Anatomy

Published: 2002

Hunayn Ibn Ishaq systematized and defined the life sciences and devised practical concepts and procedures for study, experimentation, and practice.

He wrote al-Masa’il fi at-tibb, Introduction to Healing Art. As a result, the medical and pharmaceutical branches of science developed further. Examiners used Introduction to Healing Art to approve physicians’ licenses from the 8th to the 14th century. The book was translated into Latin and was widely read in Europe.

Hunayn then wrote Kitab al-Manazir (Book of Optics) and ten treaties on anatomy, physiology, and eye treatment. These treaties became the first systematic, organized Arabic texts on anatomy and physiology, along with some of the earliest known anatomical charts.

Muslim surgeons were among the first to use narcotic and sedative drugs in operations. Islam teaches that God has provided human beings with various natural remedies to cure the ills. The man should identify them and use them with skill and compassion.

Al Majusi (died 994) is considered the first theorist on anatomy and physiology in Arabic medicine. His Liber Regius was the early Islamic work to deal with surgery in detail, and he was the first to use the tourniquet to prevent arterial bleeding.

Al-Zahrawi of Moorish Spain (940-1013) wrote an encyclopedia, at-Tasrif, covering obstetrics, pediatrics, and midwifery, as well as detailed general human anatomy. His latest treatises were devoted to surgery, including cauterization.

Ibn an-Nafis (1210-1288) gave the most comprehensive description of surgical operations and treatment of bodily injuries ever contained in any Arabic text of its kind. He explained the capillaries’ function, the minute blood passages that connect arteries and veins, and the action of cordial valves in the veins and the heart chambers. We also owe him the first appeal for uniformity of standards of weights and measures used in medicine, pharmacy, and surgery.