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Muslim
Scientists

By Khadija Tariq

Az-Zahrawi

Islamic Spain's illustrious

surgeon, Az-
Zahrawi, began
ligating arteries
with fine sutures
over 500 years
prior to Pare. He
perfected the use
of catgut. He
instituted the use
of cotton plus wax
to plug bleeding wounds. The full details of his works were made available to Europeans
through Latin translations. He became one of the most renowned surgeons of the Muslim
era He performed many operations, dissection of animals, midwifery, and surgery of eye,
ear and throat. His famous medical encyclopedia called at-Tasrif, which is composed of
thirty volumes covering different aspects of medical science. It was translated in Europe.
The book contains over 200 diagrams and illustrations of surgical instruments, in use or
 developed by him, and comprised a part of the medical curriculum in European countries
for many centuries.
At-Tasreef includes sections on preventive medicine, nutrition, cosmetics, drug therapy,
surgical technique, anesthesia, pre and post-operative care. The refined and scholarly Az-
Zahrawi is the founder of rational surgery, not the uneducated Pare.

Ibn Zakariya Ar-Razi

The Bulletin of the World Health

Organization
(WHO), May 1970,
pays tribute to him
by stating: "His
writings on smallpox
and measles show
originality and accuracy, and his essay on infectious diseases was the first scientific
treatise on the subject."
Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Zakariya Ar-Razi, because of his eagerness for knowledge, he
became more interested in the study of alchemy and chemistry, philosophy, logic,
mathematics and physics.
Ar-Razi was a pioneer in many areas of medicine and treatment and the health sciences in
general. In particular, he was a pioneer in the fields of pediatrics, obstetrics and
ophthalmology. In medicine, his contribution was so significant that it can only be
compared to that of Ibn Sina.
Ar-Razi was the first to give an account of the operation for the extraction of a cataract
and also the first scientist to discuss the pupillary reaction or the widening and narrowing
of the pupil of the eye. He explained that the reaction was due to the presence of small
muscles which act according to the intensity of light.
Ar-Razi was a prolific author, who has left monumental treatises on numerous subjects. He
has more than two hundred outstanding scientific contributions to his credit, out of which
about half deal with medicine and twenty-one on Alchemy. He also wrote on physics,
mathematics, astronomy and optics, but these writings could not be preserved
Ibn-e-Sina

One of the greatest thinkers

and medical
scholars in
history. His most
important medical
works are the
Qanun and a
treatise on
Cardiac drugs.
The young Abu Ali
Ibn-e-Sina by the
age of ten had become well versed in the study of the Qu'ran and various sciences. In
addition to bringing together the then available knowledge, the book is rich with the
author's original contribution. His important original contribution includes such advances
as recognition of the contagious nature of phthisis and tuberculosis; Distribution of
diseases by water and soil, and interaction between psychology and health He studied
different forms of energy, heat, light and mechanical, and such concepts as force, vacuum
and infinity He concluded that if the perception of light is due to the emission of some sort
of particles by the luminous source, the speed of light must be finite. He propounded an
interconnection between time and motion, and also made investigations on specific gravity
and used an air thermo- meter.

Jabir Ibn Haiyan

The Great Muslim Scientist

Abu Musa Jabir
Ibn Haiyan was
father of both the
laboratory
science and
 chemistry. He was undoubtedly the pioneer in the field of Exact SciencsePerhaps Jabir's
major practical achievement was the discovery of mineral and others acids, which he
prepared for the first time. Apart from several contributions of basic nature to chemistry,
largely the preparation of new compounds and development of chemical methods, he also
developed a number of applied chemical processes, thus becoming a pioneer in the field of
applied science. His achievements in this field include preparation of various metals,
development of steel, dyeing of cloth and tanning of leather, varnishing of water-proof
cloth, use of manganese dioxide in glass-making, prevention of rusting,lettering in gold,
identification of paints, greases, etc

Ibn-E-Batuta

Ibn Battuta, was a Moroccan Muslim scholar and traveler. He is known for his
traveling and going on excursions called the Rihla. His journeys lasted for a period of
almost thirty years. This covered nearly the whole of the known Islamic world and
beyond, extending from North Africa, West Africa, Southern Europe and Eastern
Europe in the West, to the Middle East, Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, Southeast
Asia and China in the East, a distance readily surpassing that of his predecessors.
After his travel he returned to Morocco and gave his account of the experience to Ibn
Juzay.Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta, was born in Tangier, Morocco, on the
24th of February 1304 C.E. (703 Hijra) during the time of the Marinid dynasty. After
receiving an education in Islamic law, he chose to travel. He left is house in June
1325, when he was twenty one years of age and set off from his hometown on a hajj
(pilgrimage) to Mecca, a journey that took him 16 months. He did not come back to
Morocco for at least 24 years after that. His journey was mostly by land. To reduce
the risk of being attacked, he usually chose to join a caravan. In the town of Sfax, he
got married. He survived wars, shipwrecks, and rebellions.

He first began his voyage by exploring the lands of the Middle East. Thereafter he
sailed down the Red Sea to Mecca. He crossed the huge Arabian Desert and traveled
to Iraq and Iran. In 1330, he set of again, down the Red Sea to Aden and then to
Tanzania. Then in 1332, Ibn Battuta decided to go to India. He was greeted open
heartedly by the Sultan of Delhi. There he was given the job of a judge. He stayed in
India for a period of 8 years and then left for China. Ibn Battuta left for another
adventure in 1352. He then went south, crossed the Sahara desert, and visited the
African kingdom of Mali.

Finally, he returned home at Tangier in 1355. Those who were lodging Ibn Battutas
grave Western Orient lists could not believe that Ibn Battuta visited all the places that
he described. They argued that in order to provide a comprehensive description of
places in the Muslim world in such a short time, Ibn Battuta had to rely on hearsay
evidence and make use of accounts by earlier travelers.

Ibn Battuta often experienced culture shock in regions he visited. The local customs
of recently converted people did not fit his orthodox Muslim background. Among
Turks and Mongols, he was astonished at the way women behaved. They were given
freedom of speech. He also felt that the dress customs in the Maldives and some sub-
Saharan regions in Africa were too revealing.

After the completion of the Rihla in 1355, little is known about Ibn Battutas life. He
was appointed a judge in Morocco and died in 1368. Nevertheless, the Rihla provides
an important account of many areas of the world in the 14th century.