Abu ‘Ali al-Husayn ibn Sina known as
Avicenna, is the most significant philosopher in the Islamic tradition and
arguably the most influential philosopher of the pre-modern era. Born in
Afshana near Bukhara in Central Asia in about 980, he is best known as a
polymath, as a physician whose major work the Canon (al-Qanun fi’l-Tibb)
continued to be taught as a medical textbook in Europe and in the Islamic world
until the early modern period, and as a philosopher whose major summa the Cure
(al-Shifa’) had a decisive impact upon European scholasticism and especially
upon Thomas Aquinas.
Avicenna Iranian philosopher, and
physician of the tenth and eleventh centuries (4th and 5th century A.H.) is
without doubt one of the eminent scientists and talented scholars of his own
age.
His scientific fame and influence
were not only spread in Iran and the Islamic world but also extended to the
whole world. He is still known as a universal scientist in particular in
medicine in the views of the researchers and historians of science history.
Since the second half of the twelfth
century when the Canon of Avicenna was translated into Latin in Toledo in Spain,
gradually, Avicenna medicine dominated the atmosphere of western medicine.
Since then, most of the medical works of Avicenna has been translated into
different languages and also hundreds of scientific and research works were
written about his medicine.
The fame and scientific dominance of
Avicenna in the western lands was to the extent that he was named as Emir
(Ruler) of the Physicians and his book of Canon was termed as the Medicine
Bible.
For centuries in the west, the
standard of ability in medicine was skillfulness in Avicenna medicine. Despite
the anti-Arabic/ Islamic movement in the beginning of the 16th century in some
European countries and the hard stances of figures such as Davinchi and
Paracelsus against the Avicenna medicine, there was a strong fortress around
the Avicenna in the west which was never collapsed, and even his influence
continued up to first half of the past century in some of the western countries
such as Belgium.
Ternovsky also believes that the
medical science of the former Soviet Union in subjects such as physiology,
diagnosis of internal diseases, sport and health, pediatrics, and pharmacology
in the first half of the 20th century were following and relying on the
traditions of the Avicenna medicine.
However, the high importance and the
immense influence of Avicenna in the history of medicine in the west should be
pursued in the position and presence of his medical works in the curriculum of
some of the prestigious faculties of the Europe.
There are evidence indicating that
the book of Canon by Avicenna was noticed up to the early 20th century in some
of the scientific centers of the west. But at least for five centuries – since
13th to 17th – it was one of the textbooks of most of the faculties of medicine
in Europe.
Source:
IRNA News Agency