Islamic Contributions to Medicine: The Making to a Scientific Culture

During the Middle Ages of Islamic history, eighth century and running until the twelfth century, a change in the way of spiritual thinking and flexible control in government allowed for a responsive advancement in the arts and sciences. Muslim scholars continued the intellectual traditions of the Greeks within the framework of the Islamic religion.

“The positive influence of the Islamic faith which fosters learning and knowledge and this greatly contributed to the blossoming of a culture of free inquiry and rational scientific thinking. Judging by the events in our modern world, it may be difficult to comprehend that knowledge and reason are central to the Islamic way of life, but the Islamic faith considers both very important for understanding this world and the Divine” (Hajar 45).

By exploring various fields of science and knowledge Muslim scholars were able to make a larger contribution to medicine. The importance of translations, natural philosophy and theology, mathematics and astronomy all interrelated to the contributions in the science of medicine.

The journey taken to this evolution in the arts and sciences wouldn’t have started without the discovery, by Muslim scholars, of lost/forgotten Greek text. Translations emerged around the time of the Abbasid caliphate and soon prospered after al-Mamun; he who created the House of Wisdom, containing part research center, observatory, school, and a library for scholars all throughout Islam to take part in educating. “The first Arabic translations of the medical works of Galen and Hippocrates were made by the official translator of the second Abbasid Caliph, al-Mansur, builder of Baghdad” (Hajar 45). The most influential translator of this time was Hunayn b. Ishaq, head of al-Mam...

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...the foundation for their medical enterprise” (Hajar 43). Medicine was the pivotal point of Islamic scholars built on by the legacies left behind by strongly influential Greek scholars Galen and Hippocrates. As Islamic scholars translated their writing from Greek into Arabic, scholars became capable of producing new and reforming old medical knowledge based upon previous text. In making the Greek tradition more understandable and teachable, Islamic scholars made systematic summaries of medical knowledge.

Works Cited

Ede, Andrew, Cormack,Lesley B. A History of Science in Society: From Philosophy to Utility. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.

Hajar, Rachel. "The Air of History Part III." Heart Views. 14.1 (2013): 43-46. Print.

Sonn, Tamara. Islam : A Brief History. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2011. Ebook Library. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.