Abū Bakr al-Rāzī
Portrait by Hossein Behzad, 1962
Born	864 or 865 CE 250 or 251 AH Ray (Iran)
Died	925 (aged 60–61) CE or 935 (aged 70–71) CE 313 or 323 AH Ray (Iran)

Philosophical work
Era	Islamic Golden Age
Language	Arabic (writings)
Main interests	Medicine, philosophy, alchemy, criticism of religion
Notable ideas	pioneer of obstetrics and ophthalmology, author of the first book on pediatrics, making leading contributions in inorganic and organic chemistry, also the author of several philosophical works.

Abū Bakr al-Rāzī, also known as Rhazes^[a] (full name: أبو بکر محمد بن زکریاء الرازي, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakariyyāʾ al-Rāzī),^[b] c. 864 or 865–925 or 935 CE,^[c] was a Persian physician, philosopher and alchemist who lived during the Islamic Golden Age. He is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of medicine,^[1] and also wrote on logic, astronomy and grammar.^[2] He is also known for his criticism of religion, especially with regard to the concepts of prophethood and revelation. However, the religio-philosophical aspects of his thought, which also included a belief in five "eternal principles", are fragmentary and only reported by authors who were often hostile to him.^[3]

A comprehensive thinker, al-Razi made fundamental and enduring contributions to various fields, which he recorded in over 200 manuscripts, and is particularly remembered for numerous advances in medicine through his observations and discoveries.^[4] An early proponent of experimental medicine, he became a successful doctor, and served as chief physician of Baghdad and Ray hospitals.^[5]^[6] As a teacher of medicine, he attracted students of all backgrounds and interests and was said to be compassionate and devoted to the service of his patients, whether rich or poor.^[7] Along with Thabit ibn Qurra (836–901), he was one of the first to clinically distinguish between smallpox and measles.^[8]

Through translation, his medical works and ideas became known among medieval European practitioners and profoundly influenced medical education in the Latin West.^[5] Some volumes of his work Al-Mansuri, namely "On Surgery" and "A General Book on Therapy", became part of the medical curriculum in Western universities.^[5] Edward Granville Browne considers him as "probably the greatest and most original of all the Muslim physicians, and one of the most prolific as an author".^[9] Additionally, he has been described as the father of pediatrics,^[10]^[11] and a pioneer of obstetrics and ophthalmology.^[12]

Biography

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Depiction of al-Razi in a 13th-century manuscript of a work by Gerard of Cremona

Al-Razi was born in the city of Ray (modern Rey, also the origin of his name "al-Razi"),^[13] into a family of Persian stock and was a native speaker of Persian language.^[14] Ray was situated on the Great Silk Road that for centuries facilitated trade and cultural exchanges between East and West. It is located on the southern slopes of the Alborz mountain range situated near Tehran, Iran.

In his youth, al-Razi moved to Baghdad where he studied and practiced at the local bimaristan (hospital). Later, he was invited back to Rey by Mansur ibn Ishaq, then the governor of Ray, and became a bimaristan's head.^[5] He dedicated two books on medicine to Mansur ibn Ishaq, The Spiritual Physic and Al-Mansūrī on Medicine.^[5]^[15]^[16]^[17] Because of his newly acquired popularity as physician, al-Razi was invited to Baghdad where he assumed the responsibilities of a director in a new hospital named after its founder al-Muʿtaḍid (d. 902 CE).^[5] Under the reign of Al-Mutadid's son, Al-Muktafi (r. 902–908) al-Razi was commissioned to build a new hospital, which should be the largest of the Abbasid Caliphate. To pick the future hospital's location, al-Razi adopted what is nowadays known as an evidence-based approach suggesting having fresh meat hung in various places throughout the city and to build the hospital where meat took longest to rot.^[18]

He spent the last years of his life in his native Rey suffering from glaucoma. His eye affliction started with cataracts and ended in total blindness.^[19] The cause of his blindness is uncertain. One account mentioned by Ibn Juljul attributed the cause to a blow to his head by his patron, Mansur ibn Ishaq, for failing to provide proof for his alchemy theories;^[20] while Abulfaraj and Casiri claimed that the cause was a diet of beans only.^[21]^[22] Allegedly, he was approached by a physician offering an ointment to cure his blindness. Al-Razi then asked him how many layers does the eye contain and when he was unable to receive an answer, he declined the treatment stating "my eyes will not be treated by one who does not know the basics of its anatomy".^[23]

The lectures of al-Razi attracted many students. As Ibn al-Nadim relates in Fihrist, al-Razi was considered a shaikh, an honorary title given to one entitled to teach and surrounded by several circles of students. When someone raised a question, it was passed on to students of the 'first circle'; if they did not know the answer, it was passed on to those of the 'second circle', and so on. When all students would fail to answer, al-Razi himself would consider the query. Al-Razi was a generous person by nature, with a considerate attitude towards his patients. He was charitable to the poor, treated them without payment in any form, and wrote for them a treatise Man La Yaḥḍuruhu al-Ṭabīb, or Who Has No Physician to Attend Him, with medical advice.^[24] One former pupil from Tabaristan came to look after him, but as al-Biruni wrote, al-Razi rewarded him for his intentions and sent him back home, proclaiming that his final days were approaching.^[25] According to Biruni, al-Razi died in Rey in 925 sixty years of age.^[26] Biruni, who considered al-Razi his mentor, among the first penned a short biography of al-Razi including a bibliography of his numerous works.^[26]

Ibn al-Nadim recorded an account by al-Razi of a Chinese student who copied down all of Galen's works in Chinese as al-Razi read them to him out loud after the student learned fluent Arabic in 5 months and attended al-Razi's lectures.^[27]^[28]^[29]^[30]

After his death, his fame spread beyond the Middle East to Medieval Europe, and lived on. In an undated catalog of the library at Peterborough Abbey, most likely from the 14th century, al-Razi is listed as a part author of ten books on medicine.^[31]

Contributions to medicine

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Psychology and psychotherapy

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Al-Razi was one of the world's first great medical experts. He is considered the father of psychology and psychotherapy.^[32]

Smallpox vs. measles

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Al-Razi's book al-Judari wa l-ḥaṣba "On Smallpox and Measles", is, along with a book of the same name by Thabit ibn Qurra (836–901), among the earliest extant books describing smallpox and measles as distinct diseases.^[33] Smallpox was not known in ancient Greek medicine. It was likely differentiated from measles and other similar diseases by authors in late antiquity writing in Medieval Greek and Syriac, whose works were known to Thabit and al-Razi.^[34]

Al-Razi's work was translated into Syriac and then into Greek. It became known in Europe through this translation, as well as Latin translations based on the Greek text, and was later translated into several European languages.^[35] Neither the date nor the author of the Syriac and Greek versions is known; but the Greek was created at the request of one of the Byzantine emperors.^[35]

Meningitis

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Al-Razi compared the outcome of patients with meningitis treated with blood-letting with the outcome of those treated without it to see if blood-letting could help.^[36]

Pharmacy

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Al-Razi contributed in many ways to the early practice of pharmacy^[37] by compiling texts, in which he introduces the use of "mercurial ointments" and his development of apparatus such as mortars, flasks, spatulas and phials, which were used in pharmacies until the early twentieth century.^{[citation needed]}

Ethics of medicine

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On a professional level, al-Razi introduced many practical, progressive, medical and psychological ideas. He attacked charlatans and fake doctors who roamed the cities and countryside selling their nostrums and "cures". At the same time, he warned that even highly educated doctors did not have the answers to all medical problems and could not cure all sicknesses or heal every disease, which was humanly speaking impossible. To become more useful in their services and truer to their calling, al-Razi advised practitioners to keep up with advanced knowledge by continually studying medical books and exposing themselves to new information. He made a distinction between curable and incurable diseases. Pertaining to the latter, he commented that in the case of advanced cases of cancer and leprosy the physician should not be blamed when he could not cure them. To add a humorous note, al-Razi felt great pity for physicians who took care for the well being of princes, nobility, and women, because they did not obey the doctor's orders to restrict their diet or get medical treatment, thus making it most difficult being their physician.

He also wrote the following on medical ethics:

The doctor's aim is to do good, even to our enemies, so much more to our friends, and my profession forbids us to do harm to our kindred, as it is instituted for the benefit and welfare of the human race, and God imposed on physicians the oath not to compose mortiferous remedies.^[38]

Books and articles on medicine

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Al-Hawi

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Arabic: الحاوي, romanized: al-Hāwi, lit. 'The Comprehensive [Book on Medicine]' This 23-volume medical textbook sets the foundation of gynecology, obstetrics, oncology and chemotherapy, and ophthalmic surgery.^[32] It also contains considerations and criticism on Aristotle and Plato and expresses innovative views on many subjects.^[39]^[40]^[41] Because of this book alone, many scholars consider al-Razi the greatest medical doctor of the Middle Ages.

