Ibn SINA

Who is Ibn Sina?

Ibn Sina, or Abu Ali Sina, or Avicenna as he is known in the Western world, was born in 980 in the village of Afshene near Bukhara in what is now Uzbekistan, and is one of the most important scientists of the Golden Age of Islam. Ibn Sina, who worked in the fields of medicine, astronomy and philosophy, is known as "the father of early medicine" and "the prince of philosophers".

Ibn Sina's short life

Ibn Sina's father Abdullah, originally from Balkh and settled in Bukhara during the Samanid dynasty, which rivaled Baghdad as the cultural capital of the Islamic world, was well educated and his house was a center where the scholars of the time gathered to discuss philosophy, geometry and Indian mathematics. Avicenna became familiar with science and philosophy during his childhood.

Possessing an extraordinary intelligence compared to his peers, Ibn Sina memorized the Qur'an at an early age and studied language, literature and jurisprudence. In addition, after receiving his first knowledge of geometry, arithmetic and philosophy from his father, he studied Indian arithmetic upon his father's request.

In Bukhara, Ibn Sina, who had easy access to Middle and Neo-Platonic and Aristotelian texts, read Euclid's Elements and Ptolemy's Almagest and reinterpreted them with the knowledge he had learned about Persian and Indian mathematical systems, astronomy, algebra, trigonometry, was also interested in medical science.

In 997, he became a protégé of the Emir of Bukhara, whom he saved from a dangerous disease, and in return for his service, he received the right to use the official library of the Samanids as much as he wished. At the age of 22 he lost his father. In 1004, when the Samanid dynasty collapsed, he traveled west, first to Urgench, then from Merv to Nishabur and the borders of Khorasan. Finally, he began teaching logic and astronomy in Gurgan on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Ibn Sina worked in Rey and Qazvin for a while and then settled in Isfahan. Here he worked as a doctor, scientific advisor, participated in wars, and was appointed vizier by the Emir. He also began to study literature and philology.

His contemporaries noted that Ibn Sina was gifted and hardworking, but at the same time he had a personality that could not tolerate the irritability and defeat caused by overconfidence in his intelligence and knowledge.

Inventions of Ibn Sina

Ibn Sina was a multidimensional scientist who attracted attention especially with his discoveries and inventions in the field of medicine. Ibn Sina was the first to state that blood is a liquid that carries nutrients and that the presence of diabetes can be determined with a sample taken from urine. Ibn Sina also discovered scarlet fever, anthrax, liver-related diseases and hepatitis.

Ibn Sina, who first revealed that the source of diseases was invisible microbes, introduced the concept of microbes into the medical literature. Ibn Sina was the first physician to perform the treatment of cupping. Ibn Sina is also the one who anesthetized the patient in surgeries so that he would feel less pain.

Ibn Sina's most important work

Ibn Sina wrote a large number of works on early Islamic philosophy, especially on logic, ethics and metaphysics. Ibn Sina wrote some 450 articles, 240 of which have survived, and about 200 books, most of which were written in Arabic, the language of science in the Middle East, and some in Persian. His most important works are Kitab al-Shifa (The Book of Healing) and al-Ḳānūn fi'ṭ-ṭib (The Law of Medicine), which profoundly influenced the European medical tradition.

Ibn Sina's works in the field of medicine

Ibn Sīnā, who was not only a great philosopher but also a famous physician, had a shocking impact on the European medical tradition as well as the Islamic world with his works in the field of medicine. Ibn Sina, whose influence lasted until the 17th century in the Western world, is considered as important as the ancient Greek medical authorities Hippocrates and Galen. His work al-Ḳānûn fi'ṭ-ṭıb was translated into Latin in Spain shortly after his death and was taught as a textbook in European universities.

On the cover of one of the first Latin editions of al-Ḳānūnūn fi'ṭ-ṭıbb, Ibn Sīna is depicted on a throne, with a crown on his head and a scepter in his hand, while the famous Greek physicians Hippocrates and Galen are shown sitting on either side of him. This is an indication of the value placed on Ibn Sina in Europe.

Ibn Sīnā brought together the ancient Greek, Byzantine, and Syriac medical literature that preceded him, systematized it, and updated it with his personal observational data in his work al-Ḳānūn fi'ṭ-ṭāb. Thanks to this work of Ibn Sina, the accumulation of medical knowledge was transformed into a coherent, systematic and comprehensive branch of science. The success of the book against other works is attributed to this systematic and encyclopedic feature.

How did Ibn Sina die?

Ibn Sina became ill during the Hamedan expedition organized when he lived in Isfahan. He refused to follow the treatments recommended to him. He donated his wealth to the poor, freed his slaves and spent his days in worship. He died in June 1037 at the age of 57. His tomb is in Hamedan, which is today in Iran.