Abu Mohammed Abdellah Ibn Mohammed Al-Azdi ( ar, ابو محمد عبدالله بن محمد الأزدي) (ca. ? - 1033 CE), known also as Ibn Al-Thahabi or Ibn al-Zahabi was an Arab physician, famous for writing the first known alphabetical encyclopedia of medicine.

Biography

He was born in

Suhar Sohar ( ar, صُحَار, also Romanized as Suḥār) is the capital and largest city of the Al Batinah North Governorate in Oman. An ancient capital of the country that once served as an important Islamic port town, Suhar has also been credited ...

, Oman. He moved then into Basra, then to Persia where he studied under Al-Biruni and

Ibn Sina Ibn Sina ( fa, ابن سینا; 980 – June 1037 CE), commonly known in the West as Avicenna (), was a Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, philosophers, and writers of the Islamic G ...

. Later he migrated to Jerusalem and finally settled in Valencia, in Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain).

Works

He is famous for his book ''

Kitab Al-Ma'a Kitab ( ar, کتاب, link=no, ''kitāb''), also transcribed kitaab, is the Arabic, Turkic, Urdu, Hindi and in various Indian Languages word for "book". * ''Kitaab'', a 1977 Hindi language movie * ''Kithaab'' (also written ''Kitab''), a 2018 Ma ...

'' (''The Book of Water''), a medical encyclopedia that lists the names of diseases, medicines, physiological processes, and treatments. It is the first known alphabetical classification of medical terms. In this encyclopedia, Ibn Al-Thahabi not only lists the names but adds numerous original ideas about the function of the human organs. The book also contains an array of herbal treatments and a course for the treatment psychological symptoms. The main thesis is that cure must start from controlled food and exercise; if it persists then use specific individual medicines; if it still persists then use medical compounds; and if the disease continues, surgery is performed.

Biography

Works

References

See also