Al-Hawi is not a formal medical encyclopedia but a posthumous compilation of al-Razi's working notebooks, which included knowledge gathered from other books as well as original observations on diseases and therapies based on his own clinical experience. It is significant since it contains a monograph on smallpox, one of the earliest known. It was translated into Latin in 1279 by Faraj ben Salim, a physician of Sicilian-Jewish origin employed by Charles of Anjou, and after which it had a considerable influence in Europe.

Al-Hawi also criticized the views of Galen after al-Razi had observed many clinical cases that did not follow Galen's descriptions of fevers. For example, he stated that Galen's descriptions of urinary ailments were inaccurate as he had only seen three cases, while al-Razi had studied hundreds of such cases in hospitals of Baghdad and Rey.^[42]

For One Who Has No Physician to Attend Him (Man la Yahduruhu Al-Tabib) (من لا يحضره الطبيب)

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Al-Razi was possibly the first Persian doctor to deliberately write a home medical manual (remedial) directed at the general public. He dedicated it to the poor, the traveller, and the ordinary citizen who could consult it to treat common ailments when a doctor was unavailable. This book is of special interest to the history of pharmacy since similar books were very popular until the 20th century. Al-Razi described in its 36 chapters diets and drug components that can be found in either an apothecary, a marketplace, in well-equipped kitchens, or military camps. Thus, every intelligent person could follow its instructions and prepare the proper recipes with good results.

Some of the illnesses treated were headaches, colds, coughing, melancholy and diseases of the eye, ear, and stomach. For example, he prescribed for a feverish headache: "2 parts of duhn (oily extract) of rose, to be mixed with 1 part of vinegar, in which a piece of linen cloth is dipped and compressed on the forehead". He recommended as a laxative, "7 drams of dried violet flowers with 20 pears, macerated and well mixed, then strained. Add to this filtrate 20 drams of sugar for a drink." In cases of melancholy, he invariably recommended prescriptions, which included either poppies or its juice (opium), Cuscuta epithymum (clover dodder) or both. For an eye-remedy, he advised myrrh, saffron, and frankincense, 2 drams each, to be mixed with 1 dram of yellow arsenic formed into tablets. Each tablet was to be dissolved in sufficient coriander water and used as eye drops.

Book for al-Mansur (Kitāb al-Manṣūrī)

Al-Razi dedicated this work to his patron Abū Ṣāliḥ al-Manṣūr, the Samanid governor of Ray.^[43] It was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona around 1180.^[44] A Latin translation of it was edited in the 16th century by the Dutch anatomist and physician Andreas Vesalius.^[13]

Doubts about Galen (al-Shukūk ʿalā Jalīnūs)

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In his book Doubts about Galen,^[45] al-Razi rejects several claims made by the Greek physician, as far as the alleged superiority of the Greek language and many of his cosmological and medical views. He links medicine with philosophy, and states that sound practice demands independent thinking. He reports that Galen's descriptions do not agree with his own clinical observations regarding the run of a fever. And in some cases he finds that his clinical experience exceeds Galen's.

He criticized Galen's theory that the body possessed four separate "humors" whose balance is the key to health and a natural body temperature. A sure way to upset such a system was to insert a liquid with a different temperature into the body, resulting in an increase or decrease of bodily heat, which resembled the temperature of that particular fluid. Al-Razi noted that a warm drink would heat the body much higher than its natural temperature. Thus, the drink would trigger a response from the body rather than transferring only its warmth or coldness to it. (Cf. I. E. Goodman)

This line of criticism could completely refute Galen's theory of humors and Aristotle's theory of the classical elements on which it was grounded. Al-Razi's alchemical experiments suggested other qualities of matter, such as "oiliness" and "sulphurousness", or inflammability and salinity, which were not readily explained by the traditional fire, water, earth, and air division of elements.

Al-Razi's challenge to the current fundamentals of medical theory was quite controversial. Many accused him of ignorance and arrogance, even though he repeatedly expressed his praise and gratitude to Galen for his contributions and labours, saying:

I prayed to God to direct and lead me to the truth in writing this book. It grieves me to oppose and criticize the man Galen from whose sea of knowledge I have drawn much. Indeed, he is the Master and I am the disciple. Although this reverence and appreciation will and should not prevent me from doubting, as I did, what is erroneous in his theories. I imagine and feel deeply in my heart that Galen has chosen me to undertake this task, and if he were alive, he would have congratulated me on what I am doing. I say this because Galen's aim was to seek and find the truth and bring light out of darkness. I wish indeed he were alive to read what I have published.^[46]

The Diseases of Children

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Al-Razi's The Diseases of Children was the first monograph to deal with pediatrics as an independent field of medicine.^[10]^[11]

Alchemy

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The transmutation of metals

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Al-Razi's interest in alchemy and his strong belief in the possibility of transmutation of lesser metals to silver and gold was attested half a century after his death by Ibn an-Nadim's book, The Philosopher's Stone (Lapis Philosophorum in Latin). Nadim attributed a series of twelve books to al-Razi, plus an additional seven, including his refutation to al-Kindi's denial of the validity of alchemy. Al-Kindi (801–873 CE) had been appointed by the Abbasid Caliph Ma'mun founder of Baghdad, to 'the House of Wisdom' in that city, he was a philosopher and an opponent of alchemy. Al-Razi's two best-known alchemical texts, which largely superseded his earlier ones: al-Asrar (الاسرار "The Secrets"), and Sirr al-Asrar (سر الاسرار "The Secret of Secrets"), which incorporates much of the previous work.

Apparently al-Razi's contemporaries believed that he had obtained the secret of turning iron and copper into gold. Biographer Khosro Moetazed reports in Mohammad Zakaria Razi that a certain General Simjur confronted al-Razi in public, and asked whether that was the underlying reason for his willingness to treat patients without a fee. "It appeared to those present that al-Razi was reluctant to answer; he looked sideways at the general and replied":

I understand alchemy and I have been working on the characteristic properties of metals for an extended time. However, it still has not turned out to be evident to me, how one can transmute gold from copper. Despite the research from the ancient scientists done over the past centuries, there has been no answer. I very much doubt if it is possible...

Major works on alchemy

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Al-Razi's works present the first systematic classification of carefully observed and verified facts regarding chemical substances, reactions and apparatus, described in a language almost entirely free from mysticism and ambiguity.

The Secrets (Al-Asrar)

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'The Secrets' (al-Asrar, Kitāb al-Asrār, 'Book of Secrets') was written in response to a request from al-Razi's close friend, colleague, and former student, Abu Muhammad ibn Yunis al-Bukhari, a Muslim mathematician, philosopher, and natural scientist.

Secret of Secrets (Sirr al-Asrar)

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This is al-Razi's most famous book. Here he gives systematic attention to basic chemical operations important to the history of pharmacy. In this book al-Razi divides the subject of "matter' into three categories, as in his previous book Al-Asrar.

Knowledge and identification of the medical components within substances derived from plants, animals, and minerals, and descriptions of the best types for medical treatments.
Knowledge of equipment and tools of interest to and used by either alchemists or apothecaries.
Knowledge of seven alchemical procedures and techniques: sublimation and condensation of mercury, precipitation of sulfur, and arsenic calcination of minerals (gold, silver, copper, lead, and iron), salts, glass, talc, shells, and waxing.

This last category contains additional descriptions of other methods and applications used in transmutation:

The added mixture and use of solvent vehicles.
The amount of heat (fire) used, 'bodies and stones', (al-ajsad and al-ahjar) that can or cannot be transmuted into corporal substances such of metals and salts (al-amlah).
The use of a liquid mordant which quickly and permanently colors lesser metals for more lucrative sale and profit.

Similar to the commentary on the 8th century text on amalgams ascribed to Jabir ibn Hayyan, al-Razi gives methods and procedures of coloring a silver object to imitate gold (gold leafing) and the reverse technique of removing its color back to silver. Gilding and silvering of other metals (alum, calcium salts, iron, copper, and tutty) are also described, as well as how colors will last for years without tarnishing or changing.

