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Top :: Communities ::Ethnic:: Muslim::
Islamic History and Civilizations
and Islamic Medicine: 1000 years
ahead of its times |
alwan64
Date:
2009-03-25
Time: 12:09:55
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"When we study Europe's Middle Ages, we
seldom include Spain (at least not until
after the "reconquest"). Our libraries abound
with books on the Middle Ages, but try to
find in any of them a single word about daily
life and customs in Spain. It is as if later
historians, in order to justify a uniquely
"European history", ignored the fact that a
vibrant and brilliant civilization created by
"Others"—by Arabs, by Muslims, by Jews—by
brown and black people—not only existed in
Europe, but without whose contributions the
region could not have become what it did.
When we talk about "Europe's" Renassiance, we
never think of its beginnings in Spain
several centuries before it reached Italy.
It's as if we lopped off a good 1000 years of
history—or at least amputated it from Europe.
Nothing could be farther from the truth."
Islamic Medicine: 1000 years ahead of its
times
Within a century after the death of Prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him) the Muslims not
only conquered new lands, but also became
scientific innovators with originality and
productivity. They hit the source ball of
knowledge over the fence to Europe. By the
ninth century, Islamic medical practice had
advanced from talisman and theology to
hospitals with wards, doctors who had to pass
tests, and the use of technical terminology.
The then Baghdad General Hospital
incorporated innovations which sound
amazingly modern. The fountains cooled the
air near the wards of those afflicted with
fever; the insane were treated with
gentleness; and at night the pain of the
restless was soothed by soft music and
storytelling. The prince and pauper received
identical attention; the destitute upon
discharge received five gold pieces to
sustain them during convalescence. While
Paris and London were places of mud streets
and hovels, Baghdad, Cairo and Cardboard had
hospitals open to both male and female
patients; staffed by attendants of both
sexes. These medical centers contained
libraries pharmacies, the system of interns,
externs, and nurses. There were mobile
clinics to reach the totally disabled, the
disadvantaged and those in remote areas.
There were regulations to maintain quality
control on drugs. Pharmacists became licensed
professionals and were pledged to follow the
physician's prescriptions. Legal measures
were taken to prevent doctors from owning or
holding stock. in a pharmacy. The extent to
which Islamic medicine advanced in the fields
of medical education, hospitals,
bacteriology, medicine, anesthesia, surgery,
pharmacy, ophthalmology, psychotherapy and
psychosomatic diseases are presented
briefly.
INTRODUCTION
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who is
ranked number one by Michael Hart, a Jewish
scholar, in his book The 100: The Most
Influential Persons in History, was able to
unite the Arab tribes who had been tom by
revenge, rivalry, and internal fights, and
produced a strong nation acquired and ruled
simultaneously, the two known empires at that
time, namely the Persian and Byzantine
Empires. The Islamic Empire extended from the
Atlantic Ocean on the West to the borders of
China on the East. Only 80 years after the
death of their Prophet, the Muslims crossed
to Europe to rule Spain for more than 700
years. The Muslims preserved the cultures of
the conquered lands. However when the Islamic
Empire became weak, most of the Islamic
contributions in an and science were
destroyed. The Mongols bunt Baghdad (1258
A.D.) out of barbarism, and the Spaniards
demolished most of the Islamic heritage in
Spain out of hatred.
The Islamic Empire for more than 1000 years
remained the most advanced and civilized
nation in the world. This is because Islam
stressed the importance and respect of
learning, forbade destruction, developed in
Muslims the respect for authority and
discipline, and tolerance for other
religions. The Muslims recognized excellence
and hungering intellectually, were avid for
the wisdom of the world of Galen,
Hippocrates, Rufus of Ephesus, Oribasius,
Discorides and Paul of Aegina. By the tenth
century their zeal and enthusiasm for
learning resulted in all essential Greek
medical writings being translated into Arabic
in Damascus, Cairo, and Baghdad. Arabic
became the International Language of learning
and diplomacy. The center of scientific
knowledge and activity shifted eastward, and
Baghdad emerged as the capital of the
scientific world. The Muslims became
scientific innovators with originality and
productivity. Islamic medicine is one of the
most famous and best known facets of Islamic
civilization, and in which the Muslims most
excelled. The Muslims were the great
torchbearers of international scientific
research. They hit the source ball of
knowledge over the fence to Europe. In the
words of Campbell' "The European medical
system is Arabian not only in origin but also
in its structure. The Arabs are the
intellectual forebears of the Europeans."
The aim of this paper is to prove that the
Islamic Medicine was 1000 years ahead of its
times. The paper covers areas such as medical
education, hospitals, bacteriology, medicine,
anesthesia, surgery, ophthalmology, pharmacy,
and psychotherapy.
