Avicenna

"Avicenna" is the Latinate form of Ibn Sīnā. For the mountain peak known by this name, see Ibn Sīnā Peak.

Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā  ابن سینا)
Conventional modern portrait (on a silver vase, Avicenna Mausoleum and Museum, Hamadan)
Born	c. 980 CE Afshona, Peshkunskiy, Bukhara, Samanid Empire
Died	June 1037 (aged 56–57) Hamadān, Kakuyid Emirate
Other names	Sharaf al-Mulk Hujjat al-Haq Sheikh al-Rayees Ibn-Sino (Abu Ali Abdulloh Ibn-Sino) Bu Alī Sīnā (بو علی سینا)
Academic background
Influences	the Quran Hippocrates Aristotle Galen Neoplatonism al-Kindi al-Farabi Rhazes Al-Biruni al-Masihi
Academic work
Era	Islamic Golden Age
Main interests	Medicine Aromatherapy Philosophy and logic Kalām (Islamic theology) Science Poetry
Notable works	The Book of Healing The Canon of Medicine
Influenced	Al-Biruni Omar Khayyám Averroes Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi Tusi Ibn al-Nafis Albertus Magnus Maimonides Aquinas Abu 'Ubayd al-Juzjani Enlightenment philosophers

Avicenna (/ˌævˈsɛnə/; Latinate form of Ibn-Sīnā (Template:Lang-fa‍; Template:Lang-ar‍), full name Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Sīnā (Arabic: أبو علي الحسين ابن عبد الله ابن سينا‍; c. 980 – June 1037) was a Persian polymath and jurist who is regarded as one of the most significant thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden Age. Of the 450 works he is known to have written, around 240 have survived, including 150 on philosophy and 40 on medicine.

His most famous works are The Book of Healing – a philosophical and scientific encyclopedia, and The Canon of Medicine – a medical encyclopedia. which became a standard medical text at many medieval universities and remained in use as late as 1650. In 1973, Avicenna's Canon Of Medicine was reprinted in New York.

Besides philosophy and medicine, Avicenna's corpus includes writings on astronomy, alchemy, geography and geology, psychology, Islamic theology, logic, mathematics, physics and poetry.

Circumstances

Avicenna created an extensive corpus of works during what is commonly known as the Islamic Golden Age, in which the translations of Greco-Roman, Persian, and Indian texts were studied extensively. Greco-Roman (Mid- and Neo-Platonic, and Aristotelian) texts translated by the Kindi school were commented, redacted and developed substantially by Islamic intellectuals, who also built upon Persian and Indian mathematical systems, astronomy, algebra, trigonometry and medicine. The Samanid dynasty in the eastern part of Persia, Greater Khorasan and Central Asia as well as the Buyid dynasty in the western part of Persia and Iraq provided a thriving atmosphere for scholarly and cultural development. Under the Samanids, Bukhara rivaled Baghdad as a cultural capital of the Islamic world.

The study of the Quran and the Hadith thrived in such a scholarly atmosphere. Philosophy, Fiqh and theology (kalaam) were further developed, most noticeably by Avicenna and his opponents. Al-Razi and Al-Farabi had provided methodology and knowledgein medicine and philosophy. Avicenna had access to the great libraries of Balkh, Khwarezm, Gorgan, Rey, Isfahan and Hamadan. Various texts (such as the 'Ahd with Bahmanyar) show that he debated philosophical points with the greatest scholars of the time. Aruzi Samarqandi describes how before Avicenna left Khwarezm he had met Al-Biruni (a famous scientist and astronomer), Abu Nasr Iraqi (a renowned mathematician), Abu Sahl Masihi (a respected philosopher) and Abu al-Khayr Khammar (a great physician).

Biography

Early life

The only source of information for the first part of Avicenna's life is his autobiography, as written down by his student Jūzjānī. In the absence of any other sources it is impossible to be certain how much of the autobiography is accurate. It has been noted that he uses his autobiography to advance his theory of knowledge (that it was possible for an individual to acquire knowledge and understand the Aristotelian philosophical sciences without a teacher), and it has been questioned whether the order of events described was adjusted to fit more closely with the Aristotelian model; in other words, whether Avicenna described himself as studying things in the 'correct' order. However given the absence of any other evidence, Avicenna's account essentially has to be taken at face value.

Avicenna was born c. 980 in Afšana, a village near Bukhara (in present-day Uzbekistan), the capital of the Samanids, a Persian dynasty in Central Asia and Greater Khorasan. His mother, named Setareh, was from Bukhara; his father, Abdullah, was a respected Ismaili scholar from Balkh, an important town of the Samanid Empire, in what is today Balkh Province, Afghanistan. His father was at the time of his son's birth the governor in one of the Samanid Nuh ibn Mansur's estates. He had his son very carefully educated at Bukhara. Ibn Sina's independent thought was served by an extraordinary intelligence and memory, which allowed him to overtake his teachers at the age of fourteen. As he said in his autobiography, there was nothing that he had not learned when he reached eighteen.

A number of different theories have been proposed regarding Avicenna's madhab. Medieval historian Ẓahīr al-dīn al-Bayhaqī (d. 1169) considered Avicenna to be a follower of the Brethren of Purity. On the other hand, Dimitri Gutas along with Aisha Khan and Jules J. Janssens demonstrated that Avicenna was a Sunni Hanafi. However, Shia faqih Nurullah Shushtari and Seyyed Hossein Nasr, in addition to Henry Corbin, have maintained that he was most likely a Twelver Shia. Similar disagreements exist on the background of Avicenna's family, whereas some writers considered them Sunni, more recent writers thought they were Shia.

According to his autobiography, Avicenna had memorised the entire Quran by the age of 10. He learned Indian arithmetic from an Indian greengrocer, and he began to learn more from a wandering scholar who gained a livelihood by curing the sick and teaching the young. He also studied Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) under the Sunni Hanafi scholar Ismail al-Zahid.

As a teenager, he was greatly troubled by the Metaphysics of Aristotle, which he could not understand until he read al-Farabi's commentary on the work. For the next year and a half, he studied philosophy, in which he encountered greater obstacles. In such moments of baffled inquiry, he would leave his books, perform the requisite ablutions, then go to the mosque, and continue in prayer till light broke on his difficulties. Deep into the night, he would continue his studies, and even in his dreams problems would pursue him and work out their solution. Forty times, it is said, he read through the Metaphysics of Aristotle, till the words were imprinted on his memory; but their meaning was hopelessly obscure, until one day they found illumination, from the little commentary by Farabi, which he bought at a bookstall for the small sum of three dirhams. So great was his joy at the discovery, made with the help of a work from which he had expected only mystery, that he hastened to return thanks to God, and bestowed alms upon the poor.

He turned to medicine at 16, and not only learned medical theory, but also by gratuitous attendance of the sick had, according to his own account, discovered new methods of treatment. The teenager achieved full status as a qualified physician at age 18, and found that "Medicine is no hard and thorny science, like mathematics and metaphysics, so I soon made great progress; I became an excellent doctor and began to treat patients, using approved remedies." The youthful physician's fame spread quickly, and he treated many patients without asking for payment.

Adulthood

A drawing of Avicenna from 1271

Ibn Sina's first appointment was that of physician to the emir, Nuh II, who owed him his recovery from a dangerous illness (997). Ibn Sina's chief reward for this service was access to the royal library of the Samanids, well-known patrons of scholarship and scholars. When the library was destroyed by fire not long after, the enemies of Ibn Sina accused him of burning it, in order for ever to conceal the sources of his knowledge. Meanwhile, he assisted his father in his financial labors, but still found time to write some of his earliest works.

When Ibn Sina was 22 years old, he lost his father. The Samanid dynasty came to its end in December 1004. Ibn Sina seems to have declined the offers of Mahmud of Ghazni, and proceeded westwards to Urgench in modern Turkmenistan, where the vizier, regarded as a friend of scholars, gave him a small monthly stipend. The pay was small, however, so Ibn Sina wandered from place to place through the districts of Nishapur and Merv to the borders of Khorasan, seeking an opening for his talents. Qabus, the generous ruler of Tabaristan, himself a poet and a scholar, with whom Ibn Sina had expected to find asylum, was on about that date (1012) starved to death by his troops who had revolted. Ibn Sina himself was at this time stricken by a severe illness. Finally, at Gorgan, near the Caspian Sea, Ibn Sina met with a friend, who bought a dwelling near his own house in which Ibn Sina lectured on logic and astronomy. Several of Ibn Sina's treatises were written for this patron; and the commencement of his Canon of Medicine also dates from his stay in Hyrcania.

