Ali ibn Abbas al-Majusi
Encyclopedia
'Ali ibn al-'Abbas al-Majusi (died 982-994), also known as Masoudi, or Latinized
as Haly Abbas, was a Persian
physician
and psychologist
most famous for the Kitab al-Maliki or Complete Book of the Medical Art, his textbook on medicine
and psychology.
, southwestern Persia, and studied under Shaikh Abu Maher Musa ibn Sayyār. He was considered one of the three greatest physicians of the Eastern Caliphate of his time, and became physician to Emir Adhad al-dowleh Fana Khusraw
of the Buwayhid
dynasty, who ruled from 949 CE to 983 CE. The Emir was a great patron of medicine, and founded a hospital at Shiraz
in Persia, and in 981 the Al-Adudi Hospital
in Baghdad
, where al-Magusi worked. His ancestors were Zoroastrian
, but he himself was a Muslim
. His reverence for Allah
is evident in the worship and styles of expression throughout his work.
, and it became known as the Kitab al-Maliki ("Royal Book", or in Latin Liber Regalis or Regalis Dispositio). The book is a more systematic and concise encyclopedia than Razi's Hawi, and more practical than Avicenna
's The Canon of Medicine
, by which it was superseded.
The Maliki is divided into 20 discourses, of which the first ten deal with theory and the second ten with the practice of medicine. Some examples of topics covered are dietetics and materia medica
, a rudimentary conception of the capillary system
, interesting clinical observations, and proof of the motions of the womb during parturition (for example, the child does not come out, but is pushed out).
In Europe a partial Latin
translation was adapted as the Liber pantegni
by Constantinus Africanus (c. 1087), which became a founding text of the Schola Medica Salernitana
in Salerno
. A complete and much better translation was made in 1127 by Stephen of Antioch, and this was printed in Venice
in 1492 and 1523. Haly's book of medicine is cited in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
. It also provided details on a scientific method
ology that is similar to modern biomedical research
.
, neurobiology and neurophysiology
of the brain
and first discussed various mental disorders, including sleeping sickness, memory loss
, hypochondriasis, coma
, hot and cold meningitis
, vertigo
epilepsy
, love sickness
, and hemiplegia
. He placed more emphasis on preserving health
through diet
and natural healing than he did on medication
or drug
s, which he considered a last resort.
and psychosomatic medicine. He described how the physiological and psychological aspects of a patient can have an effect on one another in his Complete Book of the Medical Art. He found a correlation between patients who were physically and mentally healthy and those who were physically and mentally unhealthy, and concluded that "joy and contentment can bring a better living status to many who would otherwise be sick and miserable due to unnecessary sadness, fear, worry and anxiety."
Latinisation (literature)
Latinisation is the practice of rendering a non-Latin name in a Latin style. It is commonly met with for historical personal names, with toponyms, or for the standard binomial nomenclature of the life sciences. It goes further than Romanisation, which is the writing of a word in the Latin alphabet...
as Haly Abbas, was a Persian
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
most famous for the Kitab al-Maliki or Complete Book of the Medical Art, his textbook on medicine
Islamic medicine
In the history of medicine, Islamic medicine, Arabic medicine or Arabian medicine refers to medicine developed in the Islamic Golden Age, and written in Arabic, the lingua franca of Islamic civilization....
and psychology.
Biography
He was born in AhvazAhvaz
-History:For a more comprehensive historical treatment of the area, see the history section of Khūzestān Province.-Ancient history:Ahvaz is the anagram of "Avaz" and "Avaja" which appear in Darius's epigraph...
, southwestern Persia, and studied under Shaikh Abu Maher Musa ibn Sayyār. He was considered one of the three greatest physicians of the Eastern Caliphate of his time, and became physician to Emir Adhad al-dowleh Fana Khusraw
'Adud al-Daula
Aḍud al-Dawla or Azod od-Dowleh Panah Khusraw was an emir of the Buyid dynasty in Iran and Iraq...
of the Buwayhid
Buwayhid
The Buyid dynasty, also known as the Buyid Empire or the Buyids , also known as Buwaihids, Buyahids, or Buyyids, were a Shī‘ah Persian dynasty that originated from Daylaman in Gilan...
dynasty, who ruled from 949 CE to 983 CE. The Emir was a great patron of medicine, and founded a hospital at Shiraz
Shiraz, Iran
Shiraz is the sixth most populous city in Iran and is the capital of Fars Province, the city's 2009 population was 1,455,073. Shiraz is located in the southwest of Iran on the Roodkhaneye Khoshk seasonal river...
in Persia, and in 981 the Al-Adudi Hospital
Al-Adudi Hospital
The Al-'Adudi Hospital was a bimaristan in Baghdad named after Emir 'Adud al-Daula. The hospital was built in AD 981, but destroyed in 1258 by the Mongol invasion.-References:*...
in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, where al-Magusi worked. His ancestors were Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...
