Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine.  The Muslim Times has the best collection on the Muslim heritage

Ibn Sina and the Canon of Medicine, its translators and commentators

Author Prof. Syed Zillur Rahman, Aligarh, India – translator Zakaria Virk

Reviewed by Dr. Khalid Sohail, Toronto

Source:  www.drsohail.com

When I was a medical student at Khyber Medical College, Peshawar Pakistan, I loved to read the college magazine Sina as it was named after the famous Persian physician, philosopher and scholar Ibn Sina, known in the Western world as Avicenna. In my final year I felt proud to be the editor of that prestigious magazine.

When I was in Iran, I worked in a children’s hospital in Hamadan. From the window of my clinic I could see the tomb of Ibn Sina. Ibn Sina spent many years of his life in Hamadan creating his masterpieces in medicine and philosophy. It gave me great pleasure to walk on the streets that Ibn Sina had walked a thousand years ago.

When I came to Canada I had the honor of befriending Zakaria Virk, a Pakistani scholar who had written extensively on the life and legacy of the scientist and scholar Abdus Salam, the Nobel Laureate of Pakistan. Zakaria Virk has a keen interest in the writings of scholars and philosophers from the Muslim world. His latest book is titled Commentators and Translators of Ibn Sina’s Canon of Medicine. It is an English translation of Professor Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman’s book in Urdu. Published by Ibn Sina Academy, Aligarh, India, it is a goldmine of information and an extensive anthology of more than two hundred writers and scholars from all over the world who have written translations and commentaries on Ibn Sina’s Canon of Medicine.

Zakaria Virk’s translation is a great gift to all who have an interest in the history of medicine and in the writings of Muslim scholars, especially Ibn Sina. I feel honored that Zakaria Virk consulted me when he was working on this book. I congratulate Zakaria Virk and Professor Zillur Rahman for their dedication and commitment to the advancement of knowledge and wisdom. I would also like to congratulate Ibn Sina Academy India for publishing this book, a treasure of our medical heritage. I wish there were more scholars like Zakaria Virk who would translate the precious works of Eastern scholars into English so that Western readers could benefit from Eastern wisdom and feel part of the global village in which we all live.

To offer a better appreciation of Zakaria Virk’s gift to humanity, I would like to elaborate a little on Ibn Sina and his Canon of Medicine.

Ibn Sina was born in 980 in Afsana, a village near Bukhara. His father Abdullah, a well-respected scholar, made sure that Ibn Sina received the best education available. As a teenager, Ibn Sina developed a strong interest in medicine and philosophy. He was troubled by Aristotle’s Metaphysics; he read it many times and did not rest until he read the commentary by al Farabi.

As a young adult, Ibn Sina traveled to many cities, countries and cultures. He read and wrote extensively. Finally he settled in Hamadan where he died in 1037. He summarized his philosophy thus: “I prefer a short life with width to a narrow one with length.”

Ibn Sina had a wide range of interests from medicine to psychology, poetry to philosophy, logic to theology. He considered prophets “inspired philosophers” and human intellect “divine light”. George Sarton, author of The History of Science, described Ibn Sina as “one of the greatest thinkers and medical scholars in history.”

Ibn Sina wrote more than two hundred works, the two most famous of which are The Book of Healing and Canon of Medicine. He completed his five-volume masterpiece Canon of Medicine in 1025. In that book he synthesized and integrated Hippocratic, Aristotelian, Galenic, Chinese, Arab and Persian traditions. It was like an encyclopedia of medicine. The term canon had Latin and Ancient Greek origins that meant measuring rod and standard. It is one of the most respected books of medical history and remained a textbook in universities all over the word for nearly eight hundred years.

In the Canon of Medicine Ibn Sina stated that medicine was a science as well as an art. He wrote, “Medicine is the science by which we learn the various states of the body; in health, when not in health, the means by which health is likely to be lost, and, when lost, is likely to be restored. In other words, it is the art whereby health is concerned and the art by which it is restored after being lost.” Ibn Sina made significant contributions to Humoral Theory and added a psychological dimension to physical medicine. In his book he wrote a special chapter on Melancholia, now known as Depression.

Ibn Sina’s Canon of Medicine has been translated into many languages. Zakaria Virk’s book provides an excellent overview of more than two hundred translators and commentators of that book. It is a valuable addition to the history of medicine and an impressive contribution to the work of the renowned Muslim scholar Ibn Sina.