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by Dr. Ibrahim Shaikh*
Table of contents
1.
Al-Zahrawi
2. Selected articles on Al-Zahrawi
3. General References
4. Notes
***
Note of the editor
Abu al-Qasim Al-Zahrawi the Great Surgeon, Dr Ibrahim Shaikh, Abu
al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi, Al-Zahrawi, Abulcasis,
Islamic medicine, history of surgery, Andalus, Islamic Spain.
***
1.
Al-Zahrawi
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Figure 1:
Imaginary portrait of Al-Zahrawi. (Source) |
Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi,
known also by his Latin name Albucasis, was born near Cordoba in 936
CE. He was one of the greatest surgeons of his time. His
encyclopaedia of surgery was used as standard reference work in the
subject in all the universities of Europe for over five hundred
years.
The Muslim
scientists, Al-Razi, Ibn Sina and Al-Zahrawi are among the most
famous of those who worked in the field of medicine in pre-modern
times. They have presented to the world scientific treasures which
are today still considered important references for medicine and
medical sciences as a whole.
Abu al-Qasim
Khalaf ibn Abbas Al-Zahrawi (known in the West as Albucasis) was
born at Madinat al-Zahra near Cordoba in Islamic Spain on 936 CE and
died in 1013 CE. He descended from the Ansar tribe of Arabia who had
settled earlier in Spain. His outstanding contribution to medicine
is his encyclopaedic work Al-Tasrif li-man 'ajaza 'an al-ta'lif,
a long and detailed work in thirty treatises. The Al-Tasrif,
completed about 1000 CE, was the result of almost fifty years of
medical practice and experience. Here is how the author expressed
his credo in this book:
"What ever I
know, I owe solely to my assiduous reading of books of the ancients,
to my desire to understand them and to appropriate this science;
then I have added the observation and experience of my whole life."
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Figure 2:
The beginning of the first article of Part I of a manuscript
of
Kitab al-tasrif li-man 'ajaza 'an al-ta'lif
authored by Al-Zahrawi. The page shows his definition of
medicine, quoted from Al-Razi, as the preservation of health
in healthy individuals and its restoration to sick
individuals as much as possible by human abilities (Source) |
Al-Tasrif
is an illustrated encyclopaedia of medicine and surgery in 1500
pages. The contents of the book show that Al-Zahrawi was not only a
medical scholar, but a great practicing physician and surgeon. His
book influenced the progress of medicine and surgery in Europe after
it was translated into Latin in the late 12th century, by Gerard of
Cremona, and then afterwards into different European languages,
including French and English. Al-Tasrif comprises 30
treatises or books (maqâlat) and was intended for medical
students and the practicing physician, for whom it was a ready and
useful companion in a multitude of situations since it answered all
kinds of clinical problems.
The book contains
the earliest pictures of surgical instruments in history. About 200
of them are described and illustrated. In places, the use of the
instrument in the actual surgical procedure is shown. The first two
treatises were translated into Latin as Liber Theoricae,
which was printed in Augusburg in 1519. In them, Al-Zahrawi
classified 325 diseases and discussed their symptomatology and
treatment. In folio 145 of this Latin translation, he described, for
the first time in medical history, a haemorrhagic disease
transmitted by unaffected women to their male children; today we
call it haemophilia. Book 28 is on pharmacy and was
translated into Latin as early as 1288 under the title Liber
Servitoris.[1]
Of all the
contents of Al-Zahrawi's Al-Tasrif, book 30 on surgery became
the most famous and had by far the widest and the greatest
influence. Translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona (1114-1187),
it went into at least ten Latin editions between 1497 and 1544. The
last edition was that of John Channing in Oxford (1778), which
contained both the original Arabic text and its Latin translation on
alternate pages. Almost all European authors of surgical texts from
the 12th to the 16th centuries referred to Al-Zahrawi's surgery and
copied from him. They included Roger of Salerno (d. 1180), Guglielmo
Salicefte (1201-1277), Lanfranchi (d. 1315), Henri de Mondeville
(1260-1320), Mondinus of Bologna (1275-1326), Bruno of Calabria (d.
1352), Guy de Chaulliac (1300-1368), Valescus of Taranta
(1382-1417), Nicholas of Florence (d. 1411), and Leonardo da
Bertapagatie of Padua (d. 1460).
