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'Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi '(936 - 1013), (Arabic: أبو القاسم بن خلف بن العباس الزهراوي) also known in the West as 'Abulcasis', was an Andalusian-Arab physician, surgeon, and scientist. He is considered the father of modern surgery,^[1] and as Islam's greatest medieval surgeon, whose comprehensive medical texts, combining Islamic medicine and Greco-Roman teachings, shaped both Islamic and European surgical procedures up until the Renaissance. His greatest contribution to history is the ''Kitab al-Tasrif'', a thirty-volume encyclopedia of medical practices.

Contents

Biography

Works

''Kitab al-Tasrif''

Advances in surgery

Surgical instruments

Catgut

Forceps

Ligature

Surgical needle

Other instruments

See also

Notes

References

External links

Biography

Abu al-Qasim was born in the city of El Zahra, six miles northwest of Córdoba, Spain. He was descended from the Ansar Arab tribe who settled earlier in Spain.
Few details remain regarding his life, aside from his published work, due to the destruction of El-Zahra during later Spanish-Moorish conflicts. His name first appears in the writings of Abu Muhammad bin Hazm (993 - 1064), who listed him among the greatest physicians of Moorish Spain. But we have the first detailed biography of El-Zahrawi from al-Humaydi's Jadhwat al-Muqtabis (On Andalusian Savants), completed six decades after El-Zahrawi's death.
In El-Zahra, he lived most of his life. It is also where he studied, taught and practised medicine and surgery until shortly before his death in about 1013, two years after the sacking of El-Zahra.

Works

Abu al-Qasim was a court physician to the Andalusian caliph Al-Hakam II. He devoted his entire life and genius to the advancement of medicine as a whole and surgery in particular. His best work was the ''Kitab al-Tasrif. It is a medical encyclopaedia spanning 30 volumes which included sections on surgery, medicine, orthopaedics, ophthalmology, pharmacology, nutrition etc.
In the 14th century, French surgeon Guy de Chauliac quoted ''al-Tasrif'' over 200 times. Pietro Argallata (d. 1453) described Abu al-Qasim as "without doubt the chief of all surgeons". In an earlier work, he is credited to be the first to describe ectopic pregnancy in 963, in those days a fatal affliction. Abu Al-Qasim's influence continued for at least five centuries, extending into the Renaissance, evidenced by ''al-Tasrif's frequent reference by French surgeon Jaques Delechamps (1513-1588).

''Kitab al-Tasrif''

Main articles: Al-Tasrif

Abu al-Qasim's thirty-chapter medical treatise, ''Kitab al-Tasrif'', published in 1000, covered a broad range of medical topics, including dentistry and childbirth, which contained data that had accumulated during a career that spanned almost 50 years of training, teaching and practice. In it he also wrote of the importance of a positive doctor-patient relationship and wrote affectionately of his students, whom he referred to as "my children". He also emphasised the importance of treating patients irrespective of their social status. He encouraged the close observation of individual cases in order to make the most accurate diagnosis and the best possible treatment.
''Al-Tasrif'' was later translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona in the 12th century, and illustrated. For perhaps five centuries during the European Middle Ages, it was the primary source for European medical knowledge, and served as a reference for doctors and surgeons.
Not always properly credited, Abu Al-Qasim's ''al-Tasrif'' described both what would later became known as "Kocher's method" for treating a dislocated shoulder and "Walcher position" in obstetrics. ''Al-Tasrif'' described how to ligature blood vessels before Ambroise Paré, and was the first recorded book to document several dental devices and explain the hereditary nature of haemophilia.

Advances in surgery

Al-Qasim was a surgeon and specialized in curing disease by cauterization. He also invented several devices used during surgery, for the purpose of:

★ inspection of the interior of the urethra

★ applying and removing foreign bodies from the throat

★ inspection of the ear
Al-Qasim also described the use of forceps in vaginal deliveries. ^[2]

Surgical instruments

In his ''Al-Tasrif'' (''The Method of Medicine''), he introduced his famous collection of over 200 surgical instruments. Many of these instruments were never used before by any previous surgeons. Hamidan, for example, listed at least twenty six innovative surgical instruments that Abulcasis introduced.

Catgut

Abu al-Qasim's use of catgut for internal stitching is still practised in modern surgery. The catgut appears to be the only natural substance capable of dissolving and is acceptable by the body.

Forceps

In the ''Al-Tasrif'' (1000), Abu al-Qasim invented the forceps for extracting a dead fetus, as illustrated in the the ''Al-Tasrif''.^[3]

Ligature

In the ''Al-Tasrif'' (1000), Abu al-Qasim introduced the use of ligature for the arteries in lieu of cauterization.

Surgical needle

The surgical needle was invented and described by Abu al-Qasim in his ''Al-Tasrif'' (1000).A. I. Makki. "Needles & Pins", ''AlShindagah'' '68', Januray-February 2006.

Other instruments

Other surgical instruments invented by Abu al-Qasim and first described in his ''Al-Tasrif'' (1000) include the scalpel, curette, retractor, surgical spoon, sound, surgical hook, surgical rod, and specula.^[4]

See also

★ Islamic medicine

★ Islamic science

★ List of Arab scientists and scholars

★ Islamic Golden Age

★ Islamic scholars

★ Muslim inventions

★ Timeline of invention

★ Avicenna

Notes

1. A. Martin-Araguz, C. Bustamante-Martinez, Ajo V. Fernandez-Armayor, J. M. Moreno-Martinez (2002). "Neuroscience in al-Andalus and its influence on medieval scholastic medicine", ''Revista de neurología'' '34' (9), p. 877-892.
2. Assisted delivery has walked a long and winding road, OBG Management, Vol. 19, No. 6, June 2007, p. 84.
3. Ingrid Hehmeyer and Aliya Khan (2007). "Islam's forgotten contributions to medical science", ''Canadian Medical Association Journal'' '176' (10).
4. Khaled al-Hadidi (1978), "The Role of Muslem Scholars in Oto-rhino-Laryngology", ''The Egyptian Journal of O.R.L.'' '4' (1), p. 1-15. (cf. Ear, Nose and Throat Medical Practice in Muslim Heritage, Foundation for Science Technology and Civilization.)

References

★ Britannica

★ El Zahrawi - Father Of Surgery

★ Arab Surgeon Albucasis (Al-Zahrawi)

External links

★ MWNF manuscript [1]

★ http://www.ummah.org.uk/history/scholars/ZAHRAWI.html

★ http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=223

★ El Zahrawi - Father Of Surgery