Abstract - Medicine in the Middle Ages: New Insights and a Call for Further Research
Prof. Rabie E Abdel Halim Abstract In this presentation, in order to restore historical continuity to the currently available knowledge on medicine in the Middle Ages, the author summarized some results from his extensive primary-source studies of the original Arabic works of ten Islamic medieval medical scholars who lived and practiced between the ninth and thirteenth centuries. The presented results documented some of the original contributions to the progress of anatomy, physiology, clinical medicine and surgery during the medieval Islamic era. The results also gave support to the new trend arising from recent studies establishing later dates for the beginnings of the decline of Islamic sciences, as well as earlier dates for the onset of the European Renaissance. Moreover, the author highlightes the importance of continuing research in this field, for the reason that studies and documentations of the transmission and translation movements that occurred during the Middle Ages are bound to emphasise the universality of knowledge and unity of mankind. This assumption will boost cultural inter-appreciation around the world and help to strengthen mutual understandings between the West and the East and, thus, nurture the interaction between different faiths and various civilisations.
by: Prof. Rabie E Abdel Halim, Sat 19 June, 2010
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