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Figure 3:
Frontispiece of the Latin translation of Al-Zahrawi's Kitab
al-tasrif: Liber theoricae necnon practicae Alsaharavii...
iam summa diligentia & cura depromptus in lucem (Impensis
Sigismundi Grimm & Marci Vuirsung, Augustae Vindelicorum,
1519, 159 leaves). This is a translation of the first two
books of Al-Tasrif, edited by Paul Ricius. For a long time,
Al-Tasrif was an important primary source for European
medical knowledge, and served as a reference for doctors and
surgeons. There were no less than 10 editions of its Latin
version between 1497 and 1544, before it was translated into
French, Hebrew, and English. (Source).
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The 300 pages of
the book on surgery represent the first book of this size devoted
solely to surgery, which at that time also included dentistry and
what one may term surgical dermatology. Here, Al-Zahrawi developed
all aspects of surgery and its various branches, from ophthalmology
and diseases of the ear, nose, and throat, surgery of the head and
neck, to general surgery, obstetrics, gynaecology. Military
medicine, urology, and orthopaedic surgery were also included. He
divided the surgery section of Al-Tasrif into three part:
1. on
cauterization (56 sections);
2. on surgery (97 sections),
3. on orthopaedics (35 sections).
It is no wonder
then that Al-Zahrawi's outstanding achievement awakened in Europe a
hunger for Arabic medical literature, and that his book reached such
proeminence that a modern historian considered it as the foremost
text book in Western Christendom.
Serefeddin
Sabuncuoglu (1385-1468) was a surgeon who lived in Amasia in central
Anatolia. He wrote his book Cerrahiye-tu l-Hanniyye in 1460
at the age of 80 after serving for many years as a chief surgeon in
Amasiya Hospital (Darussifa) for years. His text Cerrahiye-tu l-Hanniyye
was presented to Sultan Mohammad the conqueror, but the manuscript
disappeared afterwards until it emerged in the 1920s. The book is
roughly a translation of Al-Tasrif of Al-Zahrawi, but
Sabuncuoglu added his own experiences and brought interesting
comments on previous application, besides that every surgical
procedure is illustrated in his work.
William Hunter
(1717-1783) used Arabic manuscripts for his study on Aneurysm. Among
them was a copy of Al-Zahrawi's Kitab al-Tasrif.[2]
In his biography of William Hunter, Sir Charles lllingworth, the
author described the circumstances and the context of the purchase
by William Hunter of an Arabic manuscript of Al-Tasrif of Al-Zahrawi,
which he obtained from Aleppo in Syria.[3]
The oldest medical
manuscript written in England around 1250 according to The
British Medical Journal has startling similarity with Al-Zahrawi's
volume:
"This interesting
relic consists of eighty-nine leaves of volume, written in beautiful
gothic script in the Latin tongue. The work contains six separate
treatises, of which the first and most important is the DE CHIRURGIA
OF ALBU-HASIM
[sic] (Albucasis, Albucasim ). This occupies forty four leaves,
three of which are missing. It may be contended that this really is
the oldest extant medical textbook written in England."[4]
Thus, in
conclusion, Al-Zahrawi was not only one of the greatest surgeons of
medieval Islam, but a great educationist and psychiatrist as well.
He devoted a substantial section in the Tasrif to child
education and behaviour, table etiquette, school curriculum, and
academic specialisation.[5]
In his native city
of Cordoba there is a street called 'Al-Bucasis' named after him.
Across the river Wadi Al-Kabir on the other side of the city, in the
Calla Hurra Museum, his instruments are displayed in his honour. As
a tribute, his 200 surgical instruments were reproduced by Fuat
Sezgin and exhibited in 1992 in Madrid's Archaeological Museum. A
catalogue, El-legado Cientifico Andalusi, published by the
museum, has good colour photos and manuscripts, some of which are on
Al-Zahrawi's achievements, legacy and influence.
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Figure
5:
A copper spoon used as a medical implement to press down
the tongue (dated from the 3rd century H/ 9th century
CE, Abbasid period) preserved at the Museum of Islamic
Art in Cairo. This tool demonstrates that the physicians
of the Islamic medical tradition attached much
importance to medicine and medical tools in various
areas of treatment and how they developed them. A
detailed description of these tools can be found in the
book
Al-Tasrif
of al-Zahrawi. (Source). |
Hakim Saead, from
Hamdard Foundation in Karachi, Pakistan, has a permanent display of
silver surgical instruments of Al-Zahrawi in the library of the
Foundation. He also published a colour booklet. Professor Ahmed
Dhieb of Tunis has also studied the surgical instruments and
reconstructed them; they were displayed in the 36th International
Congress for the History of Medicine held in Tunis City in Tunisia.