Ibn Sina subsequently settled at Rey, in the vicinity of modern Tehran, the home town of Rhazes; where Majd Addaula, a son of the last Buwayhid emir, was nominal ruler under the regency of his mother (Seyyedeh Khatun). About thirty of Ibn Sina's shorter works are said to have been composed in Rey. Constant feuds which raged between the regent and her second son, Shams al-Daula, however, compelled the scholar to quit the place. After a brief sojourn at Qazvin he passed southwards to Hamadãn where Shams al-Daula, another Buwayhid emir, had established himself. At first, Ibn Sina entered into the service of a high-born lady; but the emir, hearing of his arrival, called him in as medical attendant, and sent him back with presents to his dwelling. Ibn Sina was even raised to the office of vizier. The emir decreed that he should be banished from the country. Ibn Sina, however, remained hidden for forty days in sheikh Ahmed Fadhel's house, until a fresh attack of illness induced the emir to restore him to his post. Even during this perturbed time, Ibn Sina persevered with his studies and teaching. Every evening, extracts from his great works, the Canon and the Sanatio, were dictated and explained to his pupils. On the death of the emir, Ibn Sina ceased to be vizier and hid himself in the house of an apothecary, where, with intense assiduity, he continued the composition of his works.

Meanwhile, he had written to Abu Ya'far, the prefect of the dynamic city of Isfahan, offering his services. The new emir of Hamadan, hearing of this correspondence and discovering where Ibn Sina was hiding, incarcerated him in a fortress. War meanwhile continued between the rulers of Isfahan and Hamadãn; in 1024 the former captured Hamadan and its towns, expelling the Tajik mercenaries. When the storm had passed, Ibn Sina returned with the emir to Hamadan, and carried on his literary labors. Later, however, accompanied by his brother, a favorite pupil, and two slaves, Ibn Sina escaped from the city in the dress of a Sufi ascetic. After a perilous journey, they reached Isfahan, receiving an honorable welcome from the prince.

Later life and death

The first page of a manuscript of Avicenna's Canon, dated 1596/7 (Yale, Medical Historical Library, Cushing Arabic ms. 5)

Gravestone of Avicenna

The remaining ten or twelve years of Ibn Sīnā's life were spent in the service of the Kakuyid ruler Muhammad ibn Rustam Dushmanziyar, whom he accompanied as physician and general literary and scientific adviser, even in his numerous campaigns.

During these years he began to study literary matters and philology, instigated, it is asserted, by criticisms on his style. A severe colic, which seized him on the march of the army against Hamadan, was checked by remedies so violent that Ibn Sina could scarcely stand. On a similar occasion the disease returned; with difficulty he reached Hamadan, where, finding the disease gaining ground, he refused to keep up the regimen imposed, and resigned himself to his fate.

His friends advised him to slow down and take life moderately. He refused, however, stating that: "I prefer a short life with width to a narrow one with length". On his deathbed remorse seized him; he bestowed his goods on the poor, restored unjust gains, freed his slaves, and read through the Quran every three days until his death. He died in June 1037, in his fifty-eighth year, in the month of Ramadan and was buried in Hamadan, Iran.

Philosophy

Ibn Sīnā wrote extensively on early Islamic philosophy, especially the subjects logic, ethics, and metaphysics, including treatises named Logic and Metaphysics. Most of his works were written in Arabic – then the language of science in the Middle East – and some in Persian. Of linguistic significance even to this day are a few books that he wrote in nearly pure Persian language (particularly the Danishnamah-yi 'Ala', Philosophy for Ala' ad-Dawla'). Ibn Sīnā's commentaries on Aristotle often criticized the philosopher, encouraging a lively debate in the spirit of ijtihad.

Avicenna's Neoplatonic scheme of "emanations" became fundamental in the Kalam (school of theological discourse) in the 12th century.

His Book of Healing became available in Europe in partial Latin translation some fifty years after its composition, uder the title Sufficientia, and some authors have identified a "Latin Avicennism" as flourishing for some time, paralleling the more influential Latin Averroism, but suppressed by the Parisian decrees of 1210 and 1215. Avicenna's psychology and theory of knowledge are said to have influenced William of Auvergne, Bishop of Paris and Albertus Magnus, while his metaphysics had an impact on the thought of Thomas Aquinas.

Metaphysical doctrine

Early Islamic philosophy and Islamic metaphysics, imbued as it is with Islamic theology, distinguishes more clearly than Aristotelianism between essence and existence. Whereas existence is the domain of the contingent and the accidental, essence endures within a being beyond the accidental. The philosophy of Ibn Sīnā, particularly that part relating to metaphysics, owes much to al-Farabi. The search for a definitive Islamic philosophy separate from Occasionalism can be seen in what is left of his work.

Following al-Farabi's lead, Avicenna initiated a full-fledged inquiry into the question of being, in which he distinguished between essence (Mahiat) and existence (Wujud). He argued that the fact of existence can not be inferred from or accounted for by the essence of existing things, and that form and matter by themselves cannot interact and originate the movement of the universe or the progressive actualization of existing things. Existence must, therefore, be due to an agent-cause that necessitates, imparts, gives, or adds existence to an essence. To do so, the cause must be an existing thing and coexist with its effect.

Avicenna's consideration of the essence-attributes question may be elucidated in terms of his ontological analysis of the modalities of being; namely impossibility, contingency, and necessity. Avicenna argued that the impossible being is that which cannot exist, while the contingent in itself (mumkin bi-dhatihi) has the potentiality to be or not to be without entailing a contradiction. When actualized, the contingent becomes a 'necessary existent due to what is other than itself' (wajib al-wujud bi-ghayrihi). Thus, contingency-in-itself is potential beingness that could eventually be actualized by an external cause other than itself. The metaphysical structures of necessity and contingency are different. Necessary being due to itself (wajib al-wujud bi-dhatihi) is true in itself, while the contingent being is 'false in itself' and 'true due to something else other than itself'. The necessary is the source of its own being without borrowed existence. It is what always exists.

The Necessary exists 'due-to-Its-Self', and has no quiddity/essence (mahiyya) other than existence (wujud). Furthermore, It is 'One' (wahid ahad) since there cannot be more than one 'Necessary-Existent-due-to-Itself' without differentia (fasl) to distinguish them from each other. Yet, to require differentia entails that they exist 'due-to-themselves' as well as 'due to what is other than themselves'; and this is contradictory. However, if no differentia distinguishes them from each other, then there is no sense in which these 'Existents' are not one and the same. Avicenna adds that the 'Necessary-Existent-due-to-Itself' has no genus (jins), nor a definition (hadd), nor a counterpart (nadd), nor an opposite (did), and is detached (bari) from matter (madda), quality (kayf), quantity (kam), place (ayn), situation (wad), and time (waqt).

Al-Biruni correspondence

Correspondence between Ibn Sina (with his student Ahmad ibn 'Ali al-Ma'sumi) and Al-Biruni has survived in which they debated Aristotelian natural philosophy and the Peripatetic school. Abu Rayhan began by asking Avicenna eighteen questions, ten of which were criticisms of Aristotle's On the Heavens.

Theology

Avicenna was a devout Muslim and sought to reconcile rational philosophy with Islamic theology. His aim was to prove the existence of God and His creation of the world scientifically and through reason and logic. Avicenna's views on Islamic theology (and philosophy) were enormously influential, forming part of the core of the curriculum at Islamic religious schools until the 19th century. Avicenna wrote a number of short treatises dealing with Islamic theology. These included treatises on the prophets (whom he viewed as "inspired philosophers"), and also on various scientific and philosophical interpretations of the Quran, such as how Quranic cosmology corresponds to his own philosophical system. In general these treatises linked his philosophical writings to Islamic religious ideas; for example, the body's afterlife.

There are occasional brief hints and allusions in his longer works however that Avicenna considered philosophy as the only sensible way to distinguish real prophecy from illusion. He did not state this more clearly because of the political implications of such a theory, if prophecy could be questioned, and also because most of the time he was writing shorter works which concentrated on explaining his theories on philosophy and theology clearly, without digressing to consider epistemological matters which could only be properly considered by other philosophers.

Later interpretations of Avicenna's philosophy split into three different schools; those (such as al-Tusi) who continued to apply his philosophy as a system to interpret later political events and scientific advances; those (such as al-Razi) who considered Avicenna's theological works in isolation from his wider philosophical concerns; and those (such as al-Ghazali) who selectively used parts of his philosophy to support their own attempts to gain greater spiritual insights through a variety of mystical means. It was the theological interpretation championed by those such as al-Razi which eventually came to predominate in the madrasahs.

Avicenna memorized the Quran by the age of ten, and as an adult, he wrote five treatises commenting on suras from the Quran. One of these texts included the Proof of Prophecies, in which he comments on several Quranic verses and holds the Quran in high esteem. Avicenna argued that the Islamic prophets should be considered higher than philosophers.

