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ISLAMIC MEDICINE HISTORY AND CURRENT PRACTICEHusain F. NAGAMIAMohammed but then his four successors called the‘Pious Caliphs’ were to quickly consolidated andexpand the nation. Within one hundred years of cominginto existence, the Islamic empire had spreadfrom Spain in the West, to China in the East, andencompassed in its midst, the whole of NorthernAfrica, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Transjordan, CentralAsia and parts of Western India. Later it was to beeven carried further by the Muslim merchants to theshores of the far east including the Malaysian peninsula,the islands of the East Indies and Indonesia. Inits early era and for several centuries, the Islamicempire was centrally governed by a leader or‘Caliph’ and administered by provincial governors.The first four Caliphs were elected democraticallybut the later the Caliphate became dynastic. Laterstill a western Caliphate was established in Spain. Inlater history the Islamic Nation was to break up intovarious kingdoms, as the provincial rulers becomemore autonomous and independent of the center andwas ultimately to be overrun by the Sejluk Turks whowere the forerunners of the Ottoman empire.It was during the early Caliphates of the‘Ummayads’ and the ‘Abbasids’ that the maximumdevelopment of Islamic Medicine took place. It wasalso during this time and under the patronage of theseCaliphs that the great physicians both Muslim andnon-Muslim thrived, accumulated the wealth of medicalknowledge and cultivated a system of medicinethat was to be later called ‘Islamic Medicine’.The early era of Islamic Medicine and theSchool of Medicine at Jundishapur:Jundishapur or ‘Gondeshapur’ was a city inKhuzistan founded by a Sasnid emperor Shapur I(241-272 AD) before the advent of Islam. It was tosettle Greek prisoners, hence the name ‘WandewShapur’ or ‘acquired by Shapur.’ In present dayWestern Persia the site is marked by the ruins ofShahbad near the city of Ahwaz. The town was takenby Muslims during the caliphate of Hadrat Umar, byAbu Musa Al-Ashari in (17 AH/738 AD ). At thistime it already had a well established Hospital andMedical school.Many Syrians took refuge in the city whenAntioch was captured by Shapur I. In fact the latternicknamed the city ‘Vehaz-Andevi Shapur’ or‘Shapur is better than Antioch.’ The closing of theNestorian School of Edessa by Emperor Zeno in 489AD led to the Nestorians fleeing from there and seekingrefuge in Jundishapur under patronage of ShapurII, which got an academic boost as a result. TheGreek influence was already predominant inJundishapur when the closing of the Athenian schoolin 529 AD by order of the Byzantine emperorJustinian drove many learned Greek physicians tothis town. A University with a medical school and ahospital were established by Khusraw Anushirwanthe wise (531-579 AD) where the Greeco-Syriacmedicine blossomed. To this was added medicalknowledge from India brought by the physicianvizier of Anushirwan called ‘Burzuyah.’ On hisreturn the latter brought back from India the famous‘Fables of Bidpai’, several Indian Physicians, detailsof Indian Medical Texts and a Pahlavi translation ofthe ‘Kalila and Dimma.’ Khusraw was even presenteda translation of Aristotleian Logic and philosophy.Thus at the time of the Islamic invasion the school ofJundishapur was well established and had becomerenowned as a medical center of Greek, Syriac andIndian learning. This knowledge had intermingled tocreate a highly acclaimed and state of the art Medicalschool and hospital. After the advent of Islamic rulethe University continued to thrive. In fact the firstrecorded Muslim Physician Harith bin Kalada, whowas a contemporary of the Prophet acquired his medicalknowledge at medical school and hospital atJundishapur.It is likely that the medical teaching atJundishapur was modeled after the teaching atAlexandria with some influence from Antioch but itis important to note that ‘the treatment was basedentirely on scientific analysis, in true Hippocratictradition’, rather than a mix-up with superstition andrituals as was the case in Greek ‘asclepieia’ andByzantine ‘nosocomia’. This hospital and MedicalCenter was to become the model on which all laterIslamic Medical Schools and Hospitals were to bebuilt. The School none the less thrived during theUmmayid caliphate and Sergius of Rasul‘ayn translatedmedical and philosophical works of bothHippocrates and Galen into Syriac. These were laterJISHIM 2003, 221