Al-Razi classified minerals into six divisions:

Four spirits (al-arwah): mercury, sal ammoniac, sulphur, and arsenic sulphide (orpiment and realgar).
Seven bodies (al-ajsad): silver, gold, copper, iron, black lead (plumbago), zinc (kharsind), and tin.
Thirteen stones (al-ahjar): Marcasite (marqashita), magnesia, malachite, tutty (tutiya, zinc oxide), talcum, lapis lazuli, gypsum, azurite, haematite (iron oxide), arsenic oxide^[which?], mica, asbestos, and glass (then identified as made of sand and alkali of which the transparent crystal damascene is considered the best).
Seven vitriols (al-zajat): alum (al-shabb الشب), and white (qalqadis القلقديس), black, red (suri السوري), and yellow (qulqutar القلقطار) vitriols (the impure sulfates of iron, copper, etc.), green (qalqand القلقند).
Seven borates: natron, and impure sodium borate.
Eleven salts (al-amlah): including brine, common salt, ashes, naphtha, live lime, and urine, rock, and sea salts. Then he separately defines and describes each of these substances, the best forms and colours of each, and the qualities of various adulterations.

Al-Razi gives also a list of apparatus used in alchemy. This consists of 2 classes:

Instruments used for the dissolving and melting of metals such as the blacksmith's hearth, bellows, crucible, thongs (tongue or ladle), macerator, stirring rod, cutter, grinder (pestle), file, shears, descensory, and semi-cylindrical iron mould.
Utensils used to carry out the process of transmutation and various parts of the distilling apparatus: the retort, alembic, shallow iron pan, potters kiln and blowers, large oven, cylindrical stove, glass cups, flasks, phials, beakers, glass funnel, crucible, aludel, heating lamps, mortar, cauldron, hair-cloth, sand- and water-bath, sieve, flat stone mortar and chafing-dish.

Philosophy

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Although al-Razi wrote extensively on philosophy, most of his works on this subject are now lost.^[47] Most of his religio-philosophical ideas, including his belief in five "eternal principles", are only known from fragments and testimonies found in other authors, who were often strongly opposed to his thought.^[48]

Metaphysics

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Al-Razi's metaphysical doctrine derives from the theory of the "five eternals", according to which the world is produced out of an interaction between God and four other eternal principles (soul, matter, time, and place).^[49] He accepted a pre-socratic type of atomism of the bodies, and for that he differed from both the falasifa and the mutakallimun.^[49] While he was influenced by Plato and the medical writers, mainly Galen, he rejected taqlid and thus expressed criticism about some of their views. This is evident from the title of one of his works, Doubts About Galen.^[49]

Views on religion

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A number of contradictory works and statements about religion have been ascribed to al-Razi. Many sources claim that al-Razi viewed prophecy and revealed religion as unnecessary and delusional, claiming that all humans have the ability to access and discover truth (including the existence of God) through God-given reason.^[50]^[51]^[52]^[53] According to these sources, his skepticism of prophecy and view that no one group or religion has privileged access to the truth is driven by his view that all people have an equal basic capacity for rationality and discovery of truth, and that apparent differences in this capacity are simply a feature of interest, opportunity, and effort.^[54]^[52] Because of his supposed rejection of prophecy and acceptance of reason as the primary method for accessing the truth, al-Razi came to be admired as a freethinker by some.^[55]^[53]

According to al-Biruni's Bibliography of al-Razi (Risāla fī Fihrist Kutub al-Rāzī), al-Razi wrote two "heretical books": "Fī al-Nubuwwāt (On Prophecies) and "Fī Ḥiyal al-Mutanabbīn (On the Tricks of False Prophets). According to Biruni, the first "was claimed to be against religions" and the second "was claimed as attacking the necessity of the prophets."^[56] However, Biruni also listed some other works of al-Razi on religion, including Fi Wujub Da‘wat al-Nabi ‘Ala Man Nakara bi al-Nubuwwat (Obligation to Propagate the Teachings of the Prophet Against Those who Denied Prophecies) and Fi anna li al-Insan Khaliqan Mutqinan Hakiman (That Man has a Wise and Perfect Creator), listed under his works on the "divine sciences".^[56] None of his works on religion are now extant in full.

Sarah Stroumsa has argued that al-Razi was a freethinker who rejected all revealed religions.^[57] However, Peter Adamson, Marwan Rashed and others hold that al-Razi did not reject revealed religion, on the basis of more recent evidence found in the writings of the theologian and philosopher Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (died 1210).^[58] Adamson states:

It is worth noting that Stroumsa’s work predates Rashed’s discovery of this evidence in Fakhr al-Dīn, so that she did not have the benefit of being able to consider how this new information could be reconciled with the Proofs. That is the goal I will set for myself in this chapter. I should lay my cards on the table and say that I am persuaded by Rashed’s account, and do not believe that Razi was staging a general attack on prophecy or religion as Abū Ḥātim would have us think.^[59]

Debate with Abu Hatim

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The views and quotes that are often ascribed to al-Razi where he appears to be critical of religion are found in a book written by Abu Hatim al-Razi, called Aʿlām al-nubuwwa (Signs of Prophecy), which documents a debate between Abu Hatim and al-Razi. Abu Hatim was an Isma'ili missionary who debated al-Razi, but whether he has faithfully recorded the views of al-Razi is disputed.^[49] Some historians claim that Abu Hatim accurately represented al-Razi's scepticism of revealed religion while others argue that Abu Hatim's work should be treated with scepticism given that he is a hostile source of al-Razi's beliefs and might have portrayed him as a heretic to discount his critique of the Ismāʿīlīs.^[60]

According to Abdul Latif al-'Abd, Islamic philosophy professor at Cairo University, Abu Hatim and his student, Ḥamīd al-dīn Karmānī (d. after 411AH/1020CE), were Isma'ili extremists who often misrepresented the views of al-Razi in their works.^[61]^[62] This view is also corroborated by early historians like al-Shahrastani who noted "that such accusations should be doubted since they were made by Ismāʿīlīs, who had been severely attacked by Muḥammad ibn Zakariyyā Rāzī".^[60] Al-'Abd points out that the views allegedly expressed by al-Razi contradict what is found in al-Razi's own works, like the Spiritual Medicine (Fī al-ṭibb al-rūḥānī).^[61] Peter Adamson concurs that Abu Hatim may have "deliberately misdescribed" al-Razi's position as a rejection of Islam and revealed religions. Instead, al-Razi was only arguing against the use of miracles to prove Muhammad's prophecy, anthropomorphism, and the uncritical acceptance of taqlīd vs naẓar.^[49] Adamson points out to a work by Fakhr al-din al-Razi where al-Razi is quoted as citing the Quran and the prophets to support his views.^[49]

In contrast, earlier historians such as Paul Kraus and Sarah Stroumsa accepted that the extracts found in Abu Hatim's book were either said by al-Razi during a debate or were quoted from a now lost work. According to the debate with Abu Hatim, al-Razi denied the validity of prophecy or other authority figures, and rejected prophetic miracles. He also directed a scathing critique on revealed religions and the miraculous quality of the Quran.^[49]^[63] They suggest that this lost work is either his famous al-ʿIlm al-Ilāhī or another shorter independent work called Makharīq al-Anbiyāʾ (The Prophets' Fraudulent Tricks).^[64]^[65] Abu Hatim, however, did not explicitly mention al-Razi by name in his book, but referred to his interlocutor simply as the mulḥid (lit. 'heretic').^[49]^[61]

Criticism

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Al-Razi's religious and philosophical views were later criticized by Abu Rayhan Biruni and Avicenna in the early 11th century. Biruni in particular wrote a short treatise (risala) dealing with al-Razi, criticizing him for his sympathy with Manichaeism,^[66] his Hermetical writings, his religious and philosophical views,^[67] for refusing to mathematize physics, and his active opposition to mathematics.^[68] Avicenna, who was himself a physician and philosopher, also criticized al-Razi.^[69] During a debate with Biruni, Avicenna stated:

Or from Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al-Razi, who meddles in metaphysics and exceeds his competence. He should have remained confined to surgery and to urine and stool testing—indeed he exposed himself and showed his ignorance in these matters.^[70]

Nasr-i-Khosraw posthumously accused him of having plagiarized Iranshahri, whom Khosraw considered the master of al-Razi.^[71]

Legacy

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The modern-day Razi Institute in Karaj and Razi University in Kermanshah were named after him. A "Razi Day" ("Pharmacy Day") is commemorated in Iran every 27 August.^[72]