In this exhibition, all surgical instruments of Al-Zahrawi were
described and illustrated in detail in three languages - Arabic,
French and English under the title Tools of Civilisation.
2.
Selected articles on Al-Zahrawi and Islamic medicine on
MuslimHeritage.com
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Figure 6:
Extract from the Arabic text published in De chirurgia.
Arabice et Latine, cura Johannis Channing, natu etr civitate
Londinensis (Oxford, 1778). This book contains the surgical
section of Al-Tasrif, the first rational, complete and
illustrated treatise on surgery and surgical instruments.
The surgical portion of Al-Tasrif was published separately
and became the first independent illustrated work on the
subject. It contained illustrations of a remarkable array of
surgical instruments and described operations of fractures,
dislocations, bladder stones, gangrene and other conditions.
It replaced Paul of Aegina's Epitome as a standard work and
remained the most used textbook of surgery for nearly 500
years.(Source) |
Abdel-Halim, Rabie
E.,
The
Missing Link in the History of Urology: A Call for More Efforts to
Bridge the Gap
(published 01 May 2009).
Abdel-Halim, Rabie
E.,
Paediatric Urology 1000 Years Ago
(published 13 May 2009).
Abdel-Halim, Rabie
E., and Al-Mazrooa, Adnan A.,
Anaesthesia 1000 Years Ago: A Historical Investigation
(published 05 June 2009).
Abdel-Halim, Rabie
E., and Elfaqih, Salah R.,
Pericardial Pathology 900 Years Ago: A Study and Translations from
an Arabic Medical Textbook
(published 06 May 2009).
Burnett, Charles,
Arabic Medicine in the Mediterranean
(published 29 November 2004).
Buyukunal, S. N.
Cenk, and Sari Nil
The
Earliest Paediatric Surgical Atlas: Cerrahiye-i Ilhaniye
(published 07 September, 2005).
FSTC Research
Team,
Medical Sciences in the Islamic Civilization: Scholars, Fields of
Expertise and Institutions.
Section 3:
Al-Zahrawi
the Genius Surgeon
(published 2
February 2009).
Kaf al-Ghazal,
Sharif,
Selected Gleanings from the History of Islamic Medicine
( series of 5 articles published 03 April, 2007). Article 3:
Al-Zahrawi
(Albucasis) the Great Andalusian Surgeon.
Khan, Aliya, and
Hehmeyer, Ingrid,
Islam's Forgotten Contributions to Medical Science
(09 January 2009).
Sayili, Aydin,
Certain Aspects of Medical Instruction in Medieval Islam and its
Influences on Europe
(published 24 October, 2008).
Shaikh, Ibrahim,
Eye
Specialists in Islam
(20 December, 2001)
3.
General References on al-Zahrawi
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Figure 7:
Front cover of
Albucasis
(Abu Al-Qasim Al-Zahrawi): Renowned Muslim Surgeon of the
Tenth Century
by Fred Ramen (Rosen Central, 2005) |
Abdel-Halim, Rabie
E., Altwaijiri, Ali S., Elfaqih, Salah R., Mitwali, Ahmad H., "Extraction
of Urinary Bladder Described by Abul-Qasim Khalaf Alzahrawi (Albucasis)
(325-404 H, 930-1013 AD)", Saudi Medical Journal 24 (12),
2003: 1283-1291.
Abdel-Halim, A.
E., et al.,
Extraction of Urinary Bladder Stone as Described by Abul-Qasim
Khalaf Ibn Abbas Alzahrawi (Albucasis) (930-1013 AD, 325-404 H),
Saudi Journal of Kidney Diseases and Transplantation, 9(2),
1998, pp. 157-168. See also the article in PDF
here.
Abd al-Rahim, Abd
al-Rahim Khalaf, Al-Adawat Jirahiya wa al-Awani al-Tibiya fi al-'asr
al-Islami min al-Qarn al-Awal hatta al-Qarn al-Tasi' lil Hijra
[Surgical Instruments and Medical Vessels in the Islamic Period from
the First Century to the Ninth Century], MA thesis,
University of Cairo, 1999.
Ahmad, Z., "Al-Zahrawi,
The Father of Surgery", ANZ Journal of Surgery, vol. 77, (Suppl.
1), 2007, A83.
