Ibn Sīnā

Ibn Sīnā

Ibn Sīnā is regarded as a father of early modern medicine,[17][18] and clinical pharmacology[19] particularly for his introduction of systematic experimentation and quantification into the study of physiology,[20] his discovery of the contagious nature of infectious diseases,[21] the introduction of quarantine to limit the spread of contagious diseases, the introduction of experimental medicine, evidence-based medicine, clinical trials,[22] randomized controlled trials,[23][24] efficacy tests,[25][26] clinical pharmacology,[25] neuropsychiatry,[27] risk factor analysis, and the idea of a syndrome,[28] and the importance of dietetics and the influence of climate and environment on health.[29] He is also considered the father of the fundamental concept of momentum in physics,[30] and regarded as a pioneer of aromatherapy for his invention of steam distillation and extraction of essential oils.[31] He also developed the concept of uniformitarianism and law of superposition in geology.[32]
George Sarton, an author of the history of science, wrote in the Introduction to the History of Science:
"One of the most famous exponents of Muslim universalism and an eminent figure in Islamic learning was Ibn Sina, known in the West as Avicenna (981-1037). For a thousand years he has retained his original renown as one of the greatest thinkers and medical scholars in history. His most important medical works are the Qanun (Canon) and a treatise on Cardiac drugs. The 'Qanun fi-l-Tibb' is an immense encyclopedia of medicine. It contains some of the most illuminating thoughts pertaining to distinction of mediastinitis from pleurisy; contagious nature of phthisis; distribution of diseases by water and soil; careful description of skin troubles; of sexual diseases and perversions; of nervous ailments."[21]

Early life
His full name was Hussain ibn Abdullah ibn Hassan ibn Ali ibn Sina. He was born in Afshana, near Bukhara around 980 to a Persian[35] family. He was born in Khurmaithan, a village near Bukhara in Greater Khorasan which was his mother's hometown. His father, Abdullah, was a respected Ismaili[36] [37] scholar from Balkh, an important town of the Persian Empire, in what is today contemporary Afghanistan. His mother was named Setareh. His father was at the time of his son's birth the governor in one of the Samanid Nuh ibn Mansur's estates. He had his son very carefully educated at Bukhara. Prominent theologian Henry Corbin believed that Ibn Sina himself was a Twelver Shi'a[38]. Ibn Sina's independent thought was served by an extraordinary intelligence and memory, which allowed him to overtake his teachers at the age of fourteen. As he said in his autobiography, there was nothing that he not learned when he reached eighteen.
Ibn Sīnā was put under the charge of a tutor, and his precocity soon made him the marvel of his neighbours; he displayed exceptional intellectual behaviour and was a child prodigy who had memorized the Qur'an by the age of 10 (10 or 7? it says 7 in the theology section below) and a great deal of Persian poetry as well.[1] He learned Indian arithmetic from an Indian greengrocer, and he began to learn more from a wandering scholar who gained a livelihood by curing the sick and teaching the young. He also studied Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) under the Hanafi scholar Ismail al-Zahid.[39][40]
As a teenager, he was greatly troubled by the Metaphysics of Aristotle, which he could not understand until he read al-Farabi's commentary on the work.[41] For the next year and a half, he studied philosophy, in which he encountered greater obstacles. In such moments of baffled inquiry, he would leave his books, perform the requisite ablutions (wudu), then go to the mosque, and continue in prayer (salah) till light broke on his difficulties. Deep into the night he would continue his studies, and even in his dreams problems would pursue him and work out their solution. Forty times, it is said, he read through the Metaphysics of Aristotle, till the words were imprinted on his memory; but their meaning was hopelessly obscure, until one day they found illumination, from the little commentary by Farabi, which he bought at a bookstall for the small sum of three dirhams. So great was his joy at the discovery, thus made by help of a work from which he had expected only mystery, that he hastened to return thanks to God, and bestowed alms upon the poor.
He turned to medicine at 16, and not only learned medical theory, but also by gratuitous attendance of the sick had, according to his own account, discovered new methods of treatment. The teenager achieved full status as a qualified physician at age 18,[1] and found that "Medicine is no hard and thorny science, like mathematics and metaphysics, so I soon made great progress; I became an excellent doctor and began to treat patients, using approved remedies." The youthful physician's fame spread quickly, and he treated many patients without asking for payment.

Astronomy and astrology
In 1070, Abu Ubayd al-Juzjani, a pupil of Ibn Sīnā, claimed that his teacher Ibn Sīnā had solved the equant problem in Ptolemy's planetary model.[52] Also in astronomy, he criticized Aristotle's incorrect view of the stars receiving their light from the Sun. Ibn Sīnā correctly stated that the stars are self-luminous, though he believed that the planets are also self-luminous.[53]
The study of astrology was refuted by Avicenna. His reasons were both due to the methods used by astrologers being conjectural rather than empirical and also due to the views of astrologers conflicting with orthodox Islam. He also cited passages from the Qur'an in order to justify his refutation of astrology on both scientific and religious grounds.[54]