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. The Islamic Golden Age, spanning the 8th to the 15th Centuries, saw many great advances in science, as Islamic scholars gathered knowledge from across the known world and added their own findings .
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.In addition to the major encyclopedic works produced by such scholars as al-Razi (Latin Rhazes, d. 925 AD) and Ibn Sina (Latin Avicenna, d. 1037 AD), whose works were translated into Latin as early as the twelfth century, and continued to be studied through the second half of the seventeenth century, the major Islamic discoveries and contributions to the field of medicine include:
1) The introduction of new fields of medical research and clinical practice such as maternity, gynecology, embryology, pediatrics, dietary medicine, public health, and psychic medicine.
2) The diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of many new diseases such as smallpox and measles.
3) The qualitative development of the field of pharmacology beyond the comparatively limited earlier state of knowledge.
4) In contrast to the Greek tradition which excluded it, Muslims incorporated surgery into the study of medicine, and developed its practice and techniques.
5) The structure and organization of modern hospitals follows patterns established as early as the ninth century. Islamic hospitals had open admission policies for patients of all economic background, and regardless of sex, religion, or ethnicity. They were run by large administrative staff and could accommodate as many as 8,000 patients. They were separated into different wards by sex and nature of illness. Moreover, hospitals had their own pharmacies and facilities in which medicines were prepared, and each hospital had its own apprenticeship program where students obtained practical experience under the guidance of a physician.
The Most Famous Muslim Surgeon
Abu Al-Qaasim Az-Zahraawi (died in 428 A.H.) was the author of “At-Tasreef Liman `Ajaza `an At-Ta’leef” or “Clarifications for Non-Writers”. This is the book on which Europe relied for several centuries after it was translated into Latin. It is a 30-volume medical encyclopedia and is considered the first encyclopedia on medicine and surgery.
Az-Zahraawi was the first surgeon to perform surgical operations on blood vessels such as suturing arteries after they had been cut or joining them while they are bleeding. He was also the first surgeon to use silk fibers in closing wounds and gold ligaments in correcting teeth. He was also the first to develop plastic suturing, and he developed many surgical instruments that were not previously known. He drew pictures of these instruments, and gave details of their size and the material used in manufacturing them, such as hooks for excising tonsils.
View the Original article
0 comments:
Post a Comment