Abulqasim Al-Zahrawi (936-1013) and His Achievements in Medicine should inspire Muslims and remind them of the Islamic Golden Age of global leadership in Science and Technology
By Dr.
Mohammad Ghitreef, New Age Islam
4 November 2022
Main
Points
1.
Abdulqasim Al-Zahrawi is the tallest individual that Muslims have ever produced
in the area of medicine.
2-
Al-Zahrawi was a product of the extensive educational culture that was rife at
one time in the Muslim world.
3- We
must rebuild the comprehensive system if we are to reclaim the virtues of our
former culture.
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This
article's goal is not to promote "once-upon-a-time-we were-also-king"
of mindset. Indeed, we must never to be arrogant about the past. Rather, this
essay tries to showcase our ancestors' accomplishments, particularly in the
fields of science and medicine, because if they could do it, why can't we?
Compared to them, we have greater opportunities today. This task will need to
be accepted by the younger generation.
Instead of squandering lives on empty rhetoric
about restoring the defunct caliphate, they ought to work to restore the
intellectual climate that once belonged exclusively to Muslims.
At the
Al-Zahra palace located in the north, 6 miles away from the monumental
Andalusian city of Cordova a child was born to Abbas, an expert in engraving.
He was named by his friend, the royal physician Hakeem Essa, Khalaf bin Abbas,
at home called Al-Zahrawi having been born at Al-Zahra. Although Abulqasim was
his original nickname, it was later altered to Abulcasis or Albucasis in
European circles.
Khalaf
Zahrawi had learned the arts and sciences that were popular at the time in
Cordova. After that, he became interested in engraving till he became an adept
at it, but soon grew tired with it and turned his attention to medicine. He
then began studying under the royal physician Hakeem Essa and soon gained expertise
in it as well. When Hakam Mustansir II
was the caliph of Andalusia Essa, the royal physician was appointed the
hospital director at Al-Zahra, and Khalaf became the consultant to the
director. In those days, Muslims of Andalusia were facing the onslaught of
northern Christian forces of the Castele state. They were on the retreating
path, so when Al-Zahrawi died at the age of 77, he was unfortunate to witness
the fall of Al-Zahra at the hands of the Christians two years before of his
death.
What Al-Zahrawi accomplished:
1-Al-Zahrawi
as is said to have invented more than 200 instruments and tools for conducting
surgery, and he used the best kind of them for that purpose.
2- He set principles of surgical operation in
areas such as the patient's intestines, throat, brain, lungs, and stomach.
3- He explained how to conduct surgical
operations of the eye and ears and adopted necessary arrangements for that.
4- He contrived an effective treatment for the
joining of dislocated bones.
5- He advised that the wound caused by cancer
must not be touched because it becomes more dangerous by doing so.
6- He prescribed doses of medicine and also
started to write the name of the same on its back or on the bottle.
7- Al-Zahrawi arranged for the education and
training of chemists and pharmacists so that they could not mix up the
medicine.
8- He
arranged for better food for the patients in his hospital so that they regain
defensive strength in their bodies.
9- He
provided for the daily changing of patients' bed sheets and clothing which is
still in use in hospitals worldwide.
10-
Al-Zahrawi used to give prescriptions and diagnose to the patient's relatives
so that they also can help a patient avoid lapses in taking medicine.
11- It
was also in use that the prescription contains a dietary description and
necessary preventive measures.
12-
For the mentally challenged, he provided attendants to look after them, to
change their clothing daily, bathe them and bring them into fresh air, and a
provision of singing and music for them as he believed to be beneficial for
them.
13-
The description of pregnancy outside the womb was also given for the first time
by Al-Zahrawi, as he also diagnosed haemophilia to be a hereditary disease.
14- He also had the skill to treat the wound
by burning.
The
methods of Al-Zahrawi first of all adopted in Europe, as Europeans translated
his books into their different languages. Al-Zahrawi used financial resources
from Waqf properties for the betterment of hospitals.
Tasrif,
a Medical Encyclopaedia:
In his
youth, Al-Zahrawi embarked on a project to write down a medical Encyclopaedia
called Kitabut Tasrif. Comprising 30 monographs as it was a summary of thework
being done in the medical world. Out of thirty, twenty-two of its chapters deal
with pharmacology, while a detailed chapter was on surgery. S. Qasim Mahmood
writes :
"All
the critical operations Abulqasim would conduct and what he would gather in
terms of new discoveries during the process all that he briefly compiled in a
book shape; his magnum opus Tasrif, which has been used in Europe for centuries
to come. Its contents were cited as a reference by European surgeons”.
The
first Latin translation of Tasrif appeared in Vienna in 1417. After its many
Latin translations came out from different European publishing centers, its
best Latin edition with illustrated original Arabic text was published in 1541
from Bastille. Until the last decades of the nineteenth century, the book had
been in use in Europe. Not only the European scholars rendered it in their
respective languages, but some of them have written commentaries on it too.
Here
arises a million-dollar question: what was the environment that created such an
outstanding and great scholar in medicine as Al-Zahrawi?