In June 2009, Iran donated a "Scholars Pavilion" or Chartagi to the United Nations Office in Vienna, now placed in the central Memorial Plaza of the Vienna International Center.^[73] The pavilion features the statues of al-Razi, Avicenna, Abu Rayhan Biruni, and Omar Khayyam.^[74]^[75]

George Sarton remarked him as "greatest physician of Islam and the Medieval Ages".^[76]

See also

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References

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Notes

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^ His name was rendered in Latin as either Rhazes or Rhasis. In modern academic literature he is also often referred to as Razi.
^ For the spelling of his Arabic name, see for example Kraus 1939. Sometimes it is also spelled زکریا (Zakariyyā) rather than زکریاء (Zakariyyāʾ), as for example in Dānish-pazhūh 1964, p. 1 of the edition, or in Mohaghegh 1993, p. 5. In modern Persian his name is rendered as ابوبکر محمدبن زکریا رازی (see Dānish-pazhūh 1964, p. 1 of the introduction), though instead of زکریا one may also find زکریای (see Mohaghegh 1993, p. 18).
^ For his date of birth, Kraus & Pines 1913–1936 give 864 CE / 250 AH (Goodman 1960–2007 gives 854 CE / 250 AH, but this is a typo), while Richter-Bernburg 2003 and Adamson 2021a give 865 CE / 251 AH. For his date of death as 925 or 935 CE / 313 or 323 AH, see Goodman 1960–2007; some sources only give 925 CE / 313 AH (Walker 1998; Richter-Bernburg 2003; Adamson 2021a).

Citations

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^ Walker 1998; Iskandar 2008; Adamson 2021a.
^ Majid Fakhry, A History of Islamic Philosophy: Third Edition, Columbia University Press (2004), p. 98.
^ Adamson 2021a
^ Hakeem Abdul Hameed, Exchanges between India and Central Asia in the field of Medicine Archived 6 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Iskandar 2008.
^ Influence of Islam on World Civilization" by Prof. Z. Ahmed, p. 127.
^ Rāzī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā, Fuat Sezgin, Māzin ʻAmāwī, Carl Ehrig-Eggert, and E. Neubauer. Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyāʼ ar-Rāzī (d. 313/925): texts and studies. Frankfurt am Main: Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, 1999.
^ Sezgin 1970, p. 276.
^ Browne 1921, p. 44.
^ ^a ^b Tschanz David W., PhD (2003). "Arab(?) Roots of European Medicine". Heart Views. 4 (2).
^ ^a ^b Elgood, Cyril (2010). A Medical History of Persia and The Eastern Caliphate (1st ed.). London: Cambridge. pp. 202–203. ISBN 978-1-108-01588-2. By writing a monograph on 'Diseases in Children' he may also be looked upon as the father of pediatrics.
^ "Ar-Razi (Rhazes), 864–930 C.E." www.unhas.ac.id. Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020. 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.
^ ^a ^b Adamson 2021a.
^ Kahl 2015, p. 6
Ruska 1937, p. 4
Ullmann 1997, p. 29
Sarton 1927, p. 590
Hitti 1969, p. 188
Walzer 1962, p. 18
^ Rāzī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā. "The Book of Medicine Dedicated to Mansur and Other Medical Tracts – Liber ad Almansorem". World Digital Library (in Latin). Retrieved 2 March 2014.
^ Rāzī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā. "The Book on Medicine Dedicated to al-Mansur – الكتاب المنصوري في الطب". World Digital Library (in Amharic and Arabic). Retrieved 2 March 2014.
^ "Commentary on the Chapter Nine of the Book of Medicine Dedicated to Mansur – Commentaria in nonum librum Rasis ad regem Almansorem". World Digital Library (in Latin). 1542. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
^ Nikaein F, Zargaran A, Mehdizadeh A (2012). "Rhazes' concepts and manuscripts on nutrition in treatment and health care". Anc Sci Life. 31 (4): 160–3. doi:10.4103/0257-7941.107357. PMC 3644752. PMID 23661862.
^ Magner, Lois N. A History of Medicine. New York: M. Dekker, 1992, p. 140.
^ Magner, Lois N. (13 August 2002). A History of the Life Sciences, Revised and Expanded. CRC Press. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-8247-4360-4.
^ Pococke, E. Historia Compendosia Dynastiarum. Oxford, 1663, p. 291.
^ Long, George (1841). The Penny cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, Volume 19. C. Knight. p. 445. rhazes.
^ "Saab Medical Library – كتاب في الجدري و الحصبة – American University of Beirut". Ddc.aub.edu.lb. 1 June 2003. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
^ Porter, Roy. The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity. New York: W. W. Norton, 1997, p. 97.
^ Kamiar, Mohammad. Brilliant Biruni: A Life Story of Abu Rayhan Mohammad Ibn Ahmad. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2009.
^ ^a ^b Ruska, Julius. Al-Birūni als Quelle für das Leben und die Schriften al-Rāzi's. Bruxelles: Weissenbruch, 1922.
^ Joseph Needham; Ling Wang (1954). 中國科學技術史. Cambridge University Press. pp. 219–. ISBN 978-0-521-05799-8. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^ Jacques Gernet (31 May 1996). A History of Chinese Civilization. Cambridge University Press. pp. 34–. ISBN 978-0-521-49781-7.
^ غليزان, فيزياء. "الرازي". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
^ "قلم لنكبرده ولساكسه , قلم الصين". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
^ Gunton, Simon. The History of the Church of Peterborough. London, Richard Chiswell, publisher, 1686. Facsimile edition published by Clay, Tyas, and Watkins in Peterborough and Stamford (1990). Item Fv. on pp. 187–8.
^ ^a ^b Phipps, Claude (5 October 2015). No Wonder You Wonder!: Great Inventions and Scientific Mysteries. Springer. p. 111. ISBN 9783319216805.
^ Sezgin, Fuat (1970). Ar-Razi. In: Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums Bd. III: Medizin – Pharmazie – Zoologie – Tierheilkunde = History of the Arabic literature Vol. III: Medicine – Pharmacology – Veterinary Medicine. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 276; on Thabit's work cf. pp. 260–261 (no. 3).
^ Sezgin 1970, p. 260, referring to Meyerhof, Max (1930). "The 'Book of Treasure', an Early Arabic Treatise on Medicine". Isis. 14 (1): 55–76. JSTOR 224380. p. 72.
^ ^a ^b A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Rhazes
^ Evans, Imogen; Thornton, Hazel; Chalmers, Iain; Glasziou, Paul (1 January 2011). Testing Treatments: Better Research for Better Healthcare (2nd ed.). London: Pinter & Martin. ISBN 9781905177486. PMID 22171402.
^ "The valuable contributions of Al-Razi (Rhazes) in the history of pharmacy during the middle ages". Archived from the original on 4 December 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
^ Islamic Science, the Scholar and Ethics Archived 22 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Foundation for Science Technology and Civilisation.
^ Rāzī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā. "The Comprehensive Book on Medicine – كتاب الحاوى فى الطب". World Digital Library. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
^ "The Comprehensive Book on Medicine – كتاب الحاوي". World Digital Library (in Arabic). 1674 [Around 1674 CE]. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
^ Rāzī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā (1529). "The Comprehensive Book on Medicine—Continens Rasis". World Digital Library (in Latin). Retrieved 2 March 2014.
^ Emilie Savage-Smith (1996), "Medicine", in Roshdi Rashed, ed., Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, Vol. 3, pp. 903–962 [917]. Routledge, London and New York.
^ Adamson 2021b, p. 17.
^ "Rāzī, Liber Almansoris (Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 9213)". Cambridge Digital Library. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
^ Edited and translated into French by Koetschet 2019. An older edition is Mohaghegh 1993.
^ Bashar Saad, Omar Said, Greco-Arab and Islamic Herbal Medicine: Traditional System, Ethics, Safety, Efficacy, and Regulatory Issues, John Wiley & Sons, 2011. ISBN 9781118002261, page
^ See the list of 35 works given by Daiber 2017, pp. 389–396. Of these, only three are extant in full (see p. 396), though fragments of many other works also survive (edited by Kraus 1939).
^ Adamson, Peter (2021), "Abu Bakr al-Razi", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2021 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 21 December 2023, While we have ample surviving evidence for his medical thought, his philosophical ideas mostly have to be pieced together on the basis of reports found in other authors, who are often hostile to him.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Marenbon, John (14 June 2012). The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Philosophy. Oxford University Press. pp. 69–70. ISBN 9780195379488.
^ Goodman, Lenn (1995). Audi, Robert (ed.). The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy. Cambridge: The Cambridge University Press. pp. 20–21. ISBN 0-521-40224-7. In keeping with the Epicureanism he might have imbibed from Galenic sources, he rejects special prophecy as imposture, arguing that reason, God's gift to all alike, is sufficient guidance.
^ Groff, Peter (2007). Islamic Philosophy A-Z. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 180–181. ISBN 9780748620890. Accordingly, al-Razi takes a rather dim view of prophecy, which in his view is both unnecessary and delusional, and indeed he criticizes all revealed religions as provincial and divisive. No one individual or group can legitimately claim a monopoly on the truth; each succeeding generation has the ability to improve upon and even transcend its predecessor's insights through rational argumentation and empirical inquiry.
^ ^a ^b Walker, Paul E. (2000). Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. New York: Routledge. p. 744. ISBN 0-415-22364-4. Chief among his positive contributions is his advocacy of a doctrine of equal aptitude in all humans, which grants no special role for unique and divinely favoured prophets and which recognizes the possibility of future progress in the advancement of knowledge.
^ ^a ^b Goodman 1960–2007.
^ Groff, Peter (2007). Islamic Philosophy A-Z. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 180–181. ISBN 9780748620890. Elsewhere, he argues that all human beings have the same fundamental capacity for reason and that the apparent inequality of people in this respect is ultimately a function of opportunity, interest and effort. Accordingly, al-Razi takes a rather dim view of prophecy, which in his view is both unnecessary and delusional, and indeed he criticizes all revealed religions as provincial and divisive. No one individual or group can legitimately claim a monopoly on the truth; each succeeding generation has the ability to improve upon and even transcend its predecessor's insights through rational argumentation and empirical inquiry.
^ Groff, Peter (2007). Islamic Philosophy A-Z. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd. p. 41. ISBN 9780748620890. More specifically, freethinking might be defined as independent thinking within an Islamicate context which (1) relies upon natural reason alone as a means to reach the truth, and (2) rejects the authority and veracity of revelation, prophecy and tradition... See belief; Ibn al-Rawandi; Islam; prophecy; rationalism; al-Razi (Abu Bakr)
^ ^a ^b Deuraseh, Nurdeng (2008). "Risalat Al-Biruni Fi Fihrist Kutub Al-Razi: A Comprehensive Bibliography of the Works of Abu Bakr Al-Rāzī (d. 313 A.h/925) and Al-Birūni (d. 443/1051)". Journal of Aqidah and Islamic Thought. 9: 51–100.
^ Adamson 2021b, p. 122.
^ Adamson 2021a, Rashed 2008, Güngör 2023.
^ Adamson 2021b, p. 123.
^ ^a ^b Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and Mehdi Amin Razavi, An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, vol. 1, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 353, quote: "Among the other eminent figures who attacked Rāzī are the Ismāʿīlī philosopher Abū Ḥatem Rāzī, who wrote two books to refute Rāzī's views on theodicy, prophecy, and miracles; and Nāṣir-i Khusraw. Shahrastānī, however, indicates that such accusations should be doubted since they were made by Ismāʿīlīs, who had been severely attacked by Muḥammad ibn Zakariyyā Rāzī"
^ ^a ^b ^c Abdul Latif Muhammad al-Abd (1978). Al-ṭibb al-rūḥānī li Abū Bakr al-Rāzī. Cairo: Maktabat al-Nahḍa al-Miṣriyya. pp. 4, 13, 18.
^ Ebstein, Michael (25 November 2013). Mysticism and Philosophy in al-Andalus: Ibn Masarra, Ibn al-ʿArabī and the Ismāʿīlī Tradition. BRILL. p. 41. ISBN 9789004255371.
^ Paul E. Walker (1992). "The Political Implications of Al-Razi's Philosophy". In Charles E. Butterworth (ed.). The Political aspects of Islamic philosophy: essays in honor of Muhsin S. Mahdi. Harvard University Press. pp. 87–89. ISBN 9780932885074.
^ Stroumsa 1999.
^ Kraus, P; Pines, S (1913–1938). "Al-Razi". Encyclopedia of Islam. p. 1136.
^ William Montgomery Watt (14 April 2004). "BĪRŪNĪ and the study of non-Islamic Religions". Archived from the original on 10 February 2009. Retrieved 25 January 2008.
^ Seyyed Hossein Nasr (1993), An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines, p. 166. State University of New York Press, ISBN 0-7914-1516-3.
^ Shlomo Pines (1986), Studies in Arabic versions of Greek texts and in mediaeval science, vol. 2, Brill Publishers, p. 340, ISBN 978-965-223-626-5
^ Shlomo Pines (1986), Studies in Arabic versions of Greek texts and in mediaeval science, vol. 2, Brill Publishers, p. 362, ISBN 978-965-223-626-5
^ Rafik Berjak and Muzaffar Iqbal, "Ibn Sina—Al-Biruni correspondence", Islam & Science, December 2003.
^ Corbin, Henry (1998). The Voyage and the Messenger: Iran and Philosophy. North Atlantic Books. p. 72. ISBN 9781556432699. Al-Razi was posthumously accused of having plagiarized his master in Nasr-i-Khosraw polemics, and the latter did not hide his sympathy for Iranshahri.
^ qhu.ac.ir^{[permanent dead link]}, Razi commemoration day
^ UNIS. "Monument to Be Inaugurated at the Vienna International Centre, 'Scholars Pavilion' donated to International Organizations in Vienna by Iran".
^ "Permanent mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations office – Vienna". Archived from the original on 14 September 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
^ Hosseini, Mir Masood. "Negareh: Persian Scholars Pavilion at United Nations Vienna, Austria".
^ George Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science (1927–48), 1.609

