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Two Muslim Beginnings
By David W. Tschanz 08/08/2001
The Muslim Beginnings of Parasitology
Ibn Zuhr, known in the West as Avenzoar, was one of the greatest physicians, clinicians and parasitologists of the Middle Ages. Some historians of science describe him as the leading Muslim physician after Al-Razi (Rhazes) and Ibn Sina (Avicenna), while some of his contemporaries called him the greatest physician since Galen.
Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik Ibn Zuhr was born in Seville, Spain in 1091 C.E. He graduated from Cordoba Medical University and after a brief stay in Baghdad and Cairo, returned to Spain and worked for Almoravides as a physician. Later, Ibn Zuhr worked for 'Abd al-Mu'min, the first Muwahid ruler, both as physician and a minister. He devoted his career to Seville and died in 1161 C.E.
Ibn Zuhr confined his work only to medicine, contrary to the prevailing practice of Muslim scientists who typically worked in several fields. Still, by focusing in one field he made many original and long-lasting contributions. He emphasized observation and experiment in his work.
Ibn Zuhr made several breakthroughs as a physician. He was the first to test different medicines on animals before administering them to humans. Also, he was the first to describe scabies and the itch mite in detail, and is thus regarded as the "Father of Parasitology." He was also the first to give a full description of the tracheotomy operation and practiced direct feeding through the gullet in those cases where normal feeding was not possible. As a clinician, he provided clinical descriptions of intestinal phthisis, inflammation of the middle ear, pericarditis, and mediastinal tumors among others.
Ibn Zuhr wrote a number of important books for both the medical specialists and the common people. Several of his books were translated into Latin and were in great demand in Europe until the late Eighteenth Century, unfortunately only three of his greatest books have survived.
Kitab al-Taisir fi al-Mudawat wa al-Tadbir, (The Book of Simplification concerning Therapeutics and
Diet) was written at the request of Ibn Rushd (Averroes). The work contains many of Ibn Zuhr's original contributions, particularly in its detailed discussions of pathological conditions and therapy. The second book,
Kitab al-Iqtisad fi Islah Al-Anfus wa al-Ajsad (translated as the Book of the Middle Course concerning the Reformation of Souls and the
Bodies), summarizes different diseases, therapeutics and the hygiene. It also discusses the role of psychology in treatment. This book is written in an easy to understand format for the nonspecialist. The third book,
Kitab al-Aghziya (Book on Foodstuffs), discusses numerous drugs and the
importance of food and nutrition.
The Beginning of Modern Geography
Early geography and cartography were more art than science. Although astronomers, through their study of the universe, were able to theorize about such general geographical concepts like the shape of the earth, early geography was, for the most part, a product of the imagination: a collection of wondrous fables and marvelous tales of faraway places. In the Twelfth Century, however, an Arab geographer and cartographer named Abu Abdullah Mohammed bin Mohammed 'Abdullah bin Idris al-Hammudi al-Hassani started the revolution that ultimately led to modern geography.
Al-Idrisi was born in 1100 in Ceuta, Morocco, to a noble family, the Hammudites. A direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed, he was entitled to use the title
ash-Sharif (the Noble). During his youth he studied in Cordoba, then the capital of Islamic Spain. A poet, student of medicine and an avid traveler, he was an accomplished genius of the first order.
During his travels he retraced the path of Islamic conquest. The warrior horsemen who had swept across the Mediterranean spreading the new faith, had vowed that only the ocean waves at al-Maghreb (West) would stop their horses. Al-Idrisi's adventurous spirit was equal to theirs. He voyaged westward to Madeira and the Canary Islands, stopped only by the immensity of the Atlantic Ocean.
Al-Idrisi's reputation for learning, and his fame as a traveler, eventually earned him an invitation from Roger II, the Norman ruler of Sicily, to visit the island. Received with high honors, al-Idrisi found in Roger a kindred spirit with an intellectual curiosity that matched his own. The monarch's insatiable fascination with geography occupied all the time he did not spend administering his tiny kingdom.
Prior to Roger's death in 1154, al-Idrisi completed construction if a celestial sphere and a disk shaped map of the known world (a planisphere), both of solid silver. The map was based on the encyclopedic work al-Idrisi completed under Roger's patronage: the
Kitab Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ilkhtiraq al-Afaq, sometimes called the Kitab ar-Rujari (The Book of
Roger). It was not until 1592 that the manuscript made its first European appearance in an abridged edition printed in Rome. It was translated into Latin in 1619 but it has yet to be rendered into English in its entirety. Other information was obtained from persons sent specifically for the purpose of gathering information.
Al-Idrisi stayed on at the court in Palermo after Roger's death and wrote another geographical treatise,
The Garden of Civilization and the Amusement of the Soul.
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