, but he himself was a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
. His reverence for Allah
Allah
Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...
is evident in the worship and styles of expression throughout his work.
The Complete Art of Medicine
Al-Majusi is best known for his Kitab Kamil as-Sina'a at-Tibbiyya ("Complete Book of the Medical Art"), later called The Complete Art of Medicine, which he completed circa 980. He dedicated the work to the EmirEmir
Emir , meaning "commander", "general", or "prince"; also transliterated as Amir, Aamir or Ameer) is a title of high office, used throughout the Muslim world...
, and it became known as the Kitab al-Maliki ("Royal Book", or in Latin Liber Regalis or Regalis Dispositio). The book is a more systematic and concise encyclopedia than Razi's Hawi, and more practical than Avicenna
Avicenna
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived...
's The Canon of Medicine
The Canon of Medicine
The Canon of Medicine is an encyclopedia of Galenic medicine in five books compiled by Ibn Sīnā and completed in 1025. It presents a clear and organized summary of all the medical knowledge of the time...
, by which it was superseded.
The Maliki is divided into 20 discourses, of which the first ten deal with theory and the second ten with the practice of medicine. Some examples of topics covered are dietetics and materia medica
Materia medica
Materia medica is a Latin medical term for the body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing . The term 'materia medica' derived from the title of a work by the Ancient Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides in the 1st century AD, De materia medica libre...
, a rudimentary conception of the capillary system
Capillary
Capillaries are the smallest of a body's blood vessels and are parts of the microcirculation. They are only 1 cell thick. These microvessels, measuring 5-10 μm in diameter, connect arterioles and venules, and enable the exchange of water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and many other nutrient and waste...
, interesting clinical observations, and proof of the motions of the womb during parturition (for example, the child does not come out, but is pushed out).
In Europe a partial Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
translation was adapted as the Liber pantegni
Liber pantegni
The Liber pantegni is a medieval medical text compiled by Constantinus Africanus in ca. the 1080s, ascribed to Isaac Israeli ben Solomon . It is a compendium of Hellenistic and Islamic medicine, in large parts a translation of the kitab al-malaki "royal book" of Ali ibn al-Abbas...
by Constantinus Africanus (c. 1087), which became a founding text of the Schola Medica Salernitana
Schola Medica Salernitana
The Schola Medica Salernitana was the first medieval medical school in the cosmopolitan coastal south Italian city of Salerno, which provided the most important source of medical knowledge in Western Europe at the time...
in Salerno
Salerno
Salerno is a city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....
. A complete and much better translation was made in 1127 by Stephen of Antioch, and this was printed in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
in 1492 and 1523. Haly's book of medicine is cited in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Medical ethics and research methodology
The work emphisized the need for a healthy relationship between doctors and patients, and the importance of medical ethicsMedical ethics
Medical ethics is a system of moral principles that apply values and judgments to the practice of medicine. As a scholarly discipline, medical ethics encompasses its practical application in clinical settings as well as work on its history, philosophy, theology, and sociology.-History:Historically,...
. It also provided details on a scientific method
Scientific method
Scientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of...
ology that is similar to modern biomedical research
Biomedical research
Biomedical research , in general simply known as medical research, is the basic research, applied research, or translational research conducted to aid and support the body of knowledge in the field of medicine...
.
Neuroscience and psychology
Neuroscience and psychology were discussed in The Complete Art of Medicine. He described the neuroanatomyNeuroanatomy
Neuroanatomy is the study of the anatomy and organization of the nervous system. In contrast to animals with radial symmetry, whose nervous system consists of a distributed network of cells, animals with bilateral symmetry have segregated, defined nervous systems, and thus we can begin to speak of...