Sources

[edit]

Adamson, Peter (2021a). "Abu Bakr al-Razi". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Arberry, Arthur John (2008). Revelation and Reason in Islam. Routledge. ISBN 9780415438872.
Browne, Edward G. (1921). Arabian Medicine, Being the Fitzpatrick Lectures Delivered at the College of Physicians in November 1919 and November 1920. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 44–53. OCLC 808169546.
Dhanani, Alnoor (2013). "Atomism". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_24249.
Duffin, Jacalyn (2021). History of Medicine: A Scandalously Short Introduction (3rd ed.). University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1-4875-0917-0.
Frye, Richard N. (1975). The Cambridge history of Iran, Volume 4 (Reprint ed.). London: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-20093-6.
Goodman, L.E (1960–2007). "al-Rāzī". In Bearman, P.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_6267.
Hitti, Philip Khuri (1 January 1969). Makers of Arab History. St. Martin's Press.
Iskandar, Albert Z. (2008). "Al-Rāzī". In Selin, Helaine (ed.). Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures (2nd ed.). Berlin: Springer. pp. 155–156. ISBN 978-1-4020-4559-2.
Kahl, Oliver (2015). The Sanskrit, Syriac and Persian Sources in the Comprehensive Book of Rhazes. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-29024-2.
Oxford Reference (2022). "Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al- Razi". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
Kraus, Paul; Pines, Shlomo (1913–1936). "al-Rāzī". In Houtsma, M. Th.; Arnold, T.W.; Basset, R.; Hartmann, R. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, First Edition (1913–1936). doi:10.1163/2214-871X_ei1_SIM_3693.
Walzer, Richard (1962). Greek Into Arabic Essays on Islamic Philosophy (Oriental Studies I ed.). Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674362758. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
Richter-Bernburg, Lutz (2003). "Ḥāwi, al-". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. XII/1: Harem I–Hedāyat al-mota'allemin. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 64–67. ISBN 978-0-933273-74-0.
Sarton, George (1927). Introduction to the History of Science, Volume 1. ISBN 978-0443092060. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
Stroumsa, Sarah Stroumsa (1999). Freethinkers of Medieval Islam: Ibn al-Rāwandī, Abū Bakr al-Rāzī, and Their Impact on Islamic Thought. Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science. Texts and Studies. Vol. 35. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-11374-9.
Ullmann, Manfred [in German] (February 1997). Islamic Medicine. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9780748609079.
Walker, Paul E. (1998). "al-Razi, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyya' (d. 925)". In Craig, Edward (ed.). Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. doi:10.4324/9780415249126-H043-1. ISBN 9780415250696.
Ziai, Hossein (2005). "Recent trends in Arabic and Persian philosophy". In Adamson, Peter; Taylor, Richard C. (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 405–425. ISBN 978-0521520690.