MEDICAL EDUCATION
In 636 A.D., the Persian City of
Jundi-Shapur, which originally meant
beautiful garden, was conquered by the
Muslims with its great university and
hospital intact. Later the Islamic medical
schools developed on the Jundi-Shapur
pattern. Medical education was serious and
systematic. Lectures and clinical sessions
included in teaching were based on the
apprentice system. The advice given by Ali
ibnul-Abbas (Haly Abbas: -994 -A.D.) to
medical students is as timely today as it was
then'. "And of those things which were
incumbent on the student of this art
(medicine) are that he should constantly
attend the hospitals and sick houses; pay
unremitting attention to the conditions and
circumstances of their intimates, in company
with the most astute professors of medicine,
and inquire frequently as to the state of the
patients and symptoms apparent in them,
bearing in mind what he has read about these
variations, and what they indicate of good or
evil."
Razi (Rhazes: 841-926 A.D.) advised the
medical students while they were seeing a
patient to bear in mind the classic symptoms
of a disease as given in text books and
compare them with what they found (6).
The ablest physicians such as Razi
(Al-Rhazes), Ibn-Sina (Avicenna: 980-1037
A.D.) and Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar: 116 A.D.)
performed the duties of both hospital
directors and deans of medical schools at the
same time. They studied patients and prepared
them for student presentation. Clinical
reports of cases were written and preserved
for teaching'. Registers were maintained.
Training in Basic Sciences
Only Jundi-Shapur or Baghdad had separate
schools for studying basic sciences.
Candidates for medical study received basic
preparation from private tutors through
private lectures and self study. In Baghdad
anatomy was taught by dissecting the apes,
skeletal studies, and didactics. Other
medical schools taught anatomy through
lectures and illustrations. Alchemy was once
of the prerequisites for admission to medical
school. The study of medicinal herbs and
pharmacognosy rounded out the basic training.
A number of hospitals maintained barbel
gardens as a source of drugs for the patients
and a means of instruction for the students.
Once the basic training was completed the
candidate was admitted as an apprentice to a
hospital where, at the beginning, he was
assigned in a large group to a young
physician for indoctrination, preliminary
lectures, and familiarization with library
procedures and uses. During this pre-clinical
period, most of the lectures were on
pharmacology and toxicology and the use of
antidotes.
Clinical training: The next step was to give
the student full clinical training. During
this period students were assigned in small
groups to famous physicians and experienced
instructors, for ward rounds, discussions,
lectures, and reviews. Early in this period
therapeutics and pathology were taught. There
was a strong emphasis on clinical instruction
and some Muslim physicians contributed
brilliant observations that have stood the
test of time. As the students progressed in
their studies they were exposed more and more
to the subjects of diagnosis and judgment.
Clinical observation and physical examination
were stressed. Students (clinical clerks)
were asked to examine a patient and make a
diagnosis of the ailment. Only after an had
failed would the professor make the diagnosis
himself. While performing physical
examination, the students were asked to
examine and report six major factors: the
patients' actions, excreta, the nature and
location of pain, and swelling and effuvia of
the body. Also noted was color and feel of
the skin- whether hot, cool, moist, dry,
flabby. Yellowness in the whites of the eye
(jaundice) and whether or not the patient
could bend his back (lung disease) was also
considered important (8).
After a period of ward instructions,
students, were assigned to outpatient areas.
After examining the patients they reported
their findings to the instructors. After
discussion, treatment was decided on and
prescribed. Patients who were too ill were
admitted as inpatients. The keeping of
records for every patient was the
responsibility of the students.
Curriculum: There was a difference in the
clinical curriculum of different medical
schools in their courses; however the
mainstay was usually internal medicine.
Emphasis was placed on clarity and brevity in
describing a disease and the separation of
each entity. Until the time of Ibn Sina the
description of meningitis was confused with
acute infection accompanied by delirium. Ibn
Sina described the symptoms of meningitis
with such clarity and brevity that there is
very little that can be added after I 000
yearS6. Surgery was also included in the
curriculum. After completing courses, some
students specialized under famous
specialists. Some others specialized while in
clinical training. According to Elgood9 many
surgical procedures such as amputation,
excision of varicose veins and hemorrhoids
were required knowledge. Orthopedics was
widely taught, and the use of plaster of
Paris for casts after reduction of fractures
was routinely shown to students. This method
of treating fractures was rediscovered in the
West in 1852. Although ophthalmology was
practiced widely, it was not taught regularly
in medical schools. Apprenticeship to an eye
doctor was the preferred way of specializing
in ophthalmology. Surgical treatment of
cataract was very common. Obstetrics was left
to midwives. Medical practitioners consulted
among themselves and with specialists. Ibn
Sina and Hazi both widely practiced and
taught psychotherapy. After completing the
training, the medical graduate was not ready
to enter practice, until he passed the
licensure examination. It is important to
note that there existed a Scientific
Association which had been formed in the
hospital of Mayyafariqin to discuss the
conditions and diseases of the patients.
