980-1037 C.E Abu Ali al-Hussain Ibn Sina

Abu Ali al-Hussain Ibn Sina(980-1037 C.E.)

Abu Ali al-Hussain Ibn Abdallah Ibn Sina was born in 980 C.E. at Afshana near Bukhara. The young Abu Ali received his early education in Bukhara, and by the age of ten had become well versed in the study of the Qur'an and various sciences. He started studying philosophy by reading various Greek, Muslim and other books on this subject and learnt logic and some other subjects from Abu Abdallah Natili, a famous philosopher of the time. While still young, he attained such a degree of expertise in medicine that his renown spread far and wide. At the age of 17, he was fortunate in curing Nooh Ibn Mansoor, the King of Bukhhara, of an illness in which all the well-known physicians had given up hope.

On his recovery, the King wished to reward him, but the young physician only desired permission to use his uniquely stocked library.On his father's death, Bu Ali left Bukhara and travelled to Jurjan where

Khawarizm Shah welcomed him. There, he met his famous contemporary Abu Raihan al-Biruni. Later he moved to Ray and then to Hamadan, where he wrote his famous book Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb. Here hetreated Shams al-Daulah, the King of Hamadan, for severe colic. From Hamadan, he moved to Isphahan, where he completed many of his monumental writings. Nevertheless, he continued travelling and the excessive mental exertion as well as political turmoil spoilt his health.

Finally, he returned to Hamadan where he died in 1037 C.E. In any age Ibn Sina, known in the West as Avicenna, would have been a giant among giants. He displayed exceptional intellectual prowess as a child and at the age of ten was already proficient in the Qur'an and the Arabic classics. During the next six years he devoted himself to Muslim Jurisprudence, Philosophy and Natural Science and studied Logic, Euclid, and the

Almeagest. He turned his attention to Medicine at the age of 17 years and found it, in his own words, "not difficult". However he was greatly troubled by metaphysical problems and in particular the works of Aristotle. By chance, he obtained a manual on this subject by the celebrated philosopher al-Farabi which solved his difficulties. By the age of 18 he had built up a reputation as a physician and was summoned to attend the Samani ruler Nuh ibn Mansur (reigned 976-997 C.E.), who, in gratitude for Ibn Sina's services,

allowed him to make free use of the royal library, which contained many rare and even unique books. Endowed with great powers of absorbing and retaining knowledge, this Muslim scholar devoured the contents of the library and at the age of 21 was in a position to compose his first book.

At about the same time he lost his father and soon afterwards left Bukhara and wandered westwards. He entered the services of Ali ibn Ma'mun, the ruler of Khiva, for a while, but ultimately fled to avoid being kidnapped by the Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna.

After many wanderings he came to Jurjan, near the Caspian Sea, attracted by the fame of its ruler, Qabus, as a patron of learning. Unfortunately Ibn Sina's arrival almost coincided with the deposition and murder of this ruler. At Jurjan, Ibn Sina lectured on logic and astronomy and wrote the first part of the Qanun, his  greatest work.

He then moved to Ray, near modern Teheran and established a busy medical practice. When Ray was besieged, Ibn Sina fled to Hamadan where he cured Amir Shamsud-Dawala of colic and was made Prime Minister. A mutiny of soldiers against him caused his dismissal and imprisonment, but subsequently the

Amir, being again attacked by the colic, summoned him back, apologised and reinstated him! His life at this time was very strenuous: during the day he was busy with the Amir's services, while a great deal of the night was passed in lecturing and dictating notes for his books. Students would gather in his home and read parts of his two great books, theShifaand the Qanun,already composed.

Following the death of the Amir, Ibn Sina fled to Isfahan after a few brushes with the law, including a period in prison. He

spent his final years in the services of the ruler of the city, Ala alDaula whom he advised on scientific and literary matters and accompanied on military campaigns.

Friends advised him to slow down and take life in moderation, but this was not in character. "I prefer a short life with width to a narrow one with length", he would reply. Worn out by hard work and hard living, Ibn Sina died in 1036/1 at a comparatively early age of 58 years. He was buried in Hamadan where his grave is still shown.

Al-Qifti states that Ibn Sina completed 21 major and 24 minor works on philosophy, medicine, theology, geometry, astronomy and the like. Another source (Brockelmann) attributes 99 books to Ibn Sina comprising 16 on medicine, 68 on theology and metaphysics 11 on astronomy and four on verse. Most of these were in Arabic; but in his native Persian he wrote a large manual on philosophical science entitled Danish-naama-i-Alai and a small treatise on the pulse.

His most celebrated Arabic poem describes the descent of Soul into the Body from the Higher Sphere. Among his scientific works, the leading two are the Kitab al-Shifa(Book of Healing), a philosophical encyclopaedia based upon Aristotelian traditions and the al-Qanun al-Tibb which represents the final categorisation of Greco-Arabian thoughts on Medicine.