Thought experiments

While he was imprisoned in the castle of Fardajan near Hamadhan, Avicenna wrote his famous "Floating Man" - literally falling man - thought experiment to demonstrate human self-awareness and the substantiality and immateriality of the soul. Avicenna believed his "Floating Man" thought experiment demonstrated that the soul is a substance, and claimed humans cannot doubt their own consciousness, even in a situation that prevents all sensory data input. The thought experiment told its readers to imagine themselves created all at once while suspended in the air, isolated from all sensations, which includes no sensory contact with even their own bodies. He argued that, in this scenario, one would still have self-consciousness. Because it is conceivable that a person, suspended in air while cut off from sense experience, would still be capable of determining his own existence, the thought experiment points to the conclusions that the soul is a perfection, independent of the body, and an immaterial substance. The conceivability of this "Floating Man" indicates that the soul is perceived intellectually, which entails the soul's separateness from the body. Avicenna referred to the living human intelligence, particularly the active intellect, which he believed to be the hypostasis by which God communicates truth to the human mind and imparts order and intelligibility to nature. Following is an English translation of the argument (Arabic in source):

One of us (i.e. a human being) should be imagined as having been created in a single stroke; created perfect and complete but with his vision obscured so that he cannot perceive external entities; created falling through air or a void, in such a manner that he is not struck by the firmness of the air in any way that compels him to feel it, and with his limbs separated so that they do not come in contact with or touch each other. Then contemplate the following: can he be assured of the existence of himself? He does not have any doubt in in that his self exists, without thereby asserting that he has any exterior limbs, nor any internal organs, neither heart nor brain, nor any one of the exterior things at all; but rather he can affirm the existence of himself, without thereby asserting there that this self has any extension in space. Even if it were possible for him in that state to imagine a hand or any other limb, he would not imagine it as being a part of his self, nor as a condition for the existence of that self; for as you know that which is asserted is different from that which is not asserted, and that which is inferred is different from that which is not inferred. Therefore the self, the existence of which has been asserted, is a unique characteristic, in as much that it is not as such the same as the body or the limbs, which have not been ascertained. Thus that which is ascertained (i.e. the self), does have a way of being sure of the existence of the soul as something other than the body, even something non-bodily; this he knows, this he should understand intuitively, if it is that he is ignorant off it and needs to be beaten with with a stick [to realize it].

— Ibn Sina, Kitab Al-Shifa, On the Soul

However, Avicenna posited the brain as the place where reason interacts with sensation. Sensation prepares the soul to receive rational concepts from the universal Agent Intellect. The first knowledge of the flying person would be "I am," affirming his or her essence. That essence could not be the body, obviously, as the flying person has no sensation. Thus, the knowledge that "I am" is the core of a human being: the soul exists and is self-aware. Avicenna thus concluded that the idea of the self is not logically dependent on any physical thing, and that the soul should not be seen in relative terms, but as a primary given, a substance. The body is unnecessary; in relation to it, the soul is its perfection. In itself, the soul is an immaterial substance.

The Canon of Medicine

Main article: The Canon of Medicine

12th-century manuscript of the Canon, kept by the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences.

A Latin copy of The Canon of Medicine, dated 1484, located at the P. I. Nixon Medical Historical Library, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

About 100 treatises were ascribed to Ibn Sina. Some of them are tracts of a few pages. Others are works extending through several volumes. His 14-volume The Canon of Medicine (Al-Qanoon fi al-Tibb, The Laws of Medicine) was a standard medical text in Europe and the Islamic world until the 17th century.

Medicine and pharmacology

The book is known for its description of contagious diseases and sexually transmitted diseases, quarantine to limit the spread of infectious diseases, and testing of medicines. Like the Greeks, Ibn Sīnā supported the miasma theory of disease, which postulates that vapors in the air are the cause of epidemics. It classifies and describes diseases, and outlines their assumed causes. Hygiene, simple and complex medicines, and functions of parts of the body are also covered. The Canon agrees with Aristotle (and disagrees with Hippocrates) that tuberculosis was contagious, a fact which was not universally accepted in Europe until centuries later. It also describes the symptoms and complications of diabetes. Both forms of facial paralysis were described in-depth.

The Canon of Medicine discussed how to effectively test new medicines:

• The drug must be free from any extraneous accidental quality.
• It must be used on a simple, not a composite, disease.
• The drug must be tested with two contrary types of diseases, because sometimes a drug cures one disease by Its essential qualities and another by its accidental ones.
• The quality of the drug must correspond to the strength of the disease. For example, there are some drugs whose heat is less than the coldness of certain diseases, so that they would have no effect on them.
• The time of action must be observed, so that essence and accident are not confused.
• The effect of the drug must be seen to occur constantly or in many cases, for if this did not happen, it was an accidental effect.
• The experimentation must be done with the human body, for testing a drug on a lion or a horse might not prove anything about its effect on man.

An Arabic edition of the Canon appeared at Rome in 1593, and a Hebrew version at Naples in 1491. Of the Latin version there were about thirty editions, founded on the original translation by Gerard de Sabloneta. In the 15th century a commentary on the text of the Canon was composed. Other medical works translated into Latin are the Medicamenta Cordialia, Canticum de Medicina, and the Tractatus de Syrupo Acetoso.

It was mainly accident which determined that from the 12th to the 17th century, Ibn Sīnā should be the guide of medical study in European universities, and eclipse the names of Rhazes, Ali ibn al-Abbas and Averroes. His work is not essentially different from that of his predecessor Rhazes, because he presented the doctrine of Galen, and through Galen the doctrine of Hippocrates, modified by the system of Aristotle. But the Canon of Ibn Sīnā is distinguished from the Al-Hawi (Continence) or Summary of Rhazes by its greater method, due perhaps to the logical studies of the former.

The work has been variously appreciated in subsequent ages, some regarding it as a treasury of wisdom, and others, like Averroes, holding it useful only as waste paper. In modern times it has been mainly of historic interest as most of its tenets have been disproved or expanded upon by scientific medicine. The vice of the book is excessive classification of bodily faculties, and over-subtlety in the discrimination of diseases. It includes five books; of which the first and second discuss physiology, pathology and hygiene, the third and fourth deal with the methods of treating disease, and the fifth describes the composition and preparation of remedies. This last part contains some personal observations.

He is ample in the enumeration of symptoms, and is said to be inferior in practical medicine and surgery. He introduced into medical theory the four causes of the Peripatetic system. Of natural history and botany he pretended to no special knowledge. Up to the year 1650, or thereabouts, the Canon was still used as a textbook in the universities of Leuven and Montpellier.

In the museum at Bukhara, there are displays showing many of his writings, surgical instruments from the period and paintings of patients undergoing treatment. Ibn Sīnā was interested in the effect of the mind on the body, and wrote a great deal on psychology, likely influencing Ibn Tufayl and Ibn Bajjah. He also introduced medical herbs.

Avicenna extended the theory of temperaments in The Canon of Medicine to encompass "emotional aspects, mental capacity, moral attitudes, self-awareness, movements and dreams." He summarized his version of the four humours and temperaments in a table as follows:

Avicenna's four humours and temperaments

Evidence	Hot	Cold	Moist	Dry
Morbid states	inflammations become febrile	fevers related to serious humour, rheumatism	lassitude	loss of vigour
Functional power	deficient energy	deficient digestive power	difficult digestion
Subjective sensations	bitter taste, excessive thirst, burning at cardia	Lack of desire for fluids	mucoid salivation, sleepiness	insomnia, wakefulness
Physical signs	high pulse rate, lassitude	flaccid joints	diarrhea, swollen eyelids, rough skin, acquired habit	rough skin, acquired habit
Foods & medicines	calefacients harmful, infrigidants beneficial	infrigidants harmful, calefacients beneficial	moist articles harmful	dry regimen harmful, humectants beneficial
Relation to weather	worse in summer	worse in winter		bad in autumn

Avicenna was the first to use a cannula inserted into the throat to aid a choking patient. Cutting the windpipe was suggested only as a last resort.

Physical Exercise: the Key to Health

The Canon of Medicine: Volume 1 of 5; Part 4 of 5: The Preservation of Health

Of Ibn Sina's Canon of Medicine which is written in 5 volumes, only the first volume has appeared in the English. In the first volume, Ibn Sina divides medicine into two parts as he explains it throughout the first book: the theoretical and the practical. The theoretical part consists of, but is not limited to, such things as: the causes of health and disease, the temperaments, the humours, anatomy, general physiology, the breath, psychology, discussion of causes of diseases and symptoms, the causes of illness, the classification of diseases, the pulse, the urine etc. As he himself says in the book on pg 353

"In the first part of this book it was stated that medicine comprises two parts, one theoretical, and one practical, though both are really speculative science."(Avicenna 1999, p. 353)

Theoretical and Practical Medicine

Ibn Sina goes on to say that you do not get any benefit from just knowing how your body works, but rather the true benefit of medicine itself is in its practical aspect, since medicine is for the preservation of health.