Licensing of Physicians: In Baghdad in 931
A.D. Caliph Al-Muqtadir learned that a
patient had died as the result of a
physician's error. There upon he ordered his
chief physician, Sinan-ibn Thabit bin Qurrah
to examine all those who practiced the art of
healing. In the first year of the decree more
than 860 were examined in Baghdad alone. From
that time on, licensing examinations were
required and administered in various places.
Licensing Boards were set up under a
government official called Muhtasib or
inspector general . The Muhtasib also
inspected weights and measures of traders and
pharmacists. Pharmacists were employed as
inspectors to inspect drugs and maintain
quality control of drugs sold in a pharmacy
or apothecary. What the present Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) is doing in America
today was done in Islamic medicine I 000
years ago. The chief physician gave oral and
practical examinations, and if the young
physician was successful, the Muhtasib
administered the Hippocratic oath and issued
a license. After 1000 years licensing of
physicians has been implemented in the West,
particularly in America by the State
Licensing Board in Medicine. For specialists
we have American Board of Medical Specialties
such as in Medicine, Surgery, Radiology, etc.
European medical schools followed the pattern
set by the Islamic medical schools and even
in the early nineteenth century, students at
the Sorbonne could not graduate without
reading Ibn Sina's Qanun (Cannon). According
to Razi a physician had to satisfy two
condition for selection: firs0y, he was to be
fully conversant with the new and the old
medical literature and secondly, he must have
worked in a hospital as house physician.
HOSPITALS
The development of efficient hospitals was an
outstanding contribution of Islamic medicine
(7). Hospitals served all citizens free
without any regard to their color, religion,
sex, age or social status. The hospitals were
run by government and the directors of
hospitals were physicians.
Hospitals had separate wards for male
patients and female patients. Each ward was
furnished with a nursing staff and porters of
the sex of the patients to be treated
therein. Different diseases such as fever,
wounds, infections, mania, eye conditions,
cold diseases, diarrhea, and female disorders
were allocated different wards. Convalescents
had separate sections within them. Hospitals
provided patients with unlimited water supply
and with bathing facilities. Only qualified
and licensed physicians were allowed by law
to practice medicine. The hospitals were
teaching hospitals educating medical
students. They had housing for students and
house-staff. They contained pharmacies
dispensing free drugs to patients. Hospitals
had their own conference room and expensive
libraries containing the most up-to-date
books. According to Haddad, the library of
the Tulum Hospital which was founded in Cairo
in 872 A.D. (I 100 years ago) had 100,000
books. Universities, cities and hospitals
acquired large libraries (Mustansiriyya
University in Baghdad contained 80,000
volumes; the library of Cordova 600,000
volumes; that of Cairo 2,000,000 and that of
Tripoli 3,000,000 books), physicians had
their own extensive personal book
collections, at a time when printing was
unknown and book editing was done by skilled
and specialized scribes putting in long hours
of manual labour.
For the first time in history, these
hospitals kept records of patients and their
medical care.
From the point of view of treatment the
hospital was divided into an out- patient
department and an inpatient department. The
system of the in-patient department differed
only slightly from that of today. At Tulun
hospital, on admission the patients were
given special apparel while their clothes,
money, and valuables were stored until the
time of their discharge. On discharge, each
patient - received five gold pieces to
support himself until he could return to
work.
The hospital and medical school at Damascus
had elegant rooms and an extensive library.
Healthy people are said to have feigned
illness in order to enjoy its cuisine. There
was a separate hospital in Damascus for
lepers, while, in Europe, even six centuries
later, condemned lepers were burned to death
by royal decree.
The Qayrawan Hospital (built in 830 A.D. in
Tunisia) was characterized by spacious
separate wards, waiting rooms for visitors
and patients, and female nurses from Sudan,
an event representing the first use of
nursing in Arabic history. The hospital also
provided facilities for performing prayers.