Further reading

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Primary literature

[edit]

By al-Razi

[edit]

Arberry, A.J. (1950). The Spiritual Physick of Rhazes. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
Brockelmann, Carl. Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, I, pp. 268–71 (second edition), Suppl., Vol. I, pp. 418–21. (overview of extant manuscripts of al-Razi's works)
Butterworth, Charles E., "The Book of the Philosophic Life". Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy.
Dānish-pazhūh, Muḥammad Taqī (1964). Kitāb al-asrār wa-Sirr al-asrār. Tehran: Commission Nationale Iranienne pour l'UNESCO. (edition of the Kitāb al-asrār and fascimile of the Sirr al-asrār in ms. Goharshad 953)
Karimov, Usmon I. (1957). Neizvestnoe sochinenie ar-Razi "Kniga taĭny taĭn". Tashkent: Izd-vo Akademii nauk Uzbekskoĭ SSR. OCLC 246883935. (fascimile of the Sirr al-asrār in a Tashkent ms., with Russian translation)
- Review in Figurovsky, N.A. (1962). "Review of Karimov 1957". Ambix. 10 (3): 146–149.
Koetschet, Pauline (2019). Abū Bakr al-Rāzī: Doutes sur Galien. Introduction, édition et traduction. Scientia Graeco-Arabica. Vol. 25. Berlin: De Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9783110629767. ISBN 9783110629767. S2CID 189234965. (critical edition and French translation of al-Shukūk ʿalā Jalīnūs)
Kraus, Paul (1939). Abi Bakr Mohammadi Filii Zachariae Raghensis: Opera Philosophica, fragmentaque quae supersunt. Pars Prior. Universitatis Fouadi I litterarum facultatis publicationum. Vol. 22. Cairo: Jāmiʿat Fuʾād al-Awwal. OCLC 496583777. (edition of extant philosophical works)
Mohaghegh, Mehdi (1993). Kitâb Al – Shukûk ʻAlâ Jâlînûs. Tehran: International Institute of Islamic Though and Civilization. OCLC 257281952. (edition of al-Shukūk ʿalā Jalīnūs, superseded by Koetschet 2019)
Ruska, Julius (1937). Al-Rāzī's Buch Geheimnis der Geheimnisse. Mit Einleitung und Erläuterungen in deutscher Übersetzung. Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und der Medizin. Vol. VI. Berlin: Springer. (German translation of the Kitāb al-asrār)
- Taylor, Gail Marlow (2015). The Alchemy of Al-Razi: A Translation of the "Book of Secrets". CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 9781507778791. (English translation of Ruska 1937's translation of the Arabic)
Stapleton, Henry E.; Azo, Rizkallah F. (1910). "An Alchemical Compilation of the 13th Century". Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 3 (2): 57–94. (contains edited extracts from the Kitāb al-Shawāhid at 68ff.)
Stapleton, Henry E.; Azo, R.F.; Hidayat Husain, M. (1927). "Chemistry in Iraq and Persia in the Tenth Century A.D." Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. VIII (6): 317–418. OCLC 706947607. (pp. 369–393 contain an English translation of two introductory sections of the Kitāb al-asrār; contains an edition of al-Madkhal al-Talʿlīmī)

By others

[edit]

Ibn Al-Nadim, Fihrist, (ed. Flugel), pp. 299 et sqq.
- Translated in Fück, Johann W. (1951). "The Arabic Literature on Alchemy According to An-Nadīm (A.D. 987)". Ambix. 4 (3–4): 81–144. doi:10.1179/amb.1951.4.3-4.81.
Sa'id al-Andalusi, Tabaqat al-Umam, p. 33
Ibn Juljul, Tabaqat al-Atibba w-al-Hukama, (ed. Fu'ad Sayyid), Cairo, 1355/1936, pp. 77–78
J. Ruska, Al-Biruni als Quelle für das Leben und die Schriften al-Razi's, Isis, Vol. V, 1924, pp. 26–50.
Al-Biruni, Epitre de Beruni, contenant le répertoire des oeuvres de Muhammad ibn Zakariya ar-Razi, publié par P. Kraus, Paris, 1936
Al-Baihaqi, Tatimmah Siwan al-Hikma, (ed. M. Ghafi), Lahore, 1351/1932
Al-Qifti,Tarikh al-Hukama, (ed. Lippert), pp. 27–177
Ibn Abi Usaibi'ah,Uyun al-Anba fi Tabaqat al-Atibba, Vol. I, pp. 309–21
Abu Al-Faraj ibn al-'Ibri (Bar-Hebraeus),Mukhtasar Tarikh al-Duwal, (ed. A. Salhani), p. 291
Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat al-A'yan, (ed. Muhyi al-Din 'Abd al-Hamid), Cairo, 1948, No. 678, pp. 244–47
Al-Safadi, Nakt al-Himyan, pp. 249–50
Ibn al-'Imad, Shadharat al-Dhahab, Vol. II, p. 263
Al-'Umari, Masalik al-Absar, Vol. V, Part 2, ff. 301-03 (photostat copy in Dar al-Kutub al-Misriyyah).

Secondary literature

[edit]

Adamson, Peter (2016). "Atomismus bei ar-Rāzī". In Buchheim, Thomas; Meißner, David; Wachsmann, Nora (eds.). Sōma: Körperkonzepte und körperliche Existenz in der antiken Philosophie und Literatur. Archiv für Begriffsgeschichte, Sonderheft 13. Hamburg: Meiner. pp. 345–360.
Adamson, Peter (2017). "Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (d. 925), The Spiritual Medicine". In El-Rouayheb, Khaled; Schmidtke, Sabine (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 63–82.
Adamson, Peter (2021b). Great Medieval Thinkers: al-Rāzī. New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780197555033.001.0001. ISBN 9780197555033.
Badawi, Abdurrahman, Min Tarlkh al-Ilhad fi al-Islam Islamica, Vol. II, Cairo, 1945, pp. 198–228.
Daiber, Hans (2017) [2012]. "Abū Bakr al-Rāzī". In Rudolph, Ulrich; Hansberger, Rotraud; Adamson, Peter (eds.). Philosophy in the Islamic World. Volume 1: 8th–10th Centuries. Leiden: Brill. pp. 381–420. doi:10.1163/2543-2729_PIWO_COM_001601. ISBN 978-90-04-32316-2.
Eisen, A. Kimiya al-Razi, RAAD, DIB, 62/4.
Goodman, Lenn E. (1971). "The Epicurean Ethic of M. b. Zakariya' al-Razi". Studia Islamica. 34: 5–26. doi:10.2307/1595324. JSTOR 1595324.
Goodman, Lenn E. (1972). "Razi's Psychology". Philosophical Forum. 4: 26–48.
Goodman, Lenn E. (1975). "Razi's Myth of the Fall of the Soul: Its Function in His Philosophy". In Hourani, G. (ed.). Essays in Islamic Philosophy and Science. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. pp. 25–40.
Goodman, Lenn E. (2015). "How Epicurean was Rāzī?". Studia graeco-arabica. 5: 247–280.
Güngör, Hüseyin (2023). "Razian prophecy rationalized". British Journal for the History of Philosophy. 32 (3): 401–425. doi:10.1080/09608788.2023.2235613.
Heym, Gerard (1938). "Al-Rāzī and Alchemy". Ambix. 1 (3): 184–191. doi:10.1179/amb.1938.1.3.184.
Hirschberg,Geschichte der Augenheilkunde, p. 101.
Karpenko, Vladimír; Norris, John A. (2002). "Vitriol in the History of Chemistry". Chemické listy. 96 (12): 997–1005.
Leclerc, Lucien (1876). Histoire de la medicine arabe, Paris, Vol. I, pp. 337–54.
Meyerhof, M. Legacy of Islam, pp. 323 et seq.
Mieli, Aldo (1938). La science arabe, Leiden, 1938, pp. 8, 16.
Moureau, Sébastien (2020). "Min al-kīmiyāʾ ad alchimiam. The Transmission of Alchemy from the Arab-Muslim World to the Latin West in the Middle Ages". Micrologus. 28: 87–141. hdl:2078.1/211340. (a survey of all Latin alchemical texts attributed to authors writing in Arabic, including Latin texts attributed to al-Razi)
Multhauf, Robert P. (1966). The Origins of Chemistry. London: Oldbourne. OCLC 977570829.
Partington, J. R. (1938). "The Chemistry of Rāzī". Ambix. 1 (3): 192–196. doi:10.1179/amb.1938.1.3.192.
Pines, S. Die Atomenlehre ar-Razi's in Beitrage zur islamischen Atomenlehre, Berlin, 1936, pp. 34–93.
Pormann, Peter E.; Selove, Emily (2017). "Two New Texts on Medicine and Natural Philosophy by Abū Bakr al-Rāzī". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 137 (2): 279–299. doi:10.7817/jameroriesoci.137.2.0279. JSTOR 10.7817/jameroriesoci.137.2.0279.
Ranking, G. S. A. (1913). The Life and Works of Rhazes, in Proceedings of the Seventeenth International Congress of Medicine, London, pp. 237–68.
Rashed, Marwan (2008). "Abū Bakr Al-Rāzī Et La Prophétie". MIDÉO: 169–182.
Renaud, H. P. J. (1931). A propos du millenaire de Razes, in Bulletin de la Société Française d'Histoire de la Médicine, Mars-avril, pp. 203 et seq.
Rockey, Denyse and Johnstone, Penelope (1979). "Medieval Arabic views on speech disorders: Al-Razi (c. 865–925)", in: Journal of Communication Disorders, 12(3):229-43.
Ruska, Julius (1924). "Über den gegenwärtigen Stand der Raziforschung". Archeion. V: 335–347. doi:10.1484/J.arch.3.159.
Ruska, Julius (1928). "Der Salmiak in der Geschichte der Alchemie". Zeitschrift für angewandte Chemie. 41 (50): 1321–1324. Bibcode:1928AngCh..41.1321R. doi:10.1002/ange.19280415006.
Ruska, Julius (1935). "Die Alchemie ar-Rāzī's". Der Islam. 22 (4): 281–319. doi:10.1515/islm.1935.22.4.281. S2CID 161271862.
Ruska, Julius (1939). "Pseudepigraphe Rasis-Schriften". Osiris. 7: 31–94. doi:10.1086/368502. S2CID 143373785. (argues that most Latin texts attributed to al-Razi are pseudepigraphs)
Ruska, Julius; Garbers, Karl (1939). "Vorschriften zur Herstellung von scharfen Wässern bei Gabir und Razi". Der Islam. 25: 1–34. doi:10.1515/islm.1938.25.1.1. S2CID 161055255. (contains a comparison of Jabir ibn Hayyan's and Abu Bakr al-Razi's knowledge of chemical apparatus, processes and substances)
Shader, H. H., ZDMG, 79, pp. 228–35 (see translation into Arabic by Abdurrahman Badawi in al-Insan al-Kamil, Islamica, Vol. XI, Cairo, 1950, pp. 37–44).
Stapleton, Henry E.; Azo, R.F.; Hidayat Husain, M. (1927). "Chemistry in Iraq and Persia in the Tenth Century A.D." Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. VIII (6): 317–418. OCLC 706947607. (contains an in-depth analysis of the Kitāb al-asrār)
Taylor, Gail (2010). "The Kitab al-Asrar: An Alchemy Manual in Tenth-Century Persia". Arab Studies Quarterly. 32 (1): 6–27. JSTOR 41858601.
Von Lippmann, E. O. Entstehung und Ausbreitung der Alchemie, Vol. II, p. 181.
Wüstenfeld, F., Geschichte der Arabischen Arzte und Naturforscher, ftn. 98.