"That which is speculative named theory relates to the formation of opinions and the showing of the evidence upon which they are based, without reference to the mode of acting upon them. Thus this part deals with the temperaments, the humors, the drives, and with the forms, the symptoms, and the causes of disease. That which is specially named practical relates to the mode of acting upon this knowledge, and the prescription of a regimen."(Avicenna 1999, p. 353)

The Benefits of Exercise

Once the purpose of medicine has been set forth, then from pages 377–455, Ibn Sina divides the way of achieving health as:

"Since the regimen of maintaining health consists essentially in the regulation of: (1) exercise (2) food and (3) sleep, we may begin our discourse with the subject of exercise".(Avicenna 1999, p. 377)

Exercise itself is divided into three main parts: The Massage (which is equivalent to massaging your muscles before you start to exercise); The Exercise itself; and lastly the Cold Bath.

Giving one of the greatest benefits of the regimen of exercise, and then explaining the extremely important and necessary need for physical exercise; Ibn Sina states:

"Once we direct the attention towards regulating exercise as to amount and time, we shall find there is no need for such medicines as are ordinarily required for remedying diseases dependent on [abnormal] matters, or diseases of temperament consequent upon such. This is true provided the rest of the regimen is appropriate and proper."(Avicenna 1999, p. 377)

The value of exercise includes the following (1) it hardens the organs and renders them fit for their functions (2) it results in a better absorption of food, aids assimilation, and, by increasing the innate heat, improves nutrition (3) it clears the pores of the skin (4) it removes effete substances through the lungs (5) it strengthens the physique. Vigorous exercise invigorates the muscular and nervous system."(Avicenna 1999, p. 379)

In what manner does Ibn Sina uses the word temperament? In saying that exercise cures diseases of temperamant

Ibn Sina divides temperament into that which is harmonious and that which is non-uniform. Ibn Sina says on pg 276–277

"In addition to the signs of the normal temperament already given, there are: Mental faculties including: vigor of imagination, intellectual power, and memory."(Avicenna 1999, p. 276)

"In brief, there is non-uniformity of temperament among the members; or, perchance, the principal members depart from equability and come to be of contrary temperament, one deviating towards one, another to its contrary. If the components of the body are out of proportion, it is unfortunate both for talent and reasoning power."(Avicenna 1999, p. 277)

The Purpose of Exercise and the Dangers of its negligence

Continuing on the proof to why exercise should be so beneficial Ibn Sina says "We know that this must be so when we reflect how in regard to nutriment, our health depends on the nutriment being appropriate for us and regulated in quantity and quality. For not one of the aliments which are capable of nourishing the body is converted into actual nutriment in its entirety. In every case digestion leaves something untouched, and nature takes care to have that evacuated. Nevertheless, the evacuation which nature accomplishes is not a complete one. Hence at the end of each digestion there is some superfluity left over. Should this be a frequent occurrence, repetition would lead to further aggregation until something measurable has accumulated. As a result, harmful effete substances would form and injure various parts of the body. When they undergo decomposition, putrefactive diseases arise [bacterial infections]. Should they be strong in quality, they will give rise to intemperament; and if they should increase in quantity, they would set up the symptoms of plethora which have already been described. Flowing to some member, they will result in an inflammatory mass, and their vapors will destroy the temperament of the substantial basis of the breath. That is the reason why we must be careful to evacuate these substances. Their evacuation is usually not completely accomplished without the aid of toxic medicines, for these break up the nature of the effate substances. This can be achieved only by toxic agents, although the drinking of them is to a certain extent deleterious to our nature. As Hippocrates says: "Medicine purges and ages." More than this the discharge of superfluous humor entails the loss of a large part of the natural humidities and of the breath, which is the substance of life. All this is at the expense of the strength of the principal and the auxiliary members, and therefore they are weakened thereby. These and other things account for the difficulties incident to plethora, whether they remain behind in the body or are evacuated by it."(Avicenna 1999, pp. 377–8)

Just before this Ibn Sina explained how accumulation of food in our body, can cause diseases, and one way to rid us of this is strong medicines. However, as he explains; this is not the ideal way, and certainly not the long-term. Thus, to make his point very clear, and show the extreme necessity of daily exercise for health, Ibn Sina states:

"Now exercise is that agent which most surely prevents the accumulation of these matters, and prevents plethora. The other forms of regiment assist it. It is this exercise which renews and revives the innate heat, and imparts the necessary lightness to the body, for it causes the subtle heat to be increased and daily disperses whatever effete substances have accumulated; the movements of the body help them to expel them conveying them to those parts of the body whence they can readily leave it. Hence the effete matters are not allowed to collect day after day and besides this, as we have just said, exercise causes the innate heat to flourish and keeps the joints and ligaments firm, so as to be always ready for service, and also free from injury. It renders the members able to receive nutriment, in being free from accumulated effate matters. Hence it renders the members light and the humidities attenuated, and it dilates the pores of the skin. To forsake exercise would often incur the risk of "hectic", because the instinctive drives of the members are impaired, inasmuch as the deprivation of movement prevents the access to them of the innate breath. And this last is the real instrument of life for every one of the members."(Avicenna 1999, pp. 378–9)

Massage

Before you begin to exercise it is important that you massage your muscles; as Ibn Sina says on page 385:

"Massage as a preparatory to athletics. The massage begins gently, and then becomes more vigorous as the time approaches for the exercise."(Avicenna 1999, p. 385)

Exercises

The exercises themselves are divided into 'strenuous, mild, vigorous and brisk'. On pages 379–381; Ibn Sina states the types of exercises under each type:

"Strenuous exercises include: wrestling contests, boxing, quick marching, running, jumping over an object higher than one foot, throwing the javelin, fencing, horsemanship, swimming. Mild exercises include: fishing, sailing, being carried on camels, swinging to and fro. Vigorous exercises include: those performed by soldiers in camp, in military sports; field running, long jumping, high jumping, polo, stone throwing, lifting heavy stones or weights, various forms of wrestling. Brisk exercises include: involves interchanging places with a partner as swiftly as possible, each jumping to and fro, either in time [to music] or irregularly."(Avicenna 1999, pp. 379–81)

There are certain important things to note once you start exercising, one is the amount, the other consistency; Ibn Sina states about the amount:

"(1) the color - as long as the skin goes on becoming florid, the exercise may be continued. After it ceases to do so, the exercise must be discontinued."(Avicenna 1999, p. 384)

On being consistent with exercise Ibn Sina states (on the importance of having a regimen):

"At the conclusion of the first day's exercise, you will know the degree of exercise allowable and when you know the amount of nourishment the person can bear, do not make any change in either on the second day. Arrange that the measure of aliment, and the amount of exercise shall not exceed that limit ascertained on the first day."(Avicenna 1999, p. 385)

On the side note those who think themselves to be elderly, and thus think of shunning exercise, Ibn Sina write a complete chapter titled "Concerning the Elderly" in the Qanun, and states the same regimen for them, as he does for others. He states on page 433

"For if, towards the end of life, the body is still equable, it will be right to allow attempered exercises. If one part of the body should not be in a first-rate condition, then that part should not be exercised until the others have been exercised. ... On the other hand, if the ailment were in the feet, then the exercise should employ the upper limbs: for instance, rowing, throwing weights, lifting weights."(Avicenna 1999, p. 433)

Bathing in Cold Water

Once you have finished exercising; it is often that the person will feel tired and fatigued; to combat this problem Ibn Sina says on page 388:

"The beneficial Effects of Baths: The benefits are (1) induction of sleep (2) dilation of pores (3) cleansing of skin (4) dispersal of the undesirable waste matters (5) maturation of abscesses (6) drawing of nutriment towards the surface of the body (7) assistance to the physiological dispersion and excretion of poisonous matters (8) prevention of diarrhea and (9) removal of fatigue effects."(Avicenna 1999, p. 388)

Most importantly you should remember:

"A person should not go into the bath immediately after exercise. He should rest properly first."(Avicenna 1999, p. 387)

There are two more things that are important to mention on this subject:

"Injurious effects include the fact that the heart is weakened if the person stays too long in the bath"(Avicenna 1999, p. 388)

"Cold Bathing should not be done after exercise except in the case of the very robust. Even then the rules which we have given should be followed. To use cold baths in the ways we have named drives the natural heat suddenly into the interior parts, and then invigorates the strength so that the person should leave the bath twice as strong as when he entered."(Avicenna 1999, p. 390)

Diet

Once Ibn Sina has laid the foundation of exercise being central to health, he names many exercises as running, swimming, weight lifting, polo, fencing, boxing, wrestling, long jumping, high jumping, etc. He also gives a diet to go along with the exercise:

"The meal should include: (1) meat especially kid of goats; veal, and year-old lambs [this means white meat in today's terms] (2) wheat, which is cleaned of extraneous matter and gathered during a healthy harvest without ever being exposed to injurious influences (3) sweets (fruits) of appropriate temperament."(Avicenna 1999, p. 390)

Lastly, the third thing mentioned is sleep; to make sure that you do not sleep during the days, and do not stay awake during the nights. From the above reading, it is clear that Ibn Sina gave advice in his book which is still the same advice medical doctors give to their patients. Daily Physical Exercise; and to defeat diseases such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, the prescription of a diet which contains high amounts of Whole Grains and little to no amounts of Refined Carbohydrates.(Avicenna 1999, p. 390)

Psychology

In The Canon of Medicine, Avicenna described a number of conditions, including melancholia. He described melancholia as a depressive type of mood disorder in which the person may become suspicious and develop certain types of phobias.

