Islam

Before the seventh century, Islamic healing con­sisted merely of a collection of popular health rules, or hadiths, known as “Muhammad’s medicine” for use by devout Muslims living on the Arabic penin­sula.

The collection, preservation, and eventual trans­mission of classical medical knowledge went on for several centuries. Even before the Arab conquest of 636, Nestorian Christians in Jundishapur, Persia, had played a prominent role in safeguarding Greek learning by translating many Greek works into the Syriac language. Later, under Islamic rule, these Nestorian physicians wielded great influence over the early caliphs, conducting searches for additional Greek manuscripts in the Middle East and directing a massive translation program of scientific texts from Syriac into Arabic.

Islam’s political supremacy and commercial net­works made possible the collection of medicinal plants from the Mediterranean basin, Persia, and India. The eleventh-century author Abu al-Biruni composed a treatise on pharmacy in which he listed about 720 drugs. In addition, Islamic alchemy fur­nished a number of metallic compounds for the treat­ment of disease. Such expansions in materia medica and the Compotmding of remedies led to the estab­lishment of a separate craft of pharmacy.

In medical theory, authors writing in Arabic merely followed and further systematized classical humoralism. Whereas al-Razi, or Rhazes, of the ninth and early tenth centuries contributed a num­ber of original clinical works such as his treatise on smallpox and measles, the Canon of Medicine com­posed in the early eleventh century by the Persian physician Ibn Sina, or Avicenna, became the leading medical encyclopedia and was widely used until the seventeenth century. Finally, Moses Maimonides, a Jewish physician and prolific author, wrote on clini­cal subjects and medical ethics.

Islam significantly influenced hospital develop­ment, creating secular institutions devoted to the care of the sick. The first bimaristan - a Persian term meaning “house for the sick” - was established in Baghdad before the year 803 by Ibn Barmak, the famous wazir of Harun al-Rashid. It was based on Byzantine models transmitted to Jundishapur. Un­like previous and contemporary Christian institu­tions devoted to medical care, bimaristans were pri­vate hospitals symbolizing royal prestige, wealth, and charity. Their selected inmates came from all sectors of the population and included mentally dis­turbed individuals. Operated by a director together with a medical staff, pharmacist, and servants, bimaristans offered comprehensive medical care and educational opportunities for students serving ap­prenticeships. In fact, the hospitals had their own libraries, which contained copies of medical texts translated from the Greek and Syriac.

In addition to providing clinical training, medical education became more formalized. Small private schools offered a flexible curriculum of lectures and discussions, generally under the direction of famous physicians. In recognition of these cultural appren­ticeships, the state issued licenses for practicing medicine to students who had successfully completed a course Oftheoretical and clinical studies. The tradi­tional Islamic hisbah system of codes and regulations designed to enforce law and order according to the mandates of the Koran gradually extended its juris­diction over multiple healing activities. Physicians, surgeons, bonesetters, and pharmacists were exam­ined by the caliph’s chief physician or an appointed inspector before receiving permission to practice. Un­questionably, such official efforts to establish ethical and practical standards for medical conduct and ac­tion were important steps in the professionalization of medicine.