Of Ibn Sina's 16 medical works, eight are versified treatises on such matter as the 25 signs indicating the fatal termination of illnesses, hygienic precepts, proved remedies, anatomical memoranda etc. Amongst his prose works, after the great Qanun, the treatise on cardiac drugs, of which the British Museum possesses several fine manuscripts, is probably the most important, but it remains unpublished.

TheQanunis, of course, by far the largest, most famous and most important of Ibn Sina's works. The work contains about one million words and like most Arabic books, is elaborately divided and subdivided. The main division is into five books, of which the first deals with general principles; the second with simple drugs arranged alphabetically; the third with diseases of particular organs and members of the body from the head to the foot; the fourth with diseases which though local in their inception spread to other parts of the body, such as fevers and the fifth with compound medicines.

The Qanundistinguishes mediastinitis from pleurisy and recognises the contagious nature of phthisis (tuberculosis of the lung) and the spread of disease by water and soil. It gives a scientific diagnosis of ankylostomiasis and attributes the condition to an intestinal worm. The Qanunpoints out the importance of dietetics, the influence of climate and environment on health and the surgical use of oral anaesthetics. Ibn Sina advised surgeons to treat cancer in its earliest stages, ensuring the removal of all the diseased tissue. The Qanun's materia medica considers some 760 drugs, with comments on their application and effectiveness. He recommended the testing of a new drug on animals and humans prior to general use.

Ibn Sina noted the close relationship between emotions and the physical condition and felt that music had a definite physical and psychological effect on patients. Of the many psychological disorders that he described in the Qanun, one is of unusual interest: love sickness! ibn Sina is reputed to have diagnosed this condition in a Prince in Jurjan who lay sick and whose malady had baffled local doctors. Ibn Sina noted a fluttering in the Prince's pulse when the address and name of his beloved were mentioned. The great doctor had a simple remedy: unite the sufferer with the beloved.

The Arabic text of the Qanunwas published in Rome in 1593 and was therefore one of the earliest Arabic books to see print. It was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona in the 12th century. This 'Canon', with its encyclopaedic content, its systematic arrangement and philosophical plan, soon worked its way into a position of pre-eminence in the medical literature of the age displacing the works of Galen, al-Razi and al-Majusi, and becoming the text book for medical education in the schools of Europe. In the last 30 years of the 15th century it passed through 15 Latin editions and one Hebrew. In recent years, a partial translation into English was made. From the 12th-17th century, the Qanun served as the chief guide to Medical Science in the West and is said to have influenced Leonardo da Vinci. In the words of Dr. William Osler, theQanunhas remained "a medical bible for a longer time than any other work".

Despite such glorious tributes to his work, Ibn Sina is rarely remembered in the West today and his fundamental contributions to Medicine and the European reawakening goes largely unrecognised. However, in the museum at Bukhara, there are displays showing many of his writings, surgical instruments from the period and paintings of patients undergoing treatment.

An impressive monument to the life and works of the man whobecame known as the 'doctor of doctors' still stands outside Bukhara museum and his portrait hangs in the Hall of the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Paris.

Pre-op, 10th century style - Ibn Sina is known to have operated on a friend's gall bladder   One of the four parts of this work is devoted to mathematics and ibn Sina includes astronomy and music as branches of mathematics within the encyclopaedia. In fact he divided mathematics into four branches, geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and music,and he then subdivided each of these topics. Geometry he subdivided into geodesy, statics, kinematics, hydrostatics, and optics;

astronomy he subdivided into astronomical and geographical tables, and the calendar; arithmetic he subdivided into algebra, and Indian addition and subtraction; music he subdivided into musical instruments.

The geometric section of the encyclopaedia is, not surprisingly, based on Euclid's Elements. Ibn Sina gives proofs but the presentation lacks the rigour adopted by Euclid. In fact ibn Sina does not present geometry as a deductive system from axioms in this work. We should note, however, that this was the way that ibn

Sina chose to present the topic in the encyclopaedia. In other writings on geometry he, like many Muslim scientists, attempted to give a proof of Euclid's fifth postulate. The topics dealt with in the geometry section of the encyclopaedia are: lines, angles, and

planes; parallels; triangles; constructions with ruler and compass; areas of parallelograms and triangles; geometric algebra;

properties of circles; proportions without mentioning irrational numbers; proportions relating to areas of polygons; areas of circles; regular polygons; and volumes of polyhedra and the sphere. Full details are given in.

Ibn Sina made astronomical observations and we know that some were made at Isfahan and some at Hamadan. He made several correct deductions from his observations. For example he observed Venus as a spot against the surface of the Sun and correctly deduced that Venus must be closer to the Earth than the

Sun. This observation, and other related work by ibn Sina, is discussed in. Ibn Sina invented an instrument for observing the coordinates of a star. The instrument had two legs pivoted at one end; the lower leg rotated about a horizontal protractor, thus showing the azimuth, while the upper leg marked with a scale and having observing sights, was raised in the plane vertical to the lower leg to give the star's altitude. Another of ibn Sina's contributions to astronomy was his attempt to calculate the difference in longitude between Baghdad and Gurgan by observing a meridian transit of the moon at Gurgan. He also correctly stated,  with what justification it is hard to see, that the velocity of light is finite.