Unani medicine

Main article: Unani medicine

Though the threads which comprise Unani healing can be traced all the way back to Galen of Pergamon, who lived in the 2nd century AD, the basic knowledge of Unani medicine as a healing system was developed by Hakim Ibn Sina in his medical encyclopedia The Canon of Medicine. The time of origin is thus dated at circa 1025 AD, when Avicenna wrote The Canon of Medicine in Persia, which remains a text book in the syllabus of Unani medicine in the colleges of India and Pakistan.

The Book of Healing

Main article: The Book of Healing

Earth sciences

Ibn Sīnā wrote on Earth sciences such as geology in The Book of Healing. While discussing the formation of mountains, he explained:

Either they are the effects of upheavals of the crust of the earth, such as might occur during a violent earthquake, or they are the effect of water, which, cutting itself a new route, has denuded the valleys, the strata being of different kinds, some soft, some hard ... It would require a long period of time for all such changes to be accomplished, during which the mountains themselves might be somewhat diminished in size.

Philosophy of science

In the Al-Burhan (On Demonstration) section of The Book of Healing, Avicenna discussed the philosophy of science and described an early scientific method of inquiry. He discusses Aristotle's Posterior Analytics and significantly diverged from it on several points. Avicenna discussed the issue of a proper methodology for scientific inquiry and the question of "How does one acquire the first principles of a science?" He asked how a scientist would arrive at "the initial axioms or hypotheses of a deductive science without inferring them from some more basic premises?" He explains that the ideal situation is when one grasps that a "relation holds between the terms, which would allow for absolute, universal certainty." Avicenna then adds two further methods for arriving at the first principles: the ancient Aristotelian method of induction (istiqra), and the method of examination and experimentation (tajriba). Avicenna criticized Aristotelian induction, arguing that "it does not lead to the absolute, universal, and certain premises that it purports to provide." In its place, he develops a "method of experimentation as a means for scientific inquiry."

Logic

An early formal system of temporal logic was studied by Avicenna. Although he did not develop a real theory of temporal propositions, he did study the relationship between temporalis and the implication. Avicenna's work was further developed by Najm al-Dīn al-Qazwīnī al-Kātibī and became the dominant system of Islamic logic until modern times. Avicennian logic also influenced several early European logicians such as Albertus Magnus and William of Ockham. Avicenna endorsed the law of noncontradiction proposed by Aristotle, that a fact could not be both true and false at the same time and in the same sense of the terminology used. He stated, "Anyone who denies the law of noncontradiction should be beaten and burned until he admits that to be beaten is not the same as not to be beaten, and to be burned is not the same as not to be burned."

Physics

In mechanics, Ibn Sīnā, in The Book of Healing, developed a theory of motion, in which he made a distinction between the inclination (tendency to motion) and force of a projectile, and concluded that motion was a result of an inclination (mayl) transferred to the projectile by the thrower, and that projectile motion in a vacuum would not cease. He viewed inclination as a permanent force whose effect is dissipated by external forces such as air resistance.

The theory of motion presented by Avicenna was probably influenced by the 6th-century Alexandrian scholar John Philoponus. Avicenna's is a less sophisticated variant of the theory of impetus developed by Buridan in the 14th century. It is unclear if Buridan was influenced by Avicenna, or by Philoponus directly.

In optics, Ibn Sina was among those who argued that light had a speed, observing that "if the perception of light is due to the emission of some sort of particles by a luminous source, the speed of light must be finite.". He also provided a wrong explanation of the rainbow phenomenon. Carl Benjamin Boyer described Avicenna's ("Ibn Sīnā") theory on the rainbow as follows:

Independent observation had demonstrated to him that the bow is not formed in the dark cloud but rather in the very thin mist lying between the cloud and the sun or observer. The cloud, he thought, serves simply as the background of this thin substance, much as a quicksilver lining is placed upon the rear surface of the glass in a mirror. Ibn Sīnā would change the place not only of the bow, but also of the color formation, holding the iridescence to be merely a subjective sensation in the eye.

In 1253, a Latin text entitled Speculum Tripartitum stated the following regarding Avicenna's theory on heat:

Avicenna says in his book of heaven and earth, that heat is generated from motion in external things.

Psychology

Avicenna's legacy in classical psychology is primarily embodied in the Kitab al-nafs parts of his Kitab al-shifa' (The Book of Healing) and Kitab al-najat (The Book of Deliverance). These were known in Latin under the title De Anima (treatises "on the soul"). The main thesis of these tracts is represented in his so-called "flying man" argument, which resonates with what was centuries later entailed by Descartes's cogito argument (or what phenomenology designates as a form of an "epoche").

Avicenna's psychology requires that connection between the body and soul be strong enough to ensure the soul's individuation, but weak enough to allow for its immortality. Avicenna grounds his psychology on physiology, which means his account of the soul is one that deals almost entirely with the natural science of the body and its abilities of perception. Thus, the philosopher's connection between the soul and body is explained almost entirely by his understanding of perception; in this way, bodily perception interrelates with the immaterial human intellect. In sense perception, the perceiver senses the form of the object; first, by perceiving features of the object by our external senses. This sensory information is supplied to the internal senses, which merge all the pieces into a whole, unified conscious experience. This process of perception and abstraction is the nexus of the soul and body, for the material body may only perceive material objects, while the immaterial soul may only receive the immaterial, universal forms. The way the soul and body interact in the final abstraction of the universal from the concrete particular is the key to their relationship and interaction, which takes place in the physical body.

The soul completes the action of intellection by accepting forms that have been abstracted from matter. This process requires a concrete particular (material) to be abstracted into the universal intelligible (immaterial). The material and immaterial interact through the Active Intellect, which is a "divine light" containing the intelligible forms. The Active Intellect reveals the universals concealed in material objects much like the sun makes color available to our eyes.

Other contributions

Astronomy and astrology

Avicenna wrote an attack on astrology titled Resāla fī ebṭāl aḥkām al-nojūm, in which he cited passages from the Quran to dispute the power of astrology to foretell the future. He believed that each planet had some influence on the earth, but argued against astrologers being able to determine the exact effects.

Avicenna's astronomical writings had some influence on later writers, although in general his work could be considered less developed than Alhazen or Al-Biruni. One important feature of his writing is that he considers mathematical astronomy as a separate discipline to astrology. He criticized Aristotle's view of the stars receiving their light from the Sun, stating that the stars are self-luminous, and believed that the planets are also self-luminous. He claimed to have observed Venus as a spot on the Sun. This is possible, as there was a transit on May 24, 1032, but Avicenna did not give the date of his observation, and modern scholars have questioned whether he could have observed the transit from his location at that time; he may have mistaken a sunspot for Venus. He used his transit observation to help establish that Venus was, at least sometimes, below the Sun in Ptolemaic cosmology, i.e. the sphere of Venus comes before the sphere of the Sun when moving out from the Earth in the prevailing geocentric model.

He also wrote the Summary of the Almagest, (based on Ptolemy's Almagest), with an appended treatise "to bring that which is stated in the Almagest and what is understood from Natural Science into conformity". For example, Avicenna considers the motion of the solar apogee, which Ptolemy had taken to be fixed.

Chemistry

Ibn Sīnā used distillation to produce essential oils such as rose essence, forming the foundation of what later became aromatherapy.

Unlike, for example, al-Razi, Ibn Sīnā explicitly disputed the theory of the transmutation of substances commonly believed by alchemists:

Those of the chemical craft know well that no change can be effected in the different species of substances, though they can produce the appearance of such change.

