibn Miskaweih’s Innovations in Medicine
tiredness and pains overcome him. Thus, Ibn Miskaweih
asks person to take care of his food and takes only
the necessary amount for his life and health without indulgence
in pleasures of eating. He also has not to be
lazy in preparing what is good for his health.
Here Ibn Miskaweih is talking about nutrition, digestion
and absorption process that body do it to take
the useful materials. Ibn Miskaweih gives an example
to humans, how animals seek for food for survival not
for pleasure. Some animals eats scarab beetles, which
feed on animal manure, they are attracted to smells,
and is pleased although it has an ugly smells, while bees
escape those bad odors and are attracted to other perfumes
and odors, which survive their life. In this way,
human beings should take care of his food and drink.
2. Has not to surrender the self to anger, especially if it
misplaced, it will bring displeasure of people around
him, and he has also to avoid places of vice or sin.
3. Has to see his shortcomings try to reform them, Then
soul will get used to merits, Ibn Miskaweih remember
what Galen said, and the opinion of Galen is: “when a
person loves itself, he wouldn’t see his shortcomings,
then has to choose a friend of him told him for its shortcomings
to avoid”. Ibn Miskaweih refused this saying because
he believes that an enemy is better than a friend,
the enemy mentioned the defects and exaggerate them
without any courtesy. He quotes what is Kindi says: “let
us be as sun, help the moon, whenever it rises, it makes
the moon shines”
4. Has not to surrender for laziness, slackness and relaxation,
then he will obliged to practice sport or prayer for
a long time to remedy himself. He has to used to do
sports to motivate his body and soul.
Diagnosing moral disease and the remedy
Ibn Miskaweih pointed out many important scientific
facts in diagnosing moral diseases and how to cure them.
He decipts this idea in a solid geometry, in a way shows that
the soul can be cured when we treat the causes. I am going
to show what Ibn Miskaweih stated by using the following
graph to explain what he meant.
In this simple graph, Ibn Miskaweih compare the health
of self with the virtues within cycle center (circle), wherever
we go to circumference, we get close to the points of vices:
excess (iveness) and negligence (abuse), these peripheral
points are the defects. Thus should be treated by going back
to the center of cycle to remedy the self.
Depending on this theory, Ibn Miskaweih find four virtues
of health of the soul which are: courage, wisdom, chastity
and justice. The result of practicing these virtues leads
to the health of body.
• He has also figured out two problems (vices) to each virtue,
so there are eight basic reasons (vices) for diseases:
Rashness (excess) and cowardice (negligence)
• Gluttony (excess) and weakness (negligence)
• Silliness (excess) and idiocy (negligence)
• Injustice or inequality (excess) and humiliation or disorder
(negligence)
Below these categories, many unlimited types can be
classified .
In this figure, we can note that each virtue has two ends
contradictory and limited.
Let’s start with the First cycle. Its center is virtue “courage”
considers the indicator of health of soul, its ends are
rashness and cowardice, they are important indicators of
self defects, their causes are the power of anger,as Ibn Miskaweih
describes, what happens physiologically speaking to
the human being infected with extreme anger (..his blood
boiling, his heart is filled with dark smoke, then mind get
worse and weakens.. and it would be .. like a cave full of
fire.., is difficult to treat or to stifle and all trials to put out
will be a reason to increase the anger)
We can explain this description by the role of hormone
Epinephrine (Adrenaline) and Norepinephrine
(Noradrenaline), where their level in the blood is low in
normal circumstances. Their level get up in special or abnormal
circumstances such as body exposed to risks or
doing excessive sport, or in cases of arterial hypotension.
Here, secretion occurs rapidly for these Hormones to the
blood by the adrenal gland as a result of nervating it by
pulses come from sympathetic nerve fibers. The rate of
heartbeats is increased with high blood pressure thus
more blood reach to the skeletal muscle, which contain
more sugar and more energy. So the body is ready to do
an great effort (fight or flight syndrome) to enable human
beings from response to emergencies, or to avoid them.
(Rashness or Cowardice)
In this case of the extensive anger-power, it is difficult to
treat it by sermon, it inevitably will increase the anger like
fire increase with the presence of air, and wood. This anger
will make people avoid him, which may generate a moral
illness. Besides, cowardice is the second opposite of the virtue
“ courage”, is the lack of anger-power, it’s the tranquility
when self should move and take actions. This leads to the
self-humiliation.
16
ISHIM 2011-2012