The Al-Adudi hospital (built in 981 A.D. in
Baghdad) was furnished with die best
equipment and supplies known at the time. It
had interns, residents, and 24 consultants
attending its professional activities, An
Abbasid minister, Ali ibn Isa, requested the
court physician, Sinan ibn Thabit, to
organize regular visiting of prisons by
medical officers (14). At a time when paris
and London were places of mud streets and
hovels, Baghdad, Cairo, and Cordova had
hospitals which incorporated innovations
which sound amazingly modern. It was chiefly
in the humaneness of patient care, however,
that the hospitals of Islam excelled. Near
the wards of those afflicted with fever,
fountains cooled the air; the insane were
treated with gentleness; and at night music
and storytelling soothed the patients.
The Bimaristans (hospitals) were of two types
- the fixed and the mobile. The mobile
hospitals were transported upon beasts of
burden and were erected from time to time as
required. The physicians in the mobile
clinics were of the same standing as those
who served the fixed hospitals. Similar
moving hospitals accompanied the armies in
the field. The field hospitals were well
equipped with medicaments, instruments, tents
and a staff of doctors, nurses, and
orderlies. The traveling clinics served the
totally disabled, the disadvantaged and those
in remote areas. These hospitals were also
used by prisoners, and by the general public,
particularly in times of epidemics.
BACTERIOLOGY
Al-Razi was asked to choose a site for a new
hospital when he came to Baghdad. First he
deduced which was the most hygienic area by
observing where the fresh pieces of meat he
had hung in various parts of the city
decomposed least quickly.
Ibn Sina stated explicitly that the bodily
secretion is contaminated by foul foreign
earthly body before getting the infection.
Ibn Khatima stated that man is surrounded by
minute bodies which enter the human system
and cause disease.
In the middle of the fourteenth century
"black death" was ravaging Europe and before
which Christians stood helpless, considering
it an act of God.
At that time Ibn al Khatib of Granada
composed a treatise in the defense of the
theory of infection in the following way: To
those who say, "How can we admit the
possibility of infection while the religious
law denies it?" We reply that the existence
of contagion is established by experience,
investigation, the evidence of the senses and
trustworthy reports. These facts constitute a
sound argument. The fact of infection becomes
clear to the investigator who notices how he
who establishes contact with the afflicted
gets the disease, whereas he who is not in
contact remains safe, and how transmission is
effected through garments, vessels and
earrings.
Al-Razi wrote the first medical description
of smallpox and measles - two important
infectious diseases. He described the
clinical difference between the two diseases
so vividly that nothing since has been added.
Ibn Sina suggested the communicable nature of
tuberculosis. He is said to have been the
first to describe the preparation and
properties of sulphuric acid and alcohol. His
recommendation of wine as the best dressing
for wounds was very popular in medieval
practice. However Razi was the first to use
silk sutures and alcohol for hemostatis. He
was the first to use alcohol as an
antiseptic.
ANESTHESIA
Ibn Sina originated the idea of the use of
oral anesthetics. He recognized opium as the
most powerful mukhadir (an intoxicant or
drug). Less powerful anesthetics known were
mandragora, poppy, hemlock, hyoscyamus,
deadly nightshade (belladonna), lettuce seed,
and snow or ice cold water. The Arabs
invented the soporific sponge which was the
precursor of modem anesthesia. It was a
sponge soaked with aromatics and narcotics
and held to the patient's nostrils.
The use of anesthesia was one of the reasons
for the rise of surgery in the Islamic world
to the level of an honourable speciality,
while in Europe, surgery was belittled and
practiced by barbers and quacks. The Council
of Tours in 1163 A.D. declared Surgery is to
be abandoned by the schools of medicine and
by all decent physicians." Burton stated that
"anesthetics have been used in surgery
throughout the East for centuries before
ether and chloroform became the fashion in
civilized West."
SURGERY
Al-Razi is attributed to be the first to use
the seton in surgery and animal gut for
sutures.
Abu al-Qasim Khalaf Ibn Abbas Al-Zahrawi
(930-1013 A.D.) known to the West as
Abulcasis, Bucasis or Alzahravius is
considered to be the most famous surgeon in
Islamic medicine. In his book Al-Tasrif, he
described hemophilia for the first time in
medical history. The book contains the
description and illustration of about 200
surgical instruments many of which were
devised by Zahrawi himself. In it Zahrawi
stresses the importance of the study of
Anatomy as a fundamental prerequisite to
surgery. He advocates the re implantation of
a fallen tooth and the use of dental
prosthesis carved from cow's bone, an
improvement over the wooden dentures worn by
the first President of America George
Washington seven centuries later. Zahrawi
appears to be the first surgeon in history to
use cotton (Arabic word) in surgical
dressings in the control of hemorrhage, as
padding in the splinting of fractures, as a
vaginal padding in fractures of the pubis and
in dentistry. He introduced the method for
the removal of kidney stones by cutting into
the urinary bladder. He was the first to
teach the lithotomy position for vaginal
operations. He described tracheotomy,
distinguished between goiter and cancer of
the thyroid, and explained his invention of a
cauterizing iron which he also used to
control bleeding. His description of varicose
veins stripping, even after ten centuries, is
almost like modern surgery. In orthopedic
surgery he introduced what is called today
Kocher's method of reduction of shoulder
dislocation and patelectomy, 1,000 years
before Brooke reintroduced it in 1937.