Four works on alchemy attributed to Avicenna were translated into Latin as:

• Liber Aboali Abincine de Anima in arte Alchemiae
• Declaratio Lapis physici Avicennae filio sui Aboali
• Avicennae de congelatione et conglutinatione lapidum
• Avicennae ad Hasan Regem epistola de Re recta

Liber Aboali Abincine de Anima in arte Alchemiae was the most influential, having influenced later medieval chemists and alchemists such as Vincent of Beauvais. However Anawati argues (following Ruska) that the de Anima is a fake by a Spanish author. Similarly the Declaratio is believed not to be actually by Avicenna. The third work (The Book of Minerals) is agreed to be Avicenna's writing, adapted from the Kitab al-Shifa (Book of the Remedy). Ibn Sina classified minerals into stones, fusible substances, sulfurs, and salts, building on the ideas of Aristotle and Jabir. The epistola de Re recta is somewhat less sceptical of alchemy; Anawati argues that it is by Avicenna, but written earlier in his career when he had not yet firmly decided that transmutation was impossible.

Poetry

Almost half of Ibn Sīnā's works are versified. His poems appear in both Arabic and Persian. As an example, Edward Granville Browne claims that the following Persian verses are incorrectly attributed to Omar Khayyám, and were originally written by Ibn Sīnā:

از قعر گل سیاه تا اوج زحل
کردم همه مشکلات گیتی را حل
بیرون جستم زقید هر مکر و حیل
هر بند گشاده شد مگر بند اجل

Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate,
I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate,
And many Knots unravel'd by the Road,
But not the Master-Knot of Human Fate.

Legacy

Middle Ages and Renaissance

As early as the 14th century when Dante Alighieri depicted him in Limbo alongside the virtuous non-Christian thinkers in his Divine Comedy such as Virgil, Averroes, Homer, Horace, Ovid, Lucan, Socrates, Plato, and Saladin, Avicenna has been recognized by both East and West, as one of the great figures in intellectual history.

George Sarton, the author of The History of Science, described Ibn Sīnā as "one of the greatest thinkers and medical scholars in history" and called him "the most famous scientist of Islam and one of the most famous of all races, places, and times." He was one of the Islamic world's leading writers in the field of medicine. Along with Rhazes, Abulcasis, Ibn al-Nafis, and al-Ibadi, Ibn Sīnā is considered an important compiler of early Muslim medicine. He is remembered in the Western history of medicine as a major historical figure who made important contributions to medicine and the European Renaissance. His medical texts were unusual in that where controversy existed between Galen and Aristotle's views on medical matters (such as anatomy), he preferred to side with Aristotle, where necessary updating Aristotle's position to take into account post-Aristotelian advances in anatomical knowledge. Aristotle's dominant intellectual influence among medieval European scholars meant that Avicenna's linking of Galen's medical writings with Aristotle's philosophical writings in the Canon of Medicine (along with its comprehensive and logical organisation of knowledge) significantly increased Avicenna's importance in medieval Europe in comparison to other Islamic writers on medicine. His influence following translation of the Canon was such that from the early fourteenth to the mid-sixteenth centuries he was ranked with Hippocrates and Galen as one of the acknowledged authorities, [princeps medicorum] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) ("prince of physicians").

Modern reception

Inside view of the Avicenna Mausoleum, designed by Hooshang Seyhoun in 1945–1950.

In modern Iran, he is considered a national icon, and is often regarded as one of the greatest Persians to have ever lived. An monument was erected outside the Bukhara museum. The Avicenna Mausoleum and Museum in Hamadan was built in 1952. Bu-Ali Sina University in Hamadan (Iran), the ibn Sīnā Tajik State Medical University in Dushanbe, Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences at Aligarh, India, Avicenna School in Karachi and Avicenna Medical College in Lahore, Pakistan Ibne Sina Balkh Medical School in his native province of Balkh in Afghanistan, Ibni Sina Faculty Of Medicine of Ankara University Ankara, Turkey and Ibn Sina Integrated School in Marawi City (Philippines) are all named in his honour. His portrait hangs in the Hall of the Avicenna Faculty of Medicine in the University of Paris. There is also a crater on the Moon named Avicenna and a plant genus Avicennia.

A monument to Avicenna in Qakh (city), Azerbaijan

In 1980, the Soviet Union, which then ruled his birthplace Bukhara, celebrated the thousandth anniversary of Avicenna's birth by circulating various commemorative stamps with artistic illustrations, and by erecting a bust of Avicenna based on anthropological research by Soviet scholars. Near his birthplace in Qishlak Afshona, some 25 km (16 mi) north of Bukhara, a training college for medical staff has been named for him. On the grounds is a museum dedicated to his life, times and work.

Image of Avicenna on the Tajikistani somoni

The Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science is awarded every two years by UNESCO and rewards individuals and groups in the field of ethics in science. The prize was named after Avicenna. The aim of the award is to promote ethical reflection on issues raised by advances in science and technology, and to raise global awareness of the importance of ethics in science.

In March 2008, it was announced that Avicenna's name would be used for new Directories of education institutions for health care professionals, worldwide. The Avicenna Directories will list universities and schools where doctors, public health practitioners, pharmacists and others, are educated. The project team stated "Why Avicenna? Avicenna ... was ... noted for his synthesis of knowledge from both east and west. He has had a lasting influence on the development of medicine and health sciences. The use of Avicenna's name symbolises the worldwide partnership that is needed for the promotion of health services of high quality."

The statue of Avicenna in United Nations Office in Vienna as a part of the "Persian Scholars Pavilion" donated by Iran

In June 2009 Iran donated a "Persian Scholars Pavilion" to United Nations Office in Vienna which is placed in the central Memorial Plaza of the Vienna International Center. The "Persian Scholars Pavilion" at United Nations in Vienna, Austria is featuring the statues of four prominent Iranian figures. Highlighting the Iranian architectural features, the pavilion is adorned with Persian art forms and includes the statues of renowned Iranian scientists Avicenna, Al-Biruni, Zakariya Razi (Rhazes) and Omar Khayyam.

The male name "Sina" (also spelled "Seena", which more closely reflects the Persian pronunciation) is a today a common name in Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey. This popularity is due to the respect for Avicenna.

The soviet film "Youth of Genius" (1982), filmed and studios Uzbekfilm and Tajikfilm, dedicated to children and youth years Avicenna. The film's director Elyor Ishmuhamedov. Romantic and stormy, performed works, danger and irresistible thirst of knowledge was the youth of Al-Husayn ibn Abdallah ibn al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Sina, which will be known around the world under the name of Avicenna - a great physician, scientist and educator X-XI centuries. The film is set in the ancient city of Bukhara at the turn of the millennium. In Louis L'Amour's 1985 historical novel The Walking Drum, Kerbouchard studies and discusses Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine. In his book The Physician (1988) Noah Gordon tells the story of a young English medical apprentice who disguises himself as a Jew to travel from England to Persia and learn from Avicenna, the great master of his time. The novel was adapted into a feature film, The Physician, in 2013. Avicenna was played by Ben Kingsley.

Arabic works

The treatises of Ibn Sīnā influenced later Muslim thinkers in many areas including theology, philology, mathematics, astronomy, physics, and music. His works numbered almost 450 volumes on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived. In particular, 150 volumes of his surviving works concentrate on philosophy and 40 of them concentrate on medicine. His most famous works are The Book of Healing, and The Canon of Medicine.

Ibn Sīnā wrote at least one treatise on alchemy, but several others have been falsely attributed to him. His Logic, Metaphysics, Physics, and De Caelo, are treatises giving a synoptic view of Aristotelian doctrine, though Metaphysics demonstrates a significant departure from the brand of Neoplatonism known as Aristotelianism in Ibn Sīnā's world; Arabic philosophers have hinted at the idea that Ibn Sīnā was attempting to "re-Aristotelianise" Muslim philosophy in its entirety, unlike his predecessors, who accepted the conflation of Platonic, Aristotelian, Neo- and Middle-Platonic works transmitted into the Muslim world.

The Logic and Metaphysics have been extensively reprinted, the latter, e.g., at Venice in 1493, 1495, and 1546. Some of his shorter essays on medicine, logic, etc., take a poetical form (the poem on logic was published by Schmoelders in 1836). Two encyclopaedic treatises, dealing with philosophy, are often mentioned. The larger, Al-Shifa' (Sanatio), exists nearly complete in manuscript in the Bodleian Library and elsewhere; part of it on the De Anima appeared at Pavia (1490) as the Liber Sextus Naturalium, and the long account of Ibn Sina's philosophy given by Muhammad al-Shahrastani seems to be mainly an analysis, and in many places a reproduction, of the Al-Shifa'. A shorter form of the work is known as the An-najat (Liberatio). The Latin editions of part of these works have been modified by the corrections which the monastic editors confess that they applied. There is also a حكمت مشرقيه (hikmat-al-mashriqqiyya, in Latin Philosophia Orientalis), mentioned by Roger Bacon, the majority of which is lost in antiquity, which according to Averroes was pantheistic in tone.

