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