Al-Hadidi, Khaled,
"The Role of Muslem Scholars in Oto-rhino-Laryngology", The
Egyptian Journal of O.R.L., 4 (1), 1978, pp. 1-15.
[Al-Zahrawi],
Albucasis on Surgery and Instruments. A definitive edition of
the Arabic text with English translation and commentary by M. S.
Spink and G. L. Lewis. London, Wellcome Institute of the History of
Medicine, 1973.
[Al-Zahrawi],
Albucasis de chirurgia. Arabice et Latine… Cura Johannis
Channing. Oxonii: e typographeo Clarendoniano, 1778.
'Awad, H. A., "Al-
Jiraha fi al-'asr al-Islami [Surgery in the Islamic Period]",
Majalat al-Dirasat al-Islamiya [Journal of Islamic Studies],
Cairo, vol. 3, 1988.
Hamarneh, Sami
Khalaf, and Sonnedecker, Glenn, A Pharmaceutical View of
Abulcasis al-Zahrawi in Moorish Spain, with special reference to the
"Adhean, Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1963.
Horden, P., 'The
Earliest Hospitals in Byzantium, Western Europe, and Islam'
Journal of Interdisciplinary History, vol. 35 (3), 2005, pp
361-389.
Hussain, F. A.,
The History and Impact of the Muslim Hospital. London, Council
for Scientific and Medical History, 2009.
Kaadan, Abdul
Nasser, "Albucasis and Extraction of Bladder Stone", Journal of
the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine,
vol. 3, 2004, pp. 28-33.
Levey M., Early
Arabic Pharmacology, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1973.
Martin-Araguz, C.
Bustamante-Martinez, Ajo V. Fernandez-Armayor, J. M.
Moreno-Martinez, "Neuroscience in al-Andalus and its Influence on
Medieval Scholastic Medicine", Revista de neurología, vol. 34
(9), 2002, p. 877-892.
[Medarus],
"Portraits de Médecins",
Albucasis, (Khalaf ibn Abbas Al-Zahrawi) 936-1013 Chirurgien arabe
d'Espagne.
Noble, Henry W.,
Tooth
transplantation: a controversial story,
History of Dentistry Research Group, Scottish Society for the
History of Medicine, 2002.
Ramen, Fred,
Albucasis (Abu Al-Qasim Al-Zahrawi), The Rosen Publishing Group,
2006.
Savage-Smith,
Emilie, "Attitudes Toward Dissection in Medieval Islam", Journal
of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences (Oxford
University Press), vol. 50 (1), 1995, pp. 67–110.
Tabanelli, Mario,
Albucasi, un chirurgo arabo dell'alto Medio Evo: la sua epoca, la
sua vita, la sua opera. Firenze [Florence], L.S. Olschki, 1961.
[Wikipedia],
Al-Zahrawi.
Wikipedia], [Kitab]
Al-Tasrif
4.
Notes
[1.]
Liber servitoris de praeparatione medicinarum simplicium.
Bulchasin Benaberazerin, translatus a Simone Januensi, interprete
Abraam Tortuosiensi, et divisit in tres tractatus. Dixit agregator
hujus operis (Venetiis: Per Nicolaum Ienson, 1471, 1 vol.,
in-quarto. There are several copies of this edition, for example in
the library of the University of Glasgow, Special collections, MS
Hunterian Bx.3.26.
[2.]
See H. G. Farmer, "William Hunter and his Arabic Interest", in
Presentation volume to William Barron Stevenson, edited by Cecil
James Mullo Weir, University of Glasgow Oriental Society, 1945, "Studia
semitica et orientalia, vol. 2". See a description of the
Hunterian Collection
on the website of the library of Glasgow University.
[3.]
Sir Charles Illingworth, The Story of William Hunter,
Edinburgh: E. S. Livingstone, 1967, p. 58.
[4.]
[Note in "Nova Vetera" section], "The Oldest Medical Manuscript
Written In England", The British Medical Journal (published by BMJ
Publishing Group), vol. 2, no. 4096 (July 8, 1939), pp. 80-81; p.
81.
[5.]
Sami K. Hamarneh, Health Sciences in Early Islam: Collected
Papers, Zahra Publishing Co., 1984.
~ End ~
*
Dr Ibrahim Shaikh is a retired medical practitioner. He is a Fellow
of the Manchester Medical Society, Manchester, UK.
Source: http://www.muslimheritage.com
by:
Dr. Ibrahim Shaikh |