List of works

This is the list of some of Avicenna's well-known works:

• Sirat al-shaykh al-ra'is (The Life of Ibn Sina), ed. and trans. WE. Gohlman, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1974. (The only critical edition of Ibn Sina's autobiography, supplemented with material from a biography by his student Abu 'Ubayd al-Juzjani. A more recent translation of the Autobiography appears in D. Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition: Introduction to Reading Avicenna's Philosophical Works, Leiden: Brill, 1988; second edition 2014.)
• Al-isharat wa al-tanbihat (Remarks and Admonitions), ed. S. Dunya, Cairo, 1960; parts translated by S.C. Inati, Remarks and Admonitions, Part One: Logic, Toronto, Ont.: Pontifical Institute for Mediaeval Studies, 1984, and Ibn Sina and Mysticism, Remarks and Admonitions: Part 4, London: Kegan Paul International, 1996.
• Al-Qanun fi'l-tibb (The Canon of Medicine), ed. I. a-Qashsh, Cairo, 1987. (Encyclopedia of medicine.) manuscript, Latin translation, Flores Avicenne, Michael de Capella, 1508, Modern text. Ahmed Shawkat Al-Shatti, Jibran Jabbur.
• Risalah fi sirr al-qadar (Essay on the Secret of Destiny), trans. G. Hourani in Reason and Tradition in Islamic Ethics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
• Danishnama-i 'ala'i (The Book of Scientific Knowledge), ed. and trans. P. Morewedge, The Metaphysics of Avicenna, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973.
• Kitab al-Shifa' (The Book of Healing). (Ibn Sina's major work on philosophy. He probably began to compose al-Shifa' in 1014, and completed it in 1020.) Critical editions of the Arabic text have been published in Cairo, 1952–83, originally under the supervision of I. Madkour.
• Kitab al-Najat (The Book of Salvation), trans. F. Rahman, Avicenna's Psychology: An English Translation of Kitab al-Najat, Book II, Chapter VI with Historical-philosophical Notes and Textual Improvements on the Cairo Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1952. (The psychology of al-Shifa'.)
• Hayy ibn Yaqdhan a Persian myth. A novel called Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, based on Avicenna's story, was later written by Ibn Tufail (Abubacer) in the 12th century and translated into Latin and English as Philosophus Autodidactus in the 17th and 18th centuries respectively. In the 13th century, Ibn al-Nafis wrote his own novel Fadil ibn Natiq, known as Theologus Autodidactus in the West, as a critical response to Hayy ibn Yaqdhan.

Persian works

Avicenna's most important Persian work is the Danishnama-i 'Alai "the Book of Knowledge for [Prince] 'Ala ad-Daulah". Avicenna created new scientific vocabulary that had not previously existed in Persian. The Dāneš-nāma covers such topics as logic, metaphysics, music theory and other sciences of his time. It has been translated into English by Parwiz Mowewedge in 1977. The book is also important in respect to Persian scientific works.

Andar Danesh-e-Rag "On the science of the pulse" contains nine chapters on the science of the pulse and is a condensed synopsis. Persian poetry from Ibn Sina is recorded in various manuscripts and later anthologies such as Nozhat al-Majales.

See also

• Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi
• Al-Qumri
• Avicennia, a genus of mangrove named after Ibn Sīnā
• Avicenna Research Institute, a biotechnology research institute named after Ibn Sīnā
• Avicenna Prize
• Ibn Sina Peak - named after the Scientist
• Islamic scholars
• Mumijo
• Philosophy
  • Eastern philosophy
  • Iranian philosophy
• Science in medieval Islam
  • List of Muslim scientists
  • Sufi philosophy
• Science and technology in Iran
  • Ancient Iranian Medicine
  • List of Iranian scientists and scholars

Sources

• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Avicenna" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Further reading

Encyclopedic articles

• Syed Iqbal, Zaheer. An Educational Encyclopedia of Islam (2 ed.). Bangalore: Iqra Publishers. p. 1280. ISBN 978-603-90004-40.
• Flannery, Michael. "Avicenna". Encyclopædia Britannica. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Goichon, A.-M. (1999). "IBN SINA, Abu 'Ali al-Husayn b. 'Abd Allah b. Sina, known in the West as Avicenna". Encyclopedia of Islam. Brill Publishers. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Mahdi, M. (1987). "Avicenna". Encyclopædia Iranica. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Avicenna" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
• O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina (Avicenna)", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
• Ragep, Sally P. (2007). "Ibn Sīnā: Abū ʿAlī al‐Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn Sīnā". In Thomas Hockey; et al. (eds.). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer. pp. 570–2. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. (PDF version)
• Avicenna entry by Sajjad H. Rizvi in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Primary literature

• For an old list of other extant works, C. Brockelmann's Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur (Weimar, 1898), vol. i. pp. 452–458. (XV. W.; G. W. T.)
• For a current list of his works see A. Bertolacci (2006) and D. Gutas (2014) in the section "Philosophy".
• Avicenna (2005). The Metaphysics of The Healing. A parallel English-Arabic text translation. Michael E. Marmura (trans.) (1 ed.). Brigham Young University. ISBN 0-934893-77-2.
• Avicenna (1999). The Canon of Medicine (al-Qānūn fī'l-ṭibb), vol. 1. Laleh Bakhtiar (ed.), Oskar Cameron Gruner (trans.), Mazhar H. Shah (trans.). Great Books of the Islamic World. ISBN 978-1-871031-67-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Avicenne: Réfutation de l'astrologie. Edition et traduction du texte arabe, introduction, notes et lexique par Yahya Michot. Préface d'Elizabeth Teissier (Beirut-Paris: Albouraq, 2006) ISBN 2-84161-304-6.
• William E. Gohlam (ed.), The Life of Ibn Sina. A Critical Edtion and Annotated Translation, Albany, State of New York University Press, 1974.
• For Ibn Sina's life, see Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, translated by de Slane (1842); F. Wüstenfeld's Geschichte der arabischen Aerzte und Naturforscher (Göttingen, 1840).
• Madelung, Wilferd and Toby Mayer (ed. and tr.), Struggling with the Philosopher: A Refutation of Avicenna's Metaphysics. A New Arabic Edition and English Translation of Shahrastani's Kitab al-Musara'a.

Secondary literature

• Afnan, Soheil M. (1958). Avicenna: His Life and Works. London: G. Allen & Unwin. OCLC 31478971. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • This is, on the whole, an informed and good account of the life and accomplishments of one of the greatest influences on the development of thought both Eastern and Western. ... It is not as philosophically thorough as the works of D. Saliba, A. M. Goichon, or L. Gardet, but it is probably the best essay in English on this important thinker of the Middle Ages. (Julius R. Weinberg, The Philosophical Review, Vol. 69, No. 2, Apr. 1960, pp. 255–259)
• Goodman, Lenn E. (2006). Avicenna (Updated ed.). Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-415-01929-X. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • This is a distinguished work which stands out from, and above, many of the books and articles which have been written in this century on Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā) (A.D. 980-1037). It has two main features on which its distinction as a major contribution to Avicennan studies may be said to rest: the first is its clarity and readability; the second is the comparative approach adopted by the author. ... (Ian Richard Netton, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 4, No. 2, July 1994, pp. 263–264)
• Gutas, Dimitri (1987). "Avicenna's maḏhab, with an Appendix on the question of his date of birth". Quaderni di Studi Arabi. 5–6: 323–36.
• Y. T. Langermann (ed.), Avicenna and his Legacy. A Golden Age of Science and Philosophy, Brepols Publishers, 2010, ISBN 978-2-503-52753-6
• For a new understanding of his early career, based on a newly discovered text, see also: Michot, Yahya, Ibn Sînâ: Lettre au vizir Abû Sa'd. Editio princeps d'après le manuscrit de Bursa, traduction de l'arabe, introduction, notes et lexique (Beirut-Paris: Albouraq, 2000) ISBN 2-84161-150-7.
• Strohmaier, Gotthard (2006). Avicenna (in German). C.H. Beck. ISBN 3-406-54134-8.
  • This German publication is both one of the most comprehensive general introductions to the life and works of the philosopher and physician Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā, d. 1037) and an extensive and careful survey of his contribution to the history of science. Its author is a renowned expert in Greek and Arabic medicine who has paid considerable attention to Avicenna in his recent studies. ... (Amos Bertolacci, Isis, Vol. 96, No. 4, December 2005, p. 649)
• Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman. Resalah Judiya of Ibn Sina (First edition 1971), Literary Research Unit, CCRIH, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh; (Second edition 1981) Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine, Govt. of India, New Delhi; (Fourth edition 1999), Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine, Govt. of India, New Delhi.
• Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman (1996). AI-Advia al-Qalbia of Ibn Sina. Publication Division, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.
• Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman. Ilmul Amraz of Ibn Sina (First edition 1969), Tibbi Academy, Delhi (Second edition 1990), (Third edition 1994), Tibbi Academy, Aligarh.
• Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman (1986). Qanoon lbn Sina Aur Uskey Shareheen wa Mutarjemeen. Publication Division, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.
• Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman (1986), Qānūn-i ibn-i Sīnā aur us ke shārḥīn va mutarajimīn, ʻAlīgaṛh: Pablīkeshan Dīvīzan, Muslim Yūnīvarsiṭī
• Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman (2004). Qanun Ibn Sina and its Translation and Commentators (Persian Translation; 203pp). Society for the Appreciation of Cultural Works and Dignitaries, Tehran, Iran.
• Shaikh al Rais Ibn Sina (Special number) 1958–59, Ed. Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, Tibbia College Magazine, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India.

