The role of Ibn Sina (Avicenna)’s Medical Poem in the transmission of medical knowledge to medieval Europe
by Rabie Abdel-Halim Published on: 14th July 2014
Were you aware that in the Medieval Islamic world, celebrated scientists such as Ibn Sina used to relay their teachings through poetry? Poems structure and rhythm aided the process of transmitting and memorising scientific and…
The Spirit of Scientific Enquiry in the Early Islamic World
by Rabie Abdel-Halim Published on: 27th August 2025
This article reviews and documents how the spirit of scientific enquiry started and developed during the early Islamic World with an emphasis on the very early beginnings during the lifetime of the Prophet from the…
Blood Circulation between the Heart and Lung
by Rabie Abdel-Halim Published on: 4th June 2025
The medical scholars during the medieval Islamic era placed great emphasis on the value of dissection and the knowledge of anatomy for the diagnosis of affected organs, the relationships of the organs to one another…
Anatomical Diagrams
by Rabie Abdel-Halim Published on: 5th May 2025
The medical scholars during the medieval Islamic era placed great emphasis on the value of dissection and the knowledge of anatomy for the diagnosis of affected organs, the relationships of the organs to one another…
Stomach
by Rabie Abdel-Halim Published on: 11th April 2025
The medical scholars during the medieval Islamic era placed great emphasis on the value of dissection and the knowledge of anatomy for the diagnosis of affected organs, the relationships of the organs to one another…
Human Anatomy
by Rabie Abdel-Halim Published on: 29th June 2022
The medical scholars during the medieval Islamic era placed great emphasis on the value of dissection and the knowledge of anatomy for the diagnosis of affected organs, the relationships of the organs to one another…
Pseudo Sciences
by Rabie Abdel-Halim Published on: 16th December 2021
Alchemy, occultism and astrology were classified as pseudo-sciences with astrology considered to be the queen of the occult sciences.
The Birth of Islam and Its Influence
by Rabie Abdel-Halim Published on: 26th November 2021
The verification of knowledge and its classification into various disciplines according to some well-defined criteria, together with the use of logical analysis and analogical reasoning, as in the Principles of Jurisprudence science, denote the development…
Remedies
by Rabie Abdel-Halim Published on: 8th October 2021
In all nations, medicine is considered to be the noblest craft because it preserves the health of healthy people and repels illness among those who are ill. In almost all these ancient civilisations, there was…
Surgery
by Rabie Abdel-Halim Published on: 10th November 2021
There can be little doubt that physicians and surgeons living in the lands of medieval Islamic civilisation made a significant contribution to the field of surgery. They developed new techniques and procedures, invented new instruments,…
Ibn Zuhr and the Progress of Surgery
by Rabie Abdel-Halim Published on: 5th December 2012
This study of the original Arabic edition of the book Al-Taysir fi ‘l-Mudawat wa’l-Tadbir (Book of Simplification Concerning Therapeutics and Diet) written by the Muslim physician Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar, 1093-1162 CE) aims at evaluating his…
Obesity: 1000 years ago
by Rabie Abdel-Halim Published on: 29th March 2016
I enjoyed Richard Barnett's Historical Keywords piece on obesity (May 28, p 1843).[1] More clarification is needed regarding his statement that “obesity first appears in a medical context in Thomas Venner's Via Recta (1620)”.
Medicine and Health in Medieval Arabic Poetry: An Historical Review
by Rabie Abdel-Halim Published on: 16th July 2014
This review of medieval Arabic medical poetry is based on our study of the two major classical biographical encyclopedias: “Uyoon Al Anbaa Fi Tabaqaat Al Atibbaa” ("Essential Information on the Classes of Physicians"), authored by…
Experimental Medicine 1000 Years Ago
by Rabie Abdel-Halim Published on: 23rd November 2012
Little is known about the state of experimentation in the field of medicine during the Medieval Islamic era. With few exceptions, most of the contemporary sources on history of medicine propagate the idea that the…
Medicine in the Middle Ages: New Insights and a Call for Further Research
by Rabie Abdel-Halim Published on: 15th July 2010
[Proceedings of the conference 1001 Inventions: Muslim Heritage in Our World organised by FSTC, London, 25-26 May 2010]. Aiming at restoring historical continuity to the currently available knowledge on medicine in the Middle Ages, the…
Paediatric Urology 1000 Years Ago
by Rabie Abdel-Halim Published on: 13th May 2009
In this study, we present a brief commentary on four books written by Muslim physicians and medical authors who lived between the ninth and the eleventh centuries, having to do with urology, with a special…
The Missing Link in the History of Urology
by Rabie Abdel-Halim Published on: 1st May 2009
With few exceptions, most of the current publications on history of urology still ignore the scientific and technological events of the more than a thousand years between the Greco-Roman times and the modern era. This…
Contributions of Ibn al-Nafis to the Progress of Medicine and Urology
by Rabie Abdel-Halim Published on: 12th June 2011
This primary-source study of four medical works of the 13th century Muslim scholar Ibn al-Nafis confirmed that his Kitab al-Mûjaz fi al-Tibb was authored as an independent book. It was meant as a handbook for…
Introducing Medical Humanities in the Medical Curriculum in Saudi Arabia: A Pedagogical Experiment
by Rabie Abdel-Halim, Khaled M AlKattan Published on: 21st February 2013
In a marked shift from the positivist philosophy that influenced medical education for more than a century, world medical educators realize now the significance of the spiritual element of human nature. Consensus is currently building…
Anaesthesia 1000 Years Ago (I)
by Rabie Abdel-Halim Published on: 5th June 2009
The following research article in a particular field of the history of medicine, written by two eminent experts, Drs Adnan A. Al-Mazrooa and Rabie E. Abdel-Halim, is composed of two parts. This first part surveys…