IBN AL-NAFIS DAMISHQUI
(1213 - 1288 C.E.)

by
Dr. A. Zahoor

Ibn Al-Nafis was a reputed physician and a renowned expert on Shafi'i School of Jurisprudence. He is famous for the discovery of the blood's circulatory system, and was the first to describe the constitution of lungs, Bronchi, and the coronary arteries. Ala-al-Din Abu al-Hasan Ali Ibn Abi al-Hazm al-Qarshi Ibn Al-Nafis Al-Damashqi was born in 607 A.H. (1213 C.E.) in Damascus. He was educated at the Medical College (and hospital) founded by Nur al-Din Zangi. Ibn Al-Nafis studied medicine under the famous physician Muhazzab al-Din Abd Al-Rahim. He also studied jurisprudence, literature and theology.

His expertise and reputation in medicine and jurisprudence was rewarded by an appointment as the Principal of the famous Nasri Hospital in Cairo. Here, he trained many medical specialists, including the famous surgeon Ibn al-Quff al-Masihi. Subsequently, he served at the Mansuriya School at Cairo. As part of his will, Ibn Al-Nafis donated his house, library and clinic to the Mansuriya Hospital. He died in 678 A.H. (1288 C.E.).

Ibn Al-Nafis made major contributions in medicine. He wrote detailed commentaries and critique on the medical knowledge available up to his time, and added to it many original contributions. His greatest original contribution was the discovery of the blood's circulatory system, which was rediscovered three centuries later. Ibn Al-Nafis was the first to correctly describe the constitution of lungs and gave a description of the Bronchi and the interaction between the human body's vessels for air and blood. Also, he elaborated the function of the coronary arteries as feeding the cardiac muscle.

Ibn Al-Nafis’ Al-Shamil fi al-Tibb was an encyclopedia comprising 300 volumes, but it could not be completed as planned due to his death. This manuscript is preserved as special collections in Damascus. His book on ophthalmology is primarily an original contribution and is also extant. Among his books Mujaz al-Qanun became most famous and later, several commentaries were written on it. He wrote another famous book Kitab al-Mukhtar fi al-Aghdhiya that deals with the effects of diet on health. He also wrote several commentaries on Hippocrates' book and on Ibn Sina's Qanun, which are still extant.

Ibn Al-Nafis' work exerted great influence on the development of medical science, both in the Islamic world and Europe. His work integrated the medical knowledge with great clarity and emphasized precision. Initially, only one of his books was translated into Latin. Consequently, much of his work remained unknown to Europe for several centuries.

A Short List of References

Copyright © 1992, 1997 Dr. A. Zahoor
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