Ibn Sina's description of the surgical
treatment of cancer holds true even today
after 1,000 years. He says the excision must
be wide and bold; all veins running to the
tumor must be included in the amputation.
Even if this is not sufficient, then the area
affected should be cauterized.
The surgeons of Islam practiced three types
of surgery: vascular, general, and
orthopedic, Ophthalmic surgery was a
speciality which was quite distinct both from
medicine and surgery. They freely opened the
abdomen and drained the peritoneal cavity in
the approved modern style. To an unnamed
surgeon of Shiraz is attributed the first
colostomy operation. Liver abscesses were
treated by puncture and exploration.
Surgeons all over the world practice today
unknowingly several surgical procedures that
Zahrawi introduced 1,000 years ago .
MEDICINE
The most brilliant contribution was made by
Al-Razi who differentiated between smallpox
and measles, two diseases that were hitherto
thought to be one single disease. He is
credited with many contributions, which
include being the first to describe true
distillation, glass retorts and luting,
corrosive sublimate, arsenic, copper sulfate,
iron sulphate, saltpeter, and borax in the
treatment of disease . He introduced mercury
compounds as purgatives (after testing them
on monkeys); mercurial ointments and lead
ointment." His interest in urology focused on
problems involving urination, venereal
disease, renal abscess, and renal and vesical
calculi. He described hay-fever or allergic
rhinitis.
Some of the Arab contributions include the
discovery of itch mite of scabies (Ibn Zuhr),
anthrax, ankylostoma and the guinea worm by
Ibn Sina and sleeping sickness by
Qalqashandy. They described abscess of the
mediastinum. They understood tuberculosis and
pericarditis.
Al Ash'ath demonstrated gastric physiology by
pouring water into the mouth of an
anesthetized lion and showed the
distensibility and movements of the stomach,
preceding Beaumont by about 1,000 years" Abu
Shal al- Masihi explained that the absorption
of food takes place more through the
intestines than the stomach. Ibn Zuhr
introduced artificial feeding either by
gastric tube or by nutrient enema. Using the
stomach tube the Arab physicians performed
gastric lavage in case of poisoning. Ibn
Al-Nafis was the first to discover pulmonary
circulation.
Ibn Sina in his masterpiece Al-Quanun
(Canon), containing over a million words,
described complete studies of physiology,
patlhology and hygiene. He specifically
discoursed upon breast cancer, poisons,
diseases of the skin, rabies, insomnia,
childbirth and the use of obstetrical
forceps, meningitis, amnesia, stomach ulcers,
tuberculosis as a contagious disease, facial
tics, phlebotomy, tumors, kidney diseases and
geriatric care. He defined love as a mental
disease.
OPHTHALMOLOGY
The doctors of Islam exhibited a high degree
of proficiency and certainly were foremost in
the treatment of eye diseases. Words such as
retina and cataract are of Arabic origin. In
ophthalmology and optics lbn al Haytham
(965-1039 A.D.) known to the West as Alhazen
wrote the Optical Thesaurus from which such
worthies as Roger Bacon, Leonardo da Vinci
and Johannes Kepler drew theories for their
own writings. In his Thesaurus he showed that
light falls on the retina in the same manner
as it falls on a surface in a darkened room
through a small aperture, thus conclusively
proving that vision happens when light rays
pass from objects towards the eye and not
from the eye towards the objects as thought
by the Greeks. He presents experiments for
testing the angles of incidence and
reflection, and a theoretical proposal for
magnifying lens (made in Italy three
centuries later). He also taught that the
image made on the retina is conveyed along
the optic nerve to the brain. Razi was the
first to recognize the reaction of the pupil
to light and Ibn Sina was the first to
describe the exact number of extrinsic
muscles of the eyeball, namely six. The
greatest contribution of Islamic medicine in
practical ophthalmology was in the matter of
cataract. The most significant development in
the extraction of cataract was developed by
Ammar bin Ali of Mosul, who introduced a
hollow metallic needle through the sclerotic
and extracted the lens by suction. Europe
rediscovered this in the nineteenth century.
