CONTRIBUTIONS OF ISLAMIC MEDICINE TO ANATOMICAL SCIENCES

1. THE ERA OF PRE-ISLAMIC MEDICINE

It is a well-established fact that pre-Islamic medicine was mainly folk medicine strongly based on superstitions and magical elements. Islamic teaching, however, transformed this folk medicine into a highly sophisticated system of scientific medicine from which magic and superstitions were totally banned. Until the advent of Islam, the art of healing revolved round the kings and the rich. Islamic traditions radically changed this situation and for the first time, presented this science as an instrument of human service to rich and poor alike. Again, it is said that there is nothing new and original in the writings of Islamic philosophers and thinkers of this period as they derived much of their knowledge from the earlier Greek writings. In this connection, it mustt be appreciated that no knowledge can develop in isolation.   It is always either a continuation of, or a reaction to and consequently a result of some previous knowledge and wisdom. As such, under the aegis of Islamic culture and tradition, scholars and philosophers developed, reorganized and expounded medical knowledge and philosophy of Greeks on a brilliantly rational and analytical basis.

2. THE ERA OF MODERN WESTERN MEDICINE

 In recent times, medical science has made tremendous progress. This spectacular advancement by and large, has been through the assiduous endeavours of the Wester scientists. Nevertheless, it must not be forgotten that all this progress of the medical science we see today did not develop in a vacuum. It rather, developed on the edifice of the human wisdom and knowledge achieved by the scholars and scientists of the Islamic medicine. But indeed, the real achievement of the West lies in disowning, disconnecting and in distorting the contributions of the Islamic physician and philosophers, so much so, that today it has become difficult to think anything contrary to the western thoughts. In spite of this situation, these days more and more medical scientists of the West are turning towards herbal cure, acupuncture and to even the concept of humours and temperaments, and of psychic and soma.

 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANATOMICAL SCIENCES

Looking back on the sketchy history of the Islamic medicine, one comes across two main categories of contribution of its scholars to anatomical sciences; one, through translations and the other, through their original work.

At this point in time, the Greek philosophy of humours had taken deep roots, Galen's knowledge of human anatomy based on his observations of a few dissection of animals was beyond any doubt and discussion, and above all, dissection of the human cadavers was not permitted as it was considered unclean and sinful. Although Arab poetry in the pre-Islamic era occasionally depicted heart, lungs, liver, spleen and kidneys as important parts of the human anatomy, but they had very little, rather peculiar ideas as to their shapes and functions. They thought anger was located in the liver, courage and passion in the heart, fear in the lungs laughter in the spleen and greed was lodged in the kidneys. In short, the anatomical knowledge of the pre-Islamic Arabs was more poetic than factual and scientific.

 The contributions of Islamic medicine during the medieval ages to the study of anatomical sciences could be classified into two phases:

A.THE PHASE OF TRANSLATIONS (7th to 9th cent. A.D)

 Before the year 800 A.D., translations were few and far between. Jibril ibn-Bakhtishu who lived during the reign of Caliph al-Mansoor (754-774) and his son Jibril ibn-Bakhtishu translated a number of classical Greek works into Arabic and Persian. Translators, however, became very active under the Caliph al-Mamun (813-833) and by the turn of the 9th century, many hundreds of Greek work were translated into Arabic, Syriac and Persian. Al-Mamun established a sort of an academy. Bayt ul-Hikma to help and organize these translations. At this time, while Job of Edessa translated exclusively into Syriac, Yahya al-Bitriq translated a variety of Greek works including Anatomy into Arabic language. Hunayn ibn-Ishaq (803-873) was perhaps, the greatest translator of that century. In this endeavour, he was supported by his son Ishaq and nephew Hubaysh al-As'am. By the second half of the 9th century, almost all Galen's work had been translated into Arabic and Hunayn alone had contributed in the translation of no less than 129 of Galen's work. One of his famous book, Kitab al-Aghdhiya is the translation of Galen's "De alimentorum facultatibus". At this stage, the number of translations was so prolific that it gives an impression of a complete and total transplantation of Greek medicine into Islamic medicine. From the anatomical point of view, the teachings of Galen on digestion, blood circulation, his theories on pneuma and humours had its impact on the Islamic medicine. Galen's chief anatomical work entitled "Peri anatomikon egkheireseon" consisted originally of fifteen books. While all these fifteen volumes have been preserved in Arabic, only Vols. I-VII and a part of the IXth are available in the original Greek language. Galen's three other anatomical treatises, namely:

 1) Peri tes ton homiomeron somaton diaphoras

2) De venarum arteriarumque dissectione

3) De nervorum dissectione

were also translated into Arabic by Hunayn and his associates.

B. THE PHASE OF ORIGINAL THINKING (10th to 12th century A.D.)

 At the end of the 9th century, Islamic medicine came under the influence from four sides: the Greeks, the Syrians, the Persians and the Indians. These cross currents of knowledge were completely but not indiscriminately absorbed and integrated into the Arab medicine which then offered in the words does more strongly and sends blood to all parts of the body through one of the big arteries (al-irq al- -abhar) attached to the left ventricle. This description of the heart and circulation is a gift of what al-Majusi wrote almost one thousand years back and broadly speaking, it does not differ much from the text of a modern book of Anatomy or Physiology.

 5) In the 13th century A.D., Ibn Nafis (Alladdin Ali ibn-Abi'l-Hazm al-Qureshi) wrote Kitab al-Mujiz and for the first time described the circulation in the lungs, refuting a deep-rooted impression that there is a passage between the two ventricles. I believe, all these findings finally led to the discovery by William Harvey in 1628 that blood circulates in a circle.

 6) Galen had described the human lower jaw as consisting of two bones joined in the middle. For many centuries Galen's teachings remained a gospel of truth and it was an Arab doctor, Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi who for the first time pointed out this anatomical mistake of Galen because he could not observe any joint even in old bones.

 7) Again, al-Majusi wrote in detail about the Anatomy of the Stomach and liver. Hippocrates had described five lobes of the liver and Galen had also mentioned about the five finger-like process of the liver. But al-Majusi described two and in some cases three lobes of the liver which appears to be nearer to truth. To sum up, the physicians and scholars of the Islamic medicine displayed a remarkable knowledge of the anatomical sciences. We have gained much from their writings on all aspects of medicine including anatomy and it is up to us to appreciate or to depreciate, to acknowledge or to abandon their immensely valuable contributions.

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