IBN SINA
(980-1037 C.E.)
Abu Ali al-Hussain Ibn Abdallah Ibn Sina was born in 980 C.E. at Afshana near
Bukhara. The young Bu Ali received his early education in Bukhara, and by the
age of ten had become well versed in the study of the Qur'an and various
sciences. He started studying philosophy by reading various Greek, Muslim and
other books on this subject and learnt logic and some other subjects from Abu
Abdallah Natili, a famous philosopher of the time. While still young, he
attained such a degree of expertise in medicine that his renown spread far and
wide. At the age of 17, he was fortunate in curing Nooh Ibn Mansoor, the King of
Bukhhara, of an illness in which all the well-known physicians had given up
hope. On his recovery, the King wished to reward him, but the young physician
only desired permission to use his uniquely stocked library.
On his father's death, Bu Ali left Bukhara and travelled to Jurjan where
Khawarizm Shah welcomed him. There, he met his famous contemporary Abu Raihan
al-Biruni. Later he moved to Ray and then to Hamadan, where he wrote his famous
book Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb. Here he treated Shams al-Daulah, the King of Hamadan,
for severe colic. From Hamadan, he moved to Isphahan, where he completed many of
his monumental writings. Nevertheless, he continued travelling and the excessive
mental exertion as well as political turmoil spoilt his health. Finally, he
returned to Hamadan where he died in 1037 C.E.
He was the most famous physician, philosopher, encyclopaedist, mathematician and
astronomer of his time. His major contribution to medical science was his famous
book al-Qanun, known as the "Canon" in the West. The Qanun fi al-Tibb is an
immense encyclo- paedia of medicine extending over a million words. It surveyed
the entire medical knowledge available from ancient and Muslim sources. Due to
its systematic approach, "formal perfection as well as its intrinsic value, the
Qanun superseded Razi's Hawi, Ali Ibn Abbas's Maliki, and even the works of
Galen, and remained supreme for six centuries". In addition to bringing together
the then available knowledge, the book is rich with the author's original
eontribution. His important original contribution includes such advances as
recognition of the contagious nature of phthisis and tuberculosis; distribution
of diseases by water and soil, and interaction between psychology and health. In
addition to describing pharmacological methods, the book described 760 drugs and
became the most authentic materia medica of the era. He was also the first to
describe meningitis and made rich contributions to anatomy, gynaecology and
child health.
His philosophical encyclopaedia Kitab al-Shifa was a monu- mental work,
embodying a vast field of knowledge from philosophy to science. He classified
the entire field as follows: theoretical knowledge: physics, mathematics and
metaphysics; and practical knowledge: ethics, economics and politics. His
philosophy synthesises Aristotelian tradition, Neoplatonic influences and Muslim
theology.
Ibn Sina also contributed to mathematics, physics, music and other fields. He
explained the "casting out of nines" and its applica- tion to the verification
of squares and cubes. He made several astronomical observations, and devised a
contrivance similar to the vernier, to increase the precision of instrumental
readings. In physics, his contribution comprised the study of different forms of
energy, heat, light and mechanical, and such concepts as force, vacuum and
infinity. He made the important observation that if the perception of light is
due to the emission of some sort of particles by the luminous source, the speed
of light must be finite. He propounded an interconnection between time and
motion, and also made investigations on specific gravity and used an air thermo-
meter.
In the field of music, his contribution was an improvement over Farabi's work
and was far ahead of knowledge prevailing else- where on the subject. Doubling
with the fourth and fifth was a 'great' step towards the harmonic system and
doubling with the third seems to have also been allowed. Ibn Sina observed that
in the series of consonances represented by (n + 1)/n, the ear is unable to
distinguish them when n = 45. In the field of chemistry, he did not believe in
the possibility of chemical transmutation because, in his opinion, the metals
differed in a fundamental sense. These views were radically opposed to those
prevailing at the time. His treatise on minerals was one of the "main" sources
of geology of the Christian encyclopaedists of the thirteenth century. Besides
Shifa his well-known treatises in philosophy are al-Najat and Isharat.