PHARMACOLOGY
Pharmacology took roots in Islam during the
9th century. Yuhanna bin Masawayh (777-857
A.D.) started scientific and systematic
applications of therapeutics at the Abbasids
capital. His students Hunayn bin Ishaq
al-lbadi (809-874 A.D.) and his associates
established solid foundations of Arabic
medicine and therapeutics in the ninth
century. In his book al-Masail Hunayn
outlined methods for confirming the
pharmacological effectiveness of drugs by
experimenting with them on humans. He also
explained the importance of prognosis and
diagnosis of diseases for better and more
effective treatment.
Pharmacy became an independent and separate
profession from medicine and alchemy. With
the wild sprouting of apothecary shops,
regulations became necessary and imposed to
maintain quality control." The Arabian
apothecary shops were regularly inspected by
a syndic (Muhtasib) who threatened the
merchants with humiliating corporal
punishments if they adulterated drugs." As
early as the days of al-Mamun and al-Mutasim
pharmacists had to pass examinations to
become licensed professionals and were
pledged to follow the physician's
prescriptions. Also by this decree,
restrictive measures were legally placed upon
doctors, preventing them from owning or
holding stock in a pharmacy.
Methods of extracting and preparing medicines
were brought to a high art, and their
techniques of distillation, crystallization,
solution, sublimation, reduction and
calcination became the essential processes of
pharmacy and chemistry. With the help of
these techniques, the Saydalanis
(pharmacists) introduced new drugs such as
camphor, senna, sandalwood, rhubarb, musk,
myrrh, cassia, tamarind, nutmeg, alum, aloes,
cloves, coconut, nuxvomica, cubebs, aconite,
ambergris and mercury. The important role of
the Muslims in developing modern pharmacy and
chemistry is memorialized in the significant
number of current pharmaceutical and chemical
terms derived from Arabic: drug, alkali,
alcohol, aldehydes, alembic, and elixir among
others, not to mention syrups and juleps.
They invented flavorings extracts made of
rose water, orange blossom water, orange and
lemon peel, tragacanth and other attractive
ingredients. Space does not permit me to list
the contributions to pharmacology and
therapeutics, made by Razi, Zahrawi, Biruni,
Ibn Butlan, and Tamimi.
PSYCHOTHERAPY
From freckle lotion to psychotherapy- such
was the range of treatment practiced by the
physicians of Islam. Though freckles continue
to sprinkle the skin of 20th century man, in
the realm of psychosomatic disorders both
al-Razi and Ibn Sina achieved dramatic
results, antedating Freud and Jung by a
thousand years. When Razi was appointed
physician-in-chief to the Baghdad Hospital,
he made it the, first hospital to have a ward
exclusively devoted to the mentally ill."
Razi combined psychological methods and
physiological explanations, and he used
psychotherapy in a dynamic fashion, Razi was
once called in to treat a famous caliph who
had severe arthritis. He advised a hot bath,
and while the caliph was bathing, Razi
threatened him with a knife, proclaiming he
was going to kill him. This deliberate
provocation increased the natural caloric
which thus gained sufficient strength to
dissolve the already softened humours, as a
result the caliph got up from is knees in the
bath and ran after Razi. One woman who
suffered from such severe cramps in her
joints that she was unable to rise was cured
by a physician who lifted her skirt, thus
putting her to shame. "A flush of heat was
produced within her which dissolved the
rheumatic humour."
The Arabs brought a refreshing spirit of
dispassionate clarity into psychiatry. They
were free from the demonological theories
which swept over the Christian world and were
therefore able to make clear cut clinical
observations on the mentally ill.
Najab ud din Muhammad'", a contemporary of
Razi, left many excellent descriptions of
various mental diseases. His carefully
compiled observation on actual patients made
up the most complete classification of mental
diseases theretofore known." Najab described
agitated depression, obsessional types of
neurosis, Nafkhae Malikholia (combined
priapism and sexual impotence). Kutrib (a
form of persecutory psychosis), Dual-Kulb (a
form of mania) .
Ibn Sina recognized 'physiological
psychology' in treating illnesses involving
emotions. From the clinical perspective Ibn
Sina developed a system for associating
changes in the pulse rate with inner feelings
which has been viewed as anticipating the
word association test of Jung. He is said to
have treated a terribly ill patient by
feeling the patient's pulse and reciting
aloud to him the names of provinces,
districts, towns, streets, and people. By
noticing how the patient's pulse quickened
when names were mentioned Ibn Sina deduced
that the patient was in love with a girl
whose home Ibn Sina was able to locate by the
digital examination. The man took Ibn Sina's
advice , married the girl , and recovered
from his illness.
