MUSLIM SCHOLAR
IBN SINA
Ibn Sina was born in 980C.E in the village of Afhana near Bukhara which today is lcated in the far south of Russia. His father, Abdullah, an adherent of the Ismaili sect, was from Balkh and his mother from a village near Bukhara.
In any age Ibn Sina, known in the west as Avicenna, would have been a giant among giants. He displayed exceptional intellectual prowess as a child and at the age of ten was already proficient in the Quran and the Arabic classics. During the next six years he devoted himself to Muslim Jurisprudence, Philosophy and Natural Science and studied Logic, Euclid, and the Almeagest.
Al-Qifti states that Ibn Sina completed 21 major and 24 minor works on philosophy, medicine, theology, geometry, astronomy and the like. Another source (Brockelmann) atributes 99 books to Ibn Sina comprising 16 on medicine, 68 on theology and metaphysics 11 on astronomy and four on verse. Most of these were in Arabic, but in his native Persian he wrote a large manual on philosophical science entitled Danish-naama-i-Alai and a small treatise on the pulse.
His most celebrated Arabic poem describes the descent of Soul into the Body from the higher Sphere. Among his scientific works, the leading two are the Kitab al-Shifa (Book of Healing), a philosophical encyclopedia based upon Aristotelian traditions and the al-Qanun al-Tibb which represents the final categorization of Greco-Arabian thoughts on Medicine.
EL-ZAHRAWI
El Zahrawi is believed to have been born in the city of El-Zahra, six miles northwest of Cordoba, sometime between 936 and 940. It was here that he lived/ studied, taught, an practiced medicine and surgery until shortly before his death in about 1013, two years after the sacking of El-Zahra.
Because El-Zahra was pillaged and destroyed, little is known about its illustrious son El-Zahrawi. He was first mentioned by the Andalusian scholar Abu Muhammad bin Hazm (993-1064),who listed him among the great physician-surgeons of Moorish Spain. The first known biography of ElZahrawi , however appeared in al-Humaydi's Jadhwat al-Muqtbis (On Andalusian Savants), completed six decades after El Zahrawi's death.
It is clear from El Zahrawi's life history and from his writings that he devoted his entire life and genius to the advancement of medicine as a whole and surgery in particular. El Zahrawi wrote a medical encyclopedia spanning 30 volumes which included sections on surgery, medicine, orthopedics, ophthalmology, pharmacology, nutrition etc. This book was known as At-Tasrif and contained data that El Zahrawi had accumulated during a career that spanned almost 50 years of training, teaching and practice. He apparently traveled very little but had wide experience in treating accident victims and war casualties.
At-Tasrif contains many original observations of historical interest. In it, El Zahrawi elaborates on the causes and symptoms of disease and theorises on the upbringing of children and youth and on the care of the aged and convalescent. In the section on pharmacology and therapeutics, he covers areas such as cardiac drugs, emetics, laxatives, cosmetology, dietetics, materia medica, weights and measures and drug subtitution.
JABIR IBN HAIYAN
Jabir Ibn Haiyan, the alchemist Geber of the Middle Ages, is generally known as the father of chemistry. Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan, sometimes called al-Harrani and al-Sufi, was the son of the druggist (Attar). The precise date of his birth is the subject of some discussion, but it is established that he practiced medicine and alchemy in Kufa around 776 C.E. He is reported to have studied under Imam Ja'far Sadiq and the Ummayed prince Khalid Ibn Yazid. In his early days, he practiced medicine and was under the patronage of the Barmaki Vizir during the Abbssid Caliphate of Haroon al-Rashid. He shared some of the effects of the downfall of the Barmakis and was placed under house arrest in Kufa, where he died in 803 C.E.
Jabir's major contribution was in the field of chemistry. He introduced experimental investigation into alchemy, which rapidly changed its character into modern chemistry. On the ruins of his well-known laboratory remained after centuries, but his fame rests on over 100 monumental treatises, of which 22 relate to chemistry and alchemy. His contribution of fundamental importance to chemistry includes perfection of scientific techniques such as crystallization, distillation, calcination, sublimation and evaporation and development of several instruments for the same. The fact of early development of chemistry as a distinct branch of science by the Arabs, instead of the earlier vague ideas, is well established and the very name chemistry is derived from the Arabic word al-Kimya, which was studied and developed extensively by the Muslim scientists.
MOHAMMAD BIN MUSA AL-KHAWARIZMI
Abu Abdullah Mohammad Ibn Musa al-Khawarizmi was born at Khawarizm (kheva), south of Aral sea. Very little is known about his early life, except for the fact that his parents had migrated to a placed south of Baghdad. The exact dates of his birth and death are also not known, but it is established that he flourished under Al-Mamun at Baghdad through 813-833 and probably died around 840 C.E.
Khawarizmi was a mathematician, astronomer and geographer. The very name Algebra has been derived from his famous book Al-Jabr wa-al-Muqabilah. He developed the decimal system so that the overall system of numerals, 'algorithm' or 'algorizm' is named after him. He developed at length several arithmetical procedures, including operations on fractions. His there contributions include original work related to clocks, sundials and astrolabes.
Several of his books were translated into Latin in the early 12th Century. In fact, his his book on arithmetic, Kitab al-Jam'a wal-Tafreeq bil HISAB AL-hindi was lost in Arabic but survived in a Latin translation. His book on Algebra, Al- Maqala fi Hisab al-Jabr wa-al-Muqabilah, was also translated into Latin in the 12th century, and it was this translation which introduced this new science to the West "completely unknown till then".