External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Abu Bakr al-Razi.

"Dr Al Razi's city tour of Baghdad." Educational podcast released by the Leiden Learning & Innovation Centre as part of the Massive Open Online Course "Cosmopolitan Medieval Arabic World."
Peter Adamson. "Abu Bakr al-Razi". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
"al-Razi" on Islamic Philosophy Online, encyclopedia article about al-Razi by Paul E. Walker.
Lives of the Physicians, dating from 1882, features a biography, in Arabic, about Rhazes.

Alchemy in the medieval Islamic world

Alchemists

8th century	pseudo-Khālid ibn Yazīd (Calid) pseudo-Apollonius of Tyana
9th century	Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (Geber)
10th century	Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (Rhazes) Ibn Umayl (Senior Zadith) Ibn Waḥshiyya Maslama al-Qurṭubī Abū Manṣūr al-Muwaffaq al-Zahrāwī (Abulcasis)
11th century	pseudo-Avicenna al-Khawārizmī al-Kāthī al-Muʿizz ibn Bādīs Aḥmad ibn ʿImād al-Dīn Ibn al-Wāfid (pharmacist)
12th century	al-Ṭughrāʾī Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs Artephius
13th century	al-Simāwī Ibn al-Bayṭār (pharmacist) Abū l-ʿAbbās al-Nabātī (pharmacist) Ḥasan al-Rammāḥ (engineer)
14th century	al-Jildakī Ibn al-Rassām Abū l-Ashbā ibn Tammām

Concepts

Works

Alchemy (general)

Alchemists

Greco-Egyptian	Agathodaemon (legendary) Chymes pseudo-Cleopatra pseudo-Democritus Hermes Trismegistus (legendary) Mary the Jewess pseudo-Moses Ostanes (legendary) Paphnutia the Virgin Zosimos of Panopolis
Ancient Chinese	Fang (alchemist) Ge Hong Master Geng Wei Boyang
Byzantine	pseudo-Olympiodorus Stephanus of Alexandria Synesius
Arabic-Islamic	Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (Rhazes) Alphidius pseudo-Apollonius of Tyana (Balīnūs/Balīnās) Artephius pseudo-Avicenna Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs Ibn Umayl (Senior Zadith) Ibn Waḥshiyya al-ʿIrāqī Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (Geber) pseudo-Khālid ibn Yazīd (Calid) al-Jildakī Maslama al-Qurṭubī al-Ṭughrāʾī al-Zahrāwī (Abulcasis)
Late medieval	pseudo-Albertus (pseudo-)Arnaldus de Villa Nova pseudo-Geber George Ripley Guido di Montanor Hugh of Evesham Johann of Laz John Dastin John of Rupescissa (Jean de Roquetaillade) Magister Salernus pseudo-Michael Scot Ortolanus Paul of Taranto Petrus Bonus pseudo-Ramon Llull (pseudo-)Roger Bacon Taddeo Alderotti Thomas Norton
Early modern	Andreas Libavius Basil Valentine pseudo-Bernard of Treviso George Starkey (Eirenaeus Philalethes) Gerhard Dorn Giovanni da Correggio Heinrich Khunrath Hennig Brand Isaac Newton Jakob Böhme Jan Baptist van Helmont Johann Rudolf Glauber John Dee Michael Maier Michael Sendivogius Paracelsus Pierre-Jean Fabre Robert Boyle Samuel Norton Thomas Vaughan (Eugenius Philalethes) Wilhelm Homberg
Modern	Carl Jung Eugène Canseliet Frater Albertus Fulcanelli Mary Anne Atwood