It is not surprising to know that at Fez,
Morocco, an asylum for the mentally ill had
been built early in the 8th century, and
insane, asylums were built by the Arabs also
in Baghdad in 705 A.D., in Cairo in 800 A.D.,
and in Damascus and Aleppo in 1270 A.D. In
addition to baths, drugs, kind and benevolent
treatment given to the mentally ill,
musico-therapy and occupational therapy were
also employed. These therapies were highly
developed. Special choirs and live music
bands were brought daily to entertain the
patients by providing singing and musical
performances and comic performers as well.
CONCLUSION
1,000 years ago Islamic medicine was the most
advanced in the world at that time. Even
after ten centuries, the achievements of
Islamic medicine look amazingly modern. 1,000
years ago the Muslims were the great
torchbearers of international scientific
research. Every student and professional from
each country outside the Islamic Empire,
aspired, yearned, a dreamed to go to the
Islamic universities to learn, to work, to
live and to lead a comfortable life in an
affluent and most advanced and civilized
society. Today, in this twentieth century,
the United States of America has achieved
such a position. The pendulum can swing back.
Fortunately Allah has given a bounty to many
Islamic countries - an income over 100
billion dollars per year. Hence Islamic
countries have the opportunity and resources
to make Islamic science and medicine number
one in the world, once again.
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Re: Islamic History and
Civilizations and Islamic Medicine:
1000 years ahead of its times |
freddo1939
Date:
2009-03-25
Time: 12:30:35
|
Alwan-- you forgot Gengiz Khan and his mongul
hoards-- they must have had an influence. The
violent face of the muslim.
---- However, escaping these bloodthirsty ,
creatures is what brought the Angles, Saxons,
and Jutes to these shores. So that we, the
real Brits are what we are because
of this. |
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Re: Islamic History and
Civilizations and Islamic Medicine:
1000 years ahead of its times |
freddo1939
Date:
2009-03-27
Time: 11:05:40
|
ALWAN__BECAUSE YOU DON¬T ENGAGE IN
DISCUSSIONS,TO FURTHUR YOUR ARGUMENT, IT
WOULD APPEAR THAT EVERYONE IS NOW AVOIDING
YOUR POSTS. |
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Re: Islamic History and
Civilizations and Islamic Medicine:
1000 years ahead of its times |
mightywurlitzer
Date:
2009-03-27
Time: 19:01:24
|
AMAZING AMAZING
ALL the massive amount of medical documents
written by Greeks Romans Egyptians Persians
Hebrews Indians
et al.
THOUSANDS OF YEARS BEFORE THE START OF ISLAM
had no influence on so called islamic
medicine,
Wasnt Jesus offered a painkiller while on the
Cross ??
vinegar and gall ...them Romans must have
been reading Islamic medical texts....
I just wish them that write about Islam did a
tiny bit of research just a tiny bit would
do............
IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK ??
OK I know it is |
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Re: Islamic History and
Civilizations and Islamic Medicine:
1000 years ahead of its times |
mightywurlitzer
Date:
2009-03-27
Time: 19:15:46
|
the introduction from where alwen spammed his
post has been left off
WHY ?
read on >>
""In 636 A.D., the Persian City of
Jundi-Shapur, which originally meant
beautiful garden, was conquered by the
Muslims. Its great university and hospital
were left intact. Later other Islamic medical
schools were built according to the
Jundi-Shapur pattern. Medical education was
serious and systematic. Lectures and clinical
sessions included in teaching were based on
the apprentice system. The advice given by
Ali ibnul-Abbas (Haly Abbas: - 994 A.D.) to
medical students is as timely today as it was
then2. "And of those things which were
incumbent on the student of this art
(medicine) are that he should constantly
attend the hospitals and sick houses: pay
unremitting attention to the conditions and
circumstances of their inmates, stay in
company with the most astute professors of
medicine, and inquire frequently as to the
state of the patients and symptoms apparent
in them, bearing in mind what he has read
about these variations, and what they
indicate of good or evil""
PERHAPS A GOOD IDEA TO NICK ADVANCED
MEDICINE FROM THESE FIRE WORSHIPPING PERSIANS
PAGANS .....funny how as soon as the country
was conquered it became Islamic
medical schools.. I wonder what Muslins teach
about the religion of the builders of the
pyramids .
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Re: Islamic History and
Civilizations and Islamic Medicine:
1000 years ahead of its times |
mightywurlitzer
Date:
2009-03-27
Time: 19:19:53
|
quote "officers (14). At a time when paris
and London were places of mud streets and"
At one time London and Paris were empty
places on rivers...elsewhere there were
glittering civilisations ,
Funny how the world moved on but Islam stays
firmly rooted in the 7 th century |
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Re: Islamic History and
Civilizations and Islamic Medicine:
1000 years ahead of its times |
elephant_in_the_room
Date:
2009-03-27
Time: 22:24:54
|
funny how if it is good it is Islamic
medicine as if the medicine sprung out of
nothing.
