His scientific works included arguments that light had a specific speed, descriptions of how sound travelled through air, a theory on motion and psychological works on the relationship between mind, body and the ability to perceive. Outside of medicine, his important works included The Book of Healing, which was split into four sections and covered an array of subjects, such as mathematics, metaphysics, natural sciences and logic. The book was translated into Latin during the 12th century, and from there it was used as a reference text throughout European universities until the mid-17th century. What was he famous for?Īs a physician, one of Ibn Sina’s most notable contributions was his book Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb ( The Canon of Medicine), an encyclopedia which oscillates between medical knowledge gained from the ancients and more contemporary findings by Islamic scientists. Once the monarch died, Ibn Sina declined an offer made by his son and successor to continue in the role. By the age of 10 he had memorised the Quran, and by his mid-teens he had earned a reputation as a physician.Ī devout Muslim, the young Ibn Sina dedicated a significant amount of time to the study of Islamic texts and Greek philosophy, seeking to marry the two by proving the existence of God using logic and reason, rather than blind faith.īy the age of 32, the scholar was appointed vizier of the Buyid state after treating its emir, Shams al-Dawla. Typical of other Islamic intellectuals of the period, Ibn Sina's education was a mix of religious and secular subjects, such as mathematics, medicine and philosophy. It was in this context that Ibn Sina was raised by a father who had adopted the Ismaili branch of Shia Islam. The period was marked by the breakdown in the Baghdad-based Abbasid Caliphate's central authority and the rise of independent Muslim entities.ĭespite this relative political instability, the intellectually friendly atmosphere that the Abbasids had fostered in the Islamic world endured, with scholarship heavily entwined with the study of religion. Ibn Sina was born in the 10th century in the village of Afshana, which like much of Central Asia at the time was ruled by the Samanid Empire, a Sunni Muslim state of Iranian origin. He is also credited with preserving and building upon the ideas of the Greek philosopher Aristotle, whose ideas form the bedrock of the modern scientific method.įor Islamic revivalists, Ibn Sina is an example of the intellectual flourishing that occurred during the early centuries of Islam, and serves to rebuke the idea that the religion is an impediment to scientific and philosophical thought. So great was Ibn Sina's impact, particularly on the European imagination, that he - alongside the Andalusian philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes) and the famed Muslim warrior Saladin - appears among the "virtuous pagans" in Dante's Inferno, occupying the first circles of hell alongside other non-Christians, such as Plato, Socrates and Virgil. Quiz: How well do you know the Islamic Golden Age? Read More »
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |