34. Ibn Al-Nafis
(607-687H/1210-1288AD)

Ala' al-Din Ali Ibn Abi al-Hazm al-Qarshi, surnamed ibn an-Nafis. He was horn in the outskirts of Damascus where he was brought up and educated. He studied medicine under Dakhouar, the chief doctor of Nuri hospital, and other famous teachers, such as Amran al-Israeli, and Radi ed-Din Rehabi. He taught in his turn medicine and supervised a whole department at Nuri hospital. Then he moved to Cairo, where he served in Nasiri hospital. He was appointed in many medical positions until he became chief of all doctors in Egypt(206). His contemporaries compared him to ibn Sina as regard his scientific position and medicinal knowledge. He is said to have learned by heart ibn Sina’s “al-Conon”, and to have had a deep knowledge of Galen’s books(207). “His method of compiling books was characterized by his capability of relying on what he memorized, his own experiences, observations and his deductions” without referring to any other source.(208)

He was also well versed in other fields of knowledge such as philosophy, logic, grammar and Islamic sciences. He was not prepared to accept ideas without discussions and argumentation even if they taken from very known scientists. In this context, he rejected Galen’s medical views on grounds that they were weak and complicated(209).

Ibn an-Nafis's Contributions in Medicine

Ibn an-Nafis was a leading figure in medicine in his time, and a prominent physician in Damascus. He was discovered lung blood circulation, providing an accurate scientific description of it. He preceded thus Miguel Servede to whom Europeans attribute this discovery(210).

Ibn an-Nafis used anatomy as a method of work, and reached many results, among which(211) :

1. Discovery of blood circulation in coronary arteries;

2. Blood feeds lungs with air and not with nutriments;

3. Lung vessels are not filled with air or remnants (as Galen believed) but they contain only blood.

Major Works

Ibn an-Nafis left behind a number of books, including the following(212) :

- “Sharh Tashrih al-Canon” (Explanation of Anatomy Section of al-Canon). The author explained and criticized the section of anatomy included in Ibn Sina “al-Canon”. This book had fallen into oblivion in libraries until the Egyptian physician Dr. Mohy ed-Din Tettawi stumbled upon it in 1924 in Berlin Library and chose it as his subject of research for obtaining his doctorate from Friburg University in Germany.

- “Al-Kitab as-Shamel fi Tib” (Exhaustive Medical Book). It is an encyclopedia in eight volumes. Only some paragraphs of this book are conserved in Oxford Library.

- “Al Mohaddab fi al-Kohl” (213)A book about ophtalmia.

- “Al-Mukhtar fi al-Aghdiya” (Selected Foods) : A book on nutrition.

- “Sharh Fusul Abukrat” (Explanation of Epicures' Articles). A copy of it is kept at Paris National Library, and in El Escorial library. It was printed in Iran in 1298 H/1881 AD.

- “A Summary of al-Canon” It’s a five-volume summary of Ibn Sina’s al-Canon. Copies of it are still kept in Paris, Oxford, Florence, Munich and El Escorial. It was translated into Turkish and Hebrew, and printed in English for the first time in 1830 in Calcutta, India, under the title “al Moghni fi Sharh al- Mujaz”.