, neurobiology and neurophysiology
Neurophysiology
Neurophysiology is a part of physiology. Neurophysiology is the study of nervous system function...
of the brain
Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
and first discussed various mental disorders, including sleeping sickness, memory loss
Memory loss
Memory loss can be partial or total and it is normal when it comes with aging. Sudden memory loss is usually a result of brain trauma and it may be permanent or temporary. When it is caused by medical conditions such as Alzheimers, the memory loss is gradual and tends to be permanent.Brain trauma...
, hypochondriasis, coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
, hot and cold meningitis
Meningitis
Meningitis is inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known collectively as the meninges. The inflammation may be caused by infection with viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms, and less commonly by certain drugs...
, vertigo
Vertigo (medical)
Vertigo is a type of dizziness, where there is a feeling of motion when one is stationary. The symptoms are due to a dysfunction of the vestibular system in the inner ear...
epilepsy
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...
, love sickness
Love sickness
Being lovestruck is a non-medical term used to describe mental and physical symptoms associated with falling in love: 'love-struck. It means to be hit by love...you are hit in your heart by the emotion of love'....
, and hemiplegia
Hemiplegia
Hemiplegia /he.mə.pliː.dʒiə/ is total paralysis of the arm, leg, and trunk on the same side of the body. Hemiplegia is more severe than hemiparesis, wherein one half of the body has less marked weakness....
. He placed more emphasis on preserving health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...
through diet
Diet (nutrition)
In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism. Dietary habits are the habitual decisions an individual or culture makes when choosing what foods to eat. With the word diet, it is often implied the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management...
and natural healing than he did on medication
Medication
A pharmaceutical drug, also referred to as medicine, medication or medicament, can be loosely defined as any chemical substance intended for use in the medical diagnosis, cure, treatment, or prevention of disease.- Classification :...
or drug
Drug
A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...
s, which he considered a last resort.
Psychophysiology and psychosomatic medicine
Ali ibn Abbas al-Majusi was a pioneer in psychophysiologyPsychophysiology
Psychophysiology is the branch of psychology that is concerned with the physiological bases of psychological processes. While psychophysiology was a general broad field of research in the 1960s and 1970s, it has now become quite specialized, and has branched into subspecializations...
and psychosomatic medicine. He described how the physiological and psychological aspects of a patient can have an effect on one another in his Complete Book of the Medical Art. He found a correlation between patients who were physically and mentally healthy and those who were physically and mentally unhealthy, and concluded that "joy and contentment can bring a better living status to many who would otherwise be sick and miserable due to unnecessary sadness, fear, worry and anxiety."
Sources
- Lutz Richter-Bernburg, "‘Ali b. ‘Abbas Majusi", in Encyclopædia IranicaEncyclopædia IranicaEncyclopædia Iranica is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times...
, ed. Ehsan YarshaterEhsan YarshaterEhsan Yarshater is the founder and director of The Center for Iranian Studies, and Hagop Kevorkian Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at Columbia University. He was the first full-time professor of Persian at a U.S. university since World War II....
, 6+ vols. (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul and Costa Mesa: Mazda, 1983 to present), vol. 1, pp. 837–8 - Manfred Ullmann, Die Medizin im Islam, Handbuch der Orientalistik, Abteilung I, Erg?nzungsband vi, Abschnitt 1 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1970), pp. 140–146
- Fuat Sezgin, Medizin-Pharmazie-Zoologie-Tierheilkunde bis ca 430 H., Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums, Band 3 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1970), pp. 320–322
- Manfred Ullmann, Islamic Medicine (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1978, reprinted 1997), pp. 55–85.
- Wustenfeld: Geschichte der arabischen Aerzte (59, 1840).
- Edward G. BrowneEdward Granville BrowneEdward Granville Browne , born in Stouts Hill, Uley, Gloucestershire, England, was a British orientalist who published numerous articles and books of academic value, mainly in the areas of history and literature...
, Islamic Medicine, 2002, p. 53-54, ISBN 81-87570-19-9 - Charles S. F. Burnett, Danielle Jacquart (eds.), Constantine the African and ʻAlī Ibn Al-ʻAbbās Al-Magūsī: The Pantegni and Related Texts. Leiden: Brill, 1995. ISBN 9004100148
- Shoja MM, Tubbs RS. The history of anatomy in Persia. J Anat 2007; 210:359–378.