Bio-Bibliographies
A B C D F G H I J K M N O P Q R S T V Y Z
Rāzī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā’ (d. c. 925/313)
ابو بكر محمد ابن زكرياء الرازى
Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā’ al-Rāzī, known to Europeans as Rhazes, was one of the most important and influential of all medieval Islamic physicians. He was born in the year 865/251 in the Persian city of Rayy, near present-day Tehran, and died in the same town about 925/313. Before learning medicine, he studied philosophy, alchemy, and music. He served as physician at the Samanid court in Central Asia and headed hospitals in Rayy and Baghdad. Rāzī wrote on many different subjects. His general medical textbook, Kitāb al-Manṣūrī fī al-ṭibb (The Book of Medicine for Mansur) was written for the Samanid ruler of Rayy, Abū Salih al-Manṣūr. His voluminous working files of readings and personal observations were assembled posthumously by his students and circulated under the name Kitāb al-Ḥāwī fī al-ṭibb (The Comprehensive Book on Medicine). Over 1000 of his case histories are also preserved today, and they provide an important insight into the working life of the greatest medieval clinician.
For his life and writings, see L. Richter-Bernberg, "Abū Bakr Muḥammad Al-Rāzī (Rhazes) Medical Works", Medicina nei Secoli, vol. 6 (1994), pp. 377-399; A.Z. Iskandar, "al-Razi," in Religion, Learning, and Science in the 'Abbasid Period, ed. M.J.L. Young, J.D. Latham, and R.B. Serjeant (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), pp. 370-7; Iskandar, "Wellcome", pp. 1-27; Sezgin, GAS III, pp. 274-294; Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 128-136; A.Z. Iskandar, A Study of al-Razi's Medical Writings with Selected Texts and English Translations, unpublished D. Phil. Dissertation, University of Oxford, 1959, pp. 42-43 and 77-82; and Cristina Alvarez-Millan, "Graeco-Roman Case Histories and their Influence on Islamic Clinical Accounts", Social History of Medicine, vol. 12 (1999), pp. 19-43.
See Zosimos
Rufus of Ephesus (physician under Trajan, AD 98-117)
The Greek-speaking physician Rufus of Ephesus, who praticed during the time of Trajan (AD 98-117), had considerable influence in the Islamic world, for no less than 58 of his medical writings were translated into Arabic. These are mostly essays concerned with specific pathological or dietetic issues, such as kidney and bladder disease, jaundice, melancholy, the regimen of children and of travelers, forgetfulness, and other topics.
For a good discussion of his writings, see M. Ullmann, "Rufus al-Afsisi" in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 8, pp. 588-589; and M. Ullmann, Islamic Medicine (Edinburgh: University Press, 1978) pp. 13, and 34-40; Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 71-76; and Sezgin GAS III, pp. 64-68.
Rustam Jurjānī (mid-16th century)
رستم جرجانى
Rustam Jurjānī was court physician of Khān Aḥmad Jilan and the Sultan Nizam-Shah Burhan I (ruled 1508-1553) in the city of Ahmadnagar in the Deccan, India. He composed several medical treatises in Persian, the most extensive being his encyclopaedia of material medica which he compiled at the request of Sultan Nizam-Shah and named after him. Of the latter NLM has one of only two recorded copies.
For his life and writings, see Storey PL II,2, p. 244; Keshavarz, "Wellcome", pp. 274-6 no. 130.