Writings

Major Works

Compilations

Various

All articles

Islamic medicine

Physicians

7th century	Abu Hafsa Yazid Al-Harith ibn Kalada Bukhtishu Ibn Abi Ramtha al-Tamimi Ibn Uthal Masarjawaih Nafi ibn al-Harith Rufaida Al-Aslamia Zaynab al-Awadiya
8th century	Bukhtishu Ja'ar al-Sadiq
9th century	Al-Kindi Al-Ruhawi Albubather Ali al-Ridha Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabari Bukhtishu Hunayn ibn Ishaq Ishaq ibn Hunayn Jabir ibn Hayyan Jabril ibn Bukhtishu Masawaiyh Salmawaih ibn Bunan Shapur ibn Sahl Yahya ibn Sarafyun Yuhanna ibn Bukhtishu Yusuf al-Khuri
10th century	'Ali ibn al-'Abbas al-Majusi Aayon Ibn Aayon Abu Bakr Rabee Ibn Ahmad Al-Akhawyni Bokhari Abu Bakr al-Razi Abu Sahl 'Isa ibn Yahya al-Masihi Abu Zayd al-Balkhi Abu al-Hasan al-Tabari Abu al-Qasim Muqane'i Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi Abu ul-Ala Shirazi Al-Kaŝkarī Al-Natili Al-Tamimi, the physician Eutychius of Alexandria Ibn Abi al-Ashʿath Ibn Juljul Ibn al-Jazzar Ibrahim ibn Baks Isaac Israeli ben Solomon Mohammed ibn Abdun al-Jabali Muvaffak Qumri Qusta ibn Luqa
11th century	Abdollah ibn Bukhtishu Abu 'Ubayd al-Juzjani Abu al-Hakam al-Kirmani Al-Biruni Ali ibn Isa al-Kahhal Ali ibn Ridwan Ali ibn Yusuf al-Ilaqi Ammar ibn Ali al-Mawsili Avicenna Badi' al-Asturlabi Ibn Abi Sadiq Ibn Al-Thahabi Ibn Butlan Ibn Hindu Ibn Jazla Ibn al-Haytham Ibn al-Kattani Ibn al-Wafid Jonah ibn Janah Masawaih
12th century	Abu Jafar ibn Harun al-Turjali Abu al-Bayan ibn al-Mudawwar Abu al-Majd ibn Abi al-Hakam Abu'l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī Ahmad ibn Farrokh Al-Samawal al-Maghribi Avempace Averroes Ibn Habal Ibn Jumay‘ Ibn Tufayl Ibn Zuhr Ibn al-Tilmīdh Moshe ben Maimon Muhammad ibn Aslam Al-Ghafiqi Serapion the Younger Ya'qub ibn Ishaq al-Israili Zayn al-Din Gorgani
13th century	Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi Abraham ben Moses ben Maimon Al-Dakhwar Al-Shahrazuri Amin al-Din Rashid al-Din Vatvat As-Suwaydi Da'ud Abu al-Fadl Hussam al-Din al-Jarrahi Ibn Abi Usaibia Ibn Tumlus Ibn al-Baitar Ibn al-Nafis Ibn al-Quff Ibn al‐Raqqam Joseph ben Judah of Ceuta Najib ad-Din Samarqandi Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi Rashidun al-Suri Sa'ad al-Dawla Zakariya al-Qazwini
14th century	Al-Nagawri Aqsara'i Ibn Shuayb Ibn al-Akfani Ibn al-Khatib Jaghmini Mansur ibn Ilyas Mas‘ud ibn Muhammad Sijzi Muhammad ibn Mahmud Amuli Najm al-Din Mahmud ibn Ilyas al-Shirazi Nakhshabi Rashid-al-Din Hamadani Sadid al-Din al-Kazaruni Yusuf ibn Ismail al-Kutubi Zayn-e-Attar
15th century	Abu Sa'id al-Afif Burhan-ud-din Kermani Husayni Isfahani Muhammad Ali Astarabadi Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Harawi Nurbakhshi Shaykh Muhammad ibn Thaleb Şerafeddin Kadir
16th century	Rostam Gorgani ʽImad Shirazi Abul Qasim ibn Mohammed al-Ghassani Dawud al-Antaki Hakim-e-Gilani Sultan Ali Khorasani Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf
17th century	Qiwam al-Din Muhammad al-Hasani Abd El Razzaq Al-Jazaïri Qurayshi al-Shirazi Tunakabuni Maqsud-Ali Tabrizi
18th century	Al-Khurasani al-Shirazi

Concepts

Works

Centers

Influences

Influenced

Islamic philosophy

Fields	Alchemy Aqidah (theology) 'Aql (intellect) Cosmology astrology medieval astronomy Eschatology Ethics Kalam (dialectic) Fiqh (jurisprudence) Logic Metaphysics Natural philosophy (physics) Peace Madrasah (education) Medieval science Medieval psychology Sufism (mysticism)
Schools	Early Farabism Avicennism Averroism Illuminationism Sufi cosmology metaphysics psychology Transcendent theosophy Traditionalist Contemporary
Concepts	ʻAṣabīya Ḥāl Iʻjaz ʼIjtihād ʻIlm ʻIrfān Ijmāʿ Maslaha Nafs Qadar Qalb Qiyās Shūrā Tawḥīd Ummah

Philosophers by century (CE)

9th–10th	Al-Kindi Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabari Abu al-Abbas Iranshahri Abu Bakr al-Razi Apharabius Abu Hatim al-Razi Al Amiri Ikhwan al-Safa Abu Sulayman Sijistani Ibn Masarrah Abu Ya'qub al-Sijistani
11th	Al-Ghazali Ibn Miskawayh Avicenna Ibn Hazm Bahmanyār Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din al-Shirazi Nasir Khusraw Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani
12th	Abu'l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī Afdal al-Din Kashani Ahi Evren Ahmad Yasavi Ayn-al-Quzat Averroes Ibn Tufail Omar Khayyám Suhrawardi Shams Tabrizi
13th	Hajji Bektash Wali Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi Ibn Sab’in Ibn Arabi al-Abharī Nasir al-Din Tusi Fakhr al-Din al-Razi Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi Ibn Taymiyya
14th–16th	Ibn Khaldun Yunus Emre Hajji Bayram Jalaladdin Davani Sadr ad-Din Dashtaki Aziz Mahmud Hudayi Qadi Mir Husayn al-Maybudi Mahmud Shabistari Sayyid Haydar Amuli Dawūd al-Qayṣarī Jami
17th–19th	Mir Damad Mir Fendereski Mulla Sadra Mohsen Fayz Kashani Abd al-Razzaq Lahiji Mujaddid Alf-i-Sani Rajab Ali Tabrizi Qazi Sa’id Qumi Shah Waliullah Dehlawi Hādī Sabzavārī
20th–present	Muhammad Husayn Tabatabaei Muhammad Iqbal Gohar Shahi Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr René Guénon Frithjof Schuon Martin Lings Ismail al-Faruqi Seyyed Hossein Nasr Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas Abdolkarim Soroush Gholamhossein Ebrahimi Dinani Taha Abdurrahman Mohammed Abed al-Jabri Mohammed Arkoun Fouad Zakariyya Reza Davari Ardakani Ahmad Fardid Mostafa Malekian Hasanzadeh Amoli Javadi Amoli Partawi Shah

Medieval philosophers

Christian

Early	"Church Fathers" Augustine of Hippo Boethius Cassiodorus Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite Isidore of Seville John Scotus Eriugena Alcuin
11–12th century	"Scholasticism" Anselm of Canterbury Peter Abelard Anselm of Laon Hugh of Saint Victor Richard of Saint Victor Roscelin Peter Lombard Alexander of Hales Bernard of Chartres Dominicus Gundissalinus Gilbert de la Porrée Alain de Lille
13–14th century	Robert Grosseteste Michael Scot Albertus Magnus Henry of Ghent Roger Bacon Bonaventure Thomas Aquinas Vitello John Peckham Ramon Llull Siger of Brabant Boetius of Dacia Petrus Peregrinus de Maricourt Meister Eckhart Giles of Rome Godfrey of Fontaines Duns Scotus Durandus Petrus Aureolus William of Ockham
Late	Jean Buridan Marsilius of Inghen Nicole Oresme Albert of Saxony Francesc Eiximenis Nicholas of Cusa Vincent Ferrer Paul of Venice Lambertus de Monte John Hennon

Jewish

Medieval	Isaac Israeli ben Solomon Saadia Gaon Solomon ibn Gabirol Judah Halevi Abraham ibn Daud Maimonides Nachmanides Gersonides Hasdai Crescas Joseph Albo

Islamic

Early	Jabir ibn Hayyan (Geber) al-Nazzam Al-Kindi (Alkindus) Abu Bakr al-Razi (Rhazes) Ikhwan al-Safa' (Brethren of Purity) Matta ibn Yunus Al-Farabi (Alpharabius) Abu Ya'qub al-Sijistani Ibn Masarra Abd al-Jabbar Al-Amiri Abu Sulayman al-Sijistani Miskawayh Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) al-Biruni al-Kirmani
High	Ibn Sina (Avicenna) Ibn Hazm Al-Ghazali (Algazel) Abu l-Barakat al-Baghdadi Ibn Bajjah (Avempace) Ayn al-Quzat Hamadani Ibn Tufayl Ibn Rushd (Averroes)
Late	Ibn Sab'in Shahab al-Din Yahya ibn Habash Suhrawardi Fakhr al-Din al-Razi Rashid al-Din Ibn Arabi al-Qazwini Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi Athir al-Din al-Abhari Nasir al-Din al-Tusi Ibn al-Nafis Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi Ibn Taymiyya Ibn Khaldun

See also Renaissance philosophy

v t e Ancient anaesthesia
Plants / animals	Aconitum (aconite) Atropa belladonna (belladonna) Cannabis medical use Castoreum Coca Conium (hemlock) Datura innoxia (thorn-apple) Datura metel (devil's trumpet) Hyoscyamus niger (henbane) Lactucarium Mandragora officinarum (mandrake) Opium Saussurea (saw-wort) Willow
Preparations	Beer Wine
Compounds	Ethanol (medical use) Aconitine Atropine Cocaine Coniine Hyoscine Δ9-THC Hyoscyamine Morphine Salicylate
People	Abulcasis Avenzoar Avicenna Celsus Dioscorides Galen Hippocrates Rhazes Sabuncuoğlu Sushrutha Theophrastus Zhang

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