My
answer would be that the environment was where all the Muslim societies there
permeated an inner current of knowledge. Scientific arts were called "Arab
Sciences" as a symbol of pride. There was an adage in Europe then:
"Who
does not learn Arabic could not learn anything". Kings, Knights, and
princes from Europe would feel proud as they had learned in the seminaries of
Cordova, Toledo, Grenada, etc. For, the Muslim mind in the very first century
of their political and cultural dominance created a scientific revolution based
on the deductive methodology of acquiring knowledge in place of the inductive
methodology of the Greeks. So a new Muslim mind emerged, which created an Arab
renaissance in the Muslim world and led to great discoverers like those made by
Gaber, Alhazen, Ibn Sina, Alkindi and Razes et al.
At
that time the universe was to Muslims an open book of nature; they were obliged
by Quran repeatedly to ponder upon the universe and explore the vast horizons
and look into the signs of the souls. By igniting this passion, zeal, and
thirst for knowledge, it wasn't long before they adopted the practise of
research, analysis, and discovery. Their motivation for developing empirical
methods was to harness and utilise natural forces for the benefit of whole
mankind. All this led them to make this
universe and its things a subject of search and research, quest and discovery,
and not the subject of worship and bow down in awe; thus, scientific research
was a religious need for them.
In the
very beginning of Islamic history, astronomy became a pressing need for
Muslims. Because it was impossible to fix a schedule and draw a prayer time
table for five times a day in diverse locations around the world without a
solid understanding of geography and geometry. Additionally, the Quran mentions
proficiency in mapping “due to the movements of the sun and moon to inform
people that this refers to years and their calculation”. (Surah Yunus: 5) like
charting a prayer table, fixing the direction of Kaaba, and charting out a
Lunar Calender for the month of Ramazan were the aspects that attracted Muslim
attention and led them to explore the universe. Debates on these matters among
Muslim scholars and theologians went on until Al-Biruni came with his تحديد الاماكن (Determining of places), and his say was a decisive one in this
regard.
Thus,
Al-Khwarizmi also sought to fulfil a religious obligation when he penned his
well-known book, “Aljabr Walmuqabla”. As in its introduction he desired to have
quickly performed some geometric evaluation in the computation for allocating
the inheritance, in mapping the earth, digging up the rivers, and other similar
tasks. And his efforts would be highly regarded in the hereafter. Furthermore,
those who brought forth such a new world of information, open mindedness had a
comprehensive knowledge of the material world along with their erudition in
traditional sciences. For instance, Ibn Nafees (1286), who made a number of
novel findings about blood circulation and critiqued Al-Qanun Fittib, Ibn
Sina's key work was one of the cornerstones of Shafiet legal theory. A Shia
scholar Qutbuddin Shirazi, a disciple of Tusi, was associated with the
observatory of Maragheh.
He was
also a compiler of several excellent works in theology like Sharhussunah,
Futhul Mannan fi Tafseeril Quran. If Nizamuddin Neshapuri wrote on Almagest, he
too wrote Gharaibul Quran in Quranic science.
Moreover,
who was Ibn Shatir? The man who was first to talk about the governing system of
the universe was a time setter in the principal mosque of Damascus. Ibn Rushd,
or Averroes, a commonly known name in the world of philosophy, who writing a
rejoinder of
Tahafatul
Falasipha (Incoherence of Philosophers) by Al-Ghazali gave a new life to
philosophy; who was he? A great jurist as well as a judge in Seville and
Granada.
That
was the cultural environment and a comprehensive civilization that created
Al-Zahrawi and other geniuses and made him what he was. Those were times when
there was no dichotomy between religion and mundane knowledge, and the pure
material secular sciences were also treated as a religious need.
Although
Abulqasim Al-Zahrawi, who lived in the lost paradise of Andalusia and produced
his masterpiece Kitabut Tasrif (كتاب التصريف),
passed away thousands of years ago. The
book had a tremendous, immediate impact on the medical community in Europe. The
book, according to renowned Turk historian Fuat Sezgin, contained numerous
important surgical difficulties and problems that he is rightfully credited
with solving today. Sezgin accentuated his point by using a few illustrations.
For instance Ambrosius Pare's discovery of how to stop bleeding from large
veins, the Walcher’s position in obstetrics, which is credited to a German
doctor, or Fredric Trendelenburg's Trendelenburg operation techniques are just
a few examples of techniques and medical devices that are credited to Western
physicians but according to Sezgin, all these ways and methods were found in
the book of Al-Zahrawi.
Therefore,
if we wish to advance civilizationally once more, we must have the same
all-encompassing culture built on both secular and religious sciences. The
distinction between religious and secular must be eliminated. Additionally, we
need a seminary and school educational structure that translates a grasp of the
sacred and secular as well. Furthermore, blending the finest of the past and
most useful of the present shouldn't merely be a religious slogan used to
deceive the Muslim populace, as it has been for the previous 200 years.
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A
regular columnist for New Age Islam, Dr. Mohammad Ghitreef is a Research
Associate with the Centre for Promotion of Educational and Cultural Advancement
of Muslims of India, AMU Aligarh.
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