Husain F. NAGAMIAISLAMIC MEDICINE HISTORY AND CURRENT PRACTICEto be translated into Arabic casting an everlastingimprint onto all the future of Islamic Medicine.It was during the Abbasid Caliphate that Caliphal-Mansur the founder of the city of Baghdad invitedthe then head of the Jundishapur School to treat him.This physician was Jirjis Bukhtyishu, a Christianwhose name meant ‘Jesus has saved’. He treated theCaliph successfully and got appointed to the court.He however did not stay permanently in Baghdadreturning to Jundishapur before his death, but themigration to Baghdad had begun. Thus his son JibrailBukhtishu established practice in the city and becamea prominent physician. Another family that migratedfrom Jundishapur to Baghdad was the family ofMasawayh who went at the invitation of CaliphHarun-ul-Rashid and became a famousOphthalmologist. Most famous amongst his threesons who were physicians was Yuhanna ibnMasawayh (Mesue Senior). He wrote prolifically and42 works are attributed to him. By this time secondhalf of 2 nd century after hijra (8 th century AD) thefame of Baghdad began to rise as also the politicalpower of the caliphate. Many hospitals and medicalcenters were established and tremendous intellectualactivity was recorded. This culminated into the periodof Islamic Renaissance and the golden era ofIslamic Medicine of which description is given undera separate section.The resources for development of IslamicMedicine: The Bait-ul-Hikma or ‘TheHouse of Wisdom’‘Bait-ul-Hikma’ or House of Wisdom was foundedin 214 AH 830 AD by the Caliph Al-Mamun anAbbasid Caliph. Ibn Al Nadim, who was the son of abookseller and whose famous catalogue of books‘Firhist of Nadim’ tells us of many of the Books ofhis time, relates this story of the Caliph: Aristotleappeared in the dream of the learned Caliph and toldhim that there was no conflict between reason andrevelation. The Caliph thus set about searching forbooks and manuscripts of the ancient Greek philosophersand scientists. He sent an emissary to theByzantine Emperor to get all the scientific manuscriptsthat were apparently stored in an old anddilapidated building. After initially turning him downthe emperor granted him his request. Among theemissaries sent to select the works was the first directorof the house of wisdom Salman, who was the onethat led the delegation. Others in it were al Hajjaj IbnMatar, Ibn al Batrik. They brought back with themmany Greek scientific works and manuscripts.Translations of all of these was immediately started.However the translation of the medical works of theGreeks had started earlier during the reign of CaliphHarun al Rashid, with the building of the first hospitalunder the Caliph’s patronage.Ibn Nadim lists 57 translators associated with heHouse of Wisdom. The one’s who formed the firstdelegation to the Byzantine King have already beennamed. Other famous ones are as follows:1. al Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ibn Matar completed translationof Euclid’s elements. Other Greek authorsincluding Aristotle, Archimedes, Pythogras,Theodesius, Jerash, Apollonius, Theon andMenelaus all were translated.2. Muhammad ibn Mujsa al-Khwarizimi born inKhiva systematically explored arithmetic and algebra.The latter derived its name from his discourse:‘Kitab al-Jabr wa al-Muqabla.’ Algebrawas derived from the second letter and meant‘bone setting’ a graphic description of operationson solving quadrantic equations.3. The knowledge of geometry flourished and with itarchitecture and design. Ibn Khaldun was later todescribe geometry as a science that ‘enlightens theintelligence of man and cultivates rational thinking.’4. Mamun’s court astronomer was Musa ibn Shakir.His three sons Muhammad, Ahmad and al-Hassandevoted their lives to the search of knowledge.They exemplified the Prophetic traditions anddicta: ‘Seek learning even if it be in China.’ ‘Thesearch for knowledge is obligatory on everyMuslim.’ ‘The ink of scholars is worth more thanthe blood of martyrs.’5. The works of these learned men or ‘Sons ofMusa” were exceptionally creative. They wroteon: celestial mechanics, the atom, the origins ofearth, Ptolemic universe, the properties of the22 JISHIM 2003, 2
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