Who was Al Rhazes, Persian skillful and prevalent physician

 

Al Razi

Abu Bakr Mohammad Ibn Zakariya Razi (864-930 A.D.) was born at Ray, Iran. Initially, he was interested in music, but subsequently he learned medicine, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, and philosophy from a student of Hunayn Ibn Ishaq who was well-versed in the ancient Greek, Persian, and Indian medical systems, as well as other topics. He also studied under Ali Ibn Rabban. The practical knowledge he got at the renowned Muqtadari Hospital assisted him in pursuing a career in medicine. As a result of his early success as a physician and alchemist, patients and students from remote parts of Asia came to him.

He was assigned in charge of the first Royal Hospital in Ray, after which he proceeded to Baghdad, where he served as the head of the renowned Muqtadari Hospital for many years. In particular, he wandered between Ray and Baghdad, but he eventually returned to Ray, where he passed away around 930 A.D. Near Tehran, the Razi Institute commemorates his name.

Razi was a philosopher, alchemist, and Hakim. His contribution to medicine was so profound that it can only be compared to Ibn Sina's. Some of his medical writings, such as Kitab al-Mansoori, Al-Hawi, Kitab al-Mulooki, and Kitab al-Judari wa al-Hasabah, achieved enduring renown. Kitab al-Mansoori, which was translated into Latin in the 15th century A.D., consisted of ten volumes and covered Greco-Arab medicine extensively. Several of its volumes were independently published in Europe. His al-Judari wal Hasabah was the first work on smallpox and chicken pox and is largely based on Razi's contribution: It has been rendered in numerous European languages. He was the first to make clear similarities between smallpox and chicken pox in this work. 

Al-Hawi was the most comprehensive medical encyclopaedia written at the time. It included essential information from Greek and Arab sources on each medical area, and he finished with his own observations based on his experience and perspectives. His medical system was distinguished by a strong emphasis on correct and regulated nutrition. In addition, he emphasised the impact of psychological elements on health. He also tested prospective treatments on animals to determine their efficacy and negative effects. He was also an accomplished surgeon and the first person to employ opium as an anaesthetic.

In his later years, he devoted himself to experimental and theoretical sciences, in addition to being a physician and a compounder. He may have developed his chemistry independently of Jabir Ibn Hayyan. He has depicted in great detail a number of chemical reactions and provided detailed explanations and diagrams of approximately twenty equipment used in chemical research. His description of chemical knowledge is straightforward and convincing. 

Kitab-al-Asrar, one of his works, discusses the synthesis and application of chemical substances. The second was translated into Latin as the Liber Experimentorum. In dividing substances into plants, animals, and minerals, he surpassed his predecessors, paving the path for inorganic and organic chemistry. This grouping of the three kingdoms maintains true for the most part. As a chemist, he was the first to synthesize sulphuric acid together with other acids, and he also fermented sweet substances to produce alcohol.

His philosophical contributions are equally well-known. His philosophical philosophy is composed of the creator, spirit, matter, space, and time. Outstanding are his conceptions of space and time as being a continuum, which he describes in great detail. His philosophical beliefs, however, were criticized by a number of contemporary Muslim thinkers.

He was a prolific author who left behind huge treatises on a variety of topics. He is the author of more than 200 remarkable scholarly contributions, of which roughly half relate medicine and 21-aspect alchemy. Additionally, he wrote on physics, mathematics, astronomy, and optics, but these works were lost. A number of his books, including Jami-fi-al-Tib, Mansoori, al-Hawi, Kitab al-Jadari wa al-Hasabah, al-Malooki, Maqalah fi al- Hasat fi Kuli wa al-Mathana, Kitab al-Qalb, Kitab al-Mafasil, Kitab-al- 'Ilaj al-Ghoraba, Bar al-Sa'ah and al-Taqseem wa al-Takhsir have been published in various European languages. Approximately forty of his manuscripts remain in museums and libraries in Iran, Paris, Britain, Rampur, and Bankipur. His contribution has had a significant impact on the advancement of science in general and medicine in particular.

For more content, please subscribe our blog: @theinsidehistory