Medicine

• Browne, Edward G.. Islamic Medicine. Fitzpatrick Lectures Delivered at the Royal College of Physicians in 1919-1920, reprint: New Delhi: Goodword Books, 2001. ISBN 81-87570-19-9
• Pormann, Peter & Savage-Smith, Emilie. Medieval Islamic Medicine, Washington: Georgetown University Press, 2007.
• Prioreschi, Plinio. Byzantine and Islamic Medicine, A History of Medicine, Vol. 4, Omaha: Horatius Press, 2001.

Philosophy

• Amos Bertolacci, The Reception of Aristotle's Metaphysics in Avicenna's Kitab al-Sifa'. A Milestone of Western Metaphysical Thought, Leiden: Brill 2006, (Appendix C contains an Overview of the Main Works by Avicenna on Metaphysics in Chronological Order).
• Dimitri Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition: Introduction to Reading Avicenna's Philosophical Works, Leiden, Brill 2014, second revised and expanded edition (first edition: 1988), including an inventory of Avicenna' Authentic Works.
• Jon Mc Ginnis and D. C. Reisman (eds.) Interpreting Avicenna: Science and Philosophy in Medieval Islam: Proceedings of the Second Conference of the Avicenna Study Group, Leiden: Brill, 2004.

• Template:Link language Michot, Jean R., La destinée de l'homme selon Avicenne, Louvain: Aedibus Peeters, 1986, ISBN 978-90-6831-071-9.
• Nader El-Bizri, The Phenomenological Quest between Avicenna and Heidegger, Binghamton, N.Y.: Global Publications SUNY, 2000.
• Nader El-Bizri, "Avicenna and Essentialism," Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 54 (June 2001), pp. 753–778.
• Nader El-Bizri, "Avicenna's De Anima between Aristotle and Husserl," in The Passions of the Soul in the Metamorphosis of Becoming, ed. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2003, pp. 67–89.
• Nader El-Bizri, "Being and Necessity: A Phenomenological Investigation of Avicenna's Metaphysics and Cosmology," in Islamic Philosophy and Occidental Phenomenology on the Perennial Issue of Microcosm and Macrocosm, ed. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2006, pp. 243–261.
• Reisman, David C. (ed.), Before and After Avicenna: Proceedings of the First Conference of the Avicenna Study Group, Leiden: Brill, 2003.

In Russian

Publication of works:

• Ibn Sina. Danish-name. Book of knowledge. - Stalinabad, 1957. (Ибн Сина. Даниш-намэ. Книга знания. — Сталинабад, 1957.)
• Ibn Sina. The Canon of Medicine: In 5 volumes. - Tashkent, 1956-1960. (Ибн Сина. Канон врачебной науки : В 5 т. — Ташкент, 1956-1960.
• Ibn Sina. Mathematical chapter "books of knowledge." - Dushanbe, 1967. (Ибн Сина. Математические главы «Книги знания». — Душанбе, 1967.
• Ibn Sina. Message of love. - Tbilisi: Metsniereba, 1976. (Ибн Сина. Послание о любви. — Тбилиси: Мецниереба, 1976.
• Ibn Sina. Favorites. - Moscow: Kniga, 1980. (Ибн Сина. Избранное. — М.: Книга, 1980.
• Ibn Sina. Favorites Philosophical Works. - Moscow: Science, 1980. (Ибн Сина. Избранные философские произведения. — М.: Наука, 1980.
• Al-Biruni, Ibn Sina. Correspondence. - Tashkent: Fan, 1973. (Аль-Бируни, Ибн-Сина. Переписка. — Ташкент: Фан, 1973.

Biography:

• Ahadova M.A . The arithmetic of the "Book of Knowledge" of Ibn Sina. Geometrical part of the "Book of Knowledge" Ibn Sina // Scientists note Bukhara State Pedagogical Institute. - 1964. - № 12. (Ахадова М.А. Арифметическая часть «Книги знания» Ибн Сины. Геометрическая часть «Книги знания» Ибн Сины // Учёные записки Бухарского госпединститута. — 1964. — № 12.)
• Dzhibladze G.N. Systems Avicenna, Abu Ali Ibn Sina. Exoteric essay. (Some generalizations and materials). - Tbilisi, 1986. (Джибладзе Г.Н. Системы Авицены: Абу Али Ибн-Сина. Экзотерический очерк. (Некоторые обобщения и материалы). — Тбилиси, 1986)
• Dinorshoev M. Natural philosophy of Ibn Sina. - Dushanbe, 1985. (Диноршоев М. Натурфилософия Ибн Сины. — Душанбе, 1985)
• Zavadovsky N. Abu Ali Ibn Sina: Life and Work. - Dushanbe, 1980. (Завадовский Ю.Н. Абу Али Ибн Сина: Жизнь и творчество. — Душанбе, 1980)
• Luther I.O. Metaphysics of Ibn Sina: angle - attitude, quality, position or is it more? // Historical and mathematical studies. - 2003. - № 8 (43). - P. 278-302. (Лютер И.О. Метафизика Ибн Сины: угол — отношение, качество, положение или всё-таки количество? // Историко-математические исследования. — 2003. — № 8(43). — С. 278—302)
• Petrov B.D. Ibn Sina (Avicenna). - Moscow: Medicine, 1980. (Петров Б.Д. Ибн Сина (Авиценна). — М.: Медицина, 1980)
• Sagadeev A.V. Ibn Sina (Avicenna). - Moscow, 1985. (Сагадеев А.В. Ибн Сина (Авиценна). — М., 1985)
• Shidfar B.Ja. Ibn Sina. - Moscow, 1981. (Шидфар Б. Я. Ибн Сина. — М., 1981)

Bibliography:

• Dinorshoev M. Natural philosophy of Ibn Sina. - Dushanbe, 1985 (Диноршоев М. Натурфилософия Ибн-Сины. — Душанбе, 1985);
• Avicenna // Encyclopedic Dictionary Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 m., And 4 extra.). - St. Petersburg., 1890-1907. (Авиценна // Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона: В 86 томах (82 т. и 4 доп.). — СПб., 1890—1907.)
• Sina, Abu Ali ibn Husayn ibn Abdullah ibn // Jewish Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron. - St. Petersburg., 1906-1913. (Сина, Абу-Али ибн-Хусейн ибн-Абдалла ибн- // Еврейская энциклопедия Брокгауза и Ефрона. — СПб., 1906—1913.)
• Frolova Ε.A. Ibn Sina // New Encyclopedia of Philosophy: 4 m. / Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences; Nat. obschestv.-scientific. Fund; Presents t. Scientific Ed. Council VS Stepin. - Moscow: Mysl, 2000-2001. - ISBN 5-244-00961-3. 2nd ed., Rev. and complement. - Moscow: Mysl, 2010. - ISBN 978-5-244-01115-9. (Фролова Ε.A. Ибн Сина // Новая философская энциклопедия: в 4 т. / Ин-т философии РАН; Нац. обществ.-науч. фонд; Предс. научно-ред. совета В. С. Стёпин. — М.: «Мысль», 2000—2001. — ISBN 5-244-00961-3. 2-е изд., испр. и допол. — М.: «Мысль», 2010. — ISBN 978-5-244-01115-9.)
• Shidfar B.Ja. Ibn Sina. - Moscow: Science, 1981 - 184 p. (Б. Я. Ибн-Сина. — М.: «Наука», 1981. — 184 с.)

External links

• Avicenna (Ibn-Sina) on the Subject and the Object of Metaphysics with a list of translations of the logical and philosophical works and an annotated bibliography
• Avicenna on In Our Time at the BBC
• Digitized works by Avicena at Biblioteca Digital Hispánica, Biblioteca Nacional de España
• International Conference on "Life & Contribution of Ibn Sina"
• Авиценна — биография, поэзия, труды о медицине (in Russian)