As islam re-introduced salvery on a big
scale..how come we they dont boast of Islamic
salvery
hypocrites |
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Re: Islamic History and
Civilizations and Islamic Medicine:
1000 years ahead of its times |
freddo1939
Date:
2009-03-28
Time: 17:32:17
|
OK OK OK - so I agree - muslims are the
cleverest, oldest ,civilized people ever to
have graced this earth.
Now do the next cleverest thing you`ll ever
do ------ clear off, back to this utopia
you`ve all left behind.
In doing so you`ll leave all us , dole paying
Phillistines, behind.... money that could go
to our old aged pensioners, the ones who
payed the money into the system all their
lives. |
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Re: Islamic History and
Civilizations and Islamic Medicine:
1000 years ahead of its times |
niagarafalls
Date:
2009-03-29
Time: 07:29:55
|
Flipp'ed and backwords . But backwordness is
the key. History as they understand it or as
they are told is all about them.
Duplication and destruction ,than out of the
ruins comes a backword beginning.Control of
the populas ,duplication and destruction .
Control/duplication/destruction ,those three
things.
It all begins where they say it begins. Truth
is left out, but they cannot completely
destroy It.
Because of the self evident truth,the
backwordness of those beliefs are seen and
realized. What is odd is also backword
reverse.
There is no point to make when disputing
truth across beliefs that come of thousands
of years of conditioning of the muslim
population.
Duplicate /refashion and destroy.
There is or may be some truth in it. But some
is too little. Is half a lie as good as the
whole truth ? Or is a half truth as good as
it gets ! ?
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Re: Islamic History and
Civilizations and Islamic Medicine:
1000 years ahead of its times |
socrates
Date:
2009-05-03
Time: 14:46:08
|
Alwan -Muslims like you never cease amaze me.
As many others have pointed out, those
Islamic 'discoveries' were all well known
long before Muhammad/Islam in(China-Egypt
etc). Islam simply collated that information
and claimed it for itself, as it still does
today. What has Islam given to the scientific
world in the past 500 years? Where are the
Islamic Erlichs/Pasteurs/Jenna's/Marie
Curies? Islam has given absolutely NOTHING in
the scientific/medicinal realm.You muslims
simply parrot your Imams (80%-90% of
Pakistani origin I believe) or your
grammatically trickster 'theologians',
instead of inquiring historically independent
sources. You steal Western sceintific science
claims by the expedient of fitting Western
research to a sura or hadith by a
'grammatical sleight of hand' - in other
words, Islam lies and cheats its way to
attain credibility. I have looked at your
'Cairo Institute for 'Islamic Science', and I
couldn't stop laughing. Any British Secondary
School Science Lab would make them look like
buffoons. But keep posting Alwan, we all like
to laugh. |
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Re: Islamic History and
Civilizations and Islamic Medicine:
1000 years ahead of its times |
suze
Date:
2009-05-03
Time: 16:55:22
|
i love it jolly 
but its a reflection of how i actually feel
 |
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Re: Islamic History and
Civilizations and Islamic Medicine:
1000 years ahead of its times |
suze
Date:
2009-05-03
Time: 17:15:55
|
i do have to add a confession here jolly.
the mods usually remove the posts that say
that as soon as they are spotted, so i tend
to use it as often as i can 
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Re: Islamic History and
Civilizations and Islamic Medicine:
1000 years ahead of its times |
suze
Date:
2009-05-03
Time: 17:19:35
|
u could put money on it jolly  |
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Re: Islamic History and
Civilizations and Islamic Medicine:
1000 years ahead of its times |
freddo1939
Date:
2009-05-06
Time: 14:26:17
|
Alwan-- hows this for an idea--- let islamic
women rule for a trial period say 10 yrs.
They walk in front -you walk behind with the
boys.You wear those bags over your heads.
They say who you`ve got to marry....
........ ARE YOU BEGINING TO GET THE PICTURE
......Hey I bet that doesn`t look so good now
----DOES IT...?????...mmmmmmm |
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Re: Islamic History and
Civilizations and Islamic Medicine:
1000 years ahead of its times |
socrates
Date:
2009-05-06
Time: 16:00:19
|
Your'e wasting your time if you think you can
get an answer from this Islamic Robot - both
he and Aberdarman have no capacity for
independent thought - they simply parrot
their Imams or quote some intellectually
challenged Islamic 'theologian'. It's like
when you get a recorded message on the phone
- ask all you want, but there's no-one there. |
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