As Ibn Sina considered music as one of the branches of mathematics it is fitting to give a brief indication of his work on this topic which was mainly on tonic intervals, rhythmic patterns, and musical instruments. Some experts claim that Ibn Sina's promotion of the consonance of the major third led to the use of just intonation rather than the intonation associated with Pythagoras. More information is contained in T S Vyzgo's paper "On Ibn Sina's contribution to musicology" in.  Mechanics was a topic which Ibn Sina classified under mathematics. In his work Mi'yar al-'aqulibn Sina defines simple machines and combinations of them which involve rollers, levers,windlasses, pulleys, and many others. Although the material was well-known and certainly not original, nevertheless ibn Sina's classification of mechanisms, which goes beyond that of Heron, is highly original.

Since Ibn Sina's major contributions are in philosophy, we should at least mention his work in this area, although we shall certainly not devote the space to it that this work deserves. He discussed reason and reality, claiming that God is pure intellect and that knowledge consists of the mind grasping the intelligible. To grasp the intelligible both reason and logic are required. But, claims ibn Sina:-

... it is important to gain knowledge. Grasp of the intelligibles determines the fate of the rational soul in the hereafter, and therefore is crucial to human activity.

Ibn Sina gives a theory of knowledge, describing the abstraction in perceiving an object rather than the concrete form of the object itself. In metaphysics ibn Sina examined existence. He considers the scientific and mathematical theory of the world and ultimate causation by God. His aims are described in as follows:-

Ibn Sina sought to integrate all aspects of science and religion in a grand metaphysical vision. With this vision he attempted to explain the formation of the universe as well as to elucidate the problems of

evil, prayer, providence, prophecies, miracles, and marvels. Also within its scope fall problems relating to the organisation of the state in accord with religious law and the question of the ultimate destiny of man.  Ibn Sina is known to have corresponded with al-Biruni. Eighteen letters which ibn Sina sent to al-Biruni in answer to questions that he had posed are given. These letters cover topics such as philosophy, astronomy and physics. There is other correspondence from ibn Sina which has been preserved which has been surveyed in the article. The topics of these letters include arguments against theologians and those professing magical powers, and refutation of the opinions those who having a superficial interest in a branch of knowledge. Ibn Sina writes on certain topics in philosophy, and writes letters to students who must have asked him to explain difficulties they have encountered in some classic text. The authors of see ibn Sina as promoting natural science and arguing against religious men who attempt to obscure the truth.

In chemistry, engineering] Avicenna criticizes the theory of the transmutation of metals.He also invents the chemical process of steam distillation and produces the first essential oils as a result. He also invents the air thermometer for use in his laboratory experiments.

In mechanics, physics  Avicenna, the father of the fundamental concept of momentum in physics, discovered the concept of momentum, when he referred to impetus as being proportional to weight times velocity, a precursor to the concept of momentum in Newton's second law of motion. His theory of motion was also consistent with the concept of inertia in Newton's first law of motion.

In medicine, pathology, physiology  Avicenna, who is considered the father of modern medicine and one of the greatest thinkers and medical scholars in history, publishes his 14-volume medical encyclopedia, The Canon of Medicine, which remains a standard textbook in Muslim and European universities until the 17th century. The book's contributions to medicine includes the introduction of experimental medicine and clinical trials, the introduction of systematic experimentation and quantification into the study of physiology, the discovery of contagious diseases, the distinction of mediastinitis from pleurisy, the contagious nature of phthisis, the distribution of diseases by water and soil, and the first careful descriptions of skin troubles, sexually transmitted diseases, perversions, and nervous ailments, as well the use of ice to treat fevers, and the separation of medicine from pharmacology, which was important to the development of the pharmaceutical sciences.

developing optics, physics Avicenna "observed 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 sophisticated explanation for the rainbow phenomenon.

Dunia Islam memanggilnya dengan nama Ibnu Sina. Namun di kalang an orangorang Barat, ia dikenal dengan panggil an Avicenna. Ia merupakan seorang filsuf, ilmuwan, dan juga dokter pada abad ke-10. Selain itu, Ia juga dikenal sebagai seorang penulis yang produktif.

Dan sebagian besar karyanya adalah tentang filsafat dan pengobatan. Bagi banyak orang,Ibnu Sina adalah Bapak Pengobatan Modern. Selain itu, masih banyak lagi sebutan lainnya yang ditujukan padanya, terutama berkaitan dengan karya-karyanya di bidang kedokteran. Karyanya yang sangat terkenal adalah Qanun fi Thib atau The Canon of Medicine yang merupakan rujukan di bidang kedokteran selama berabad-abad.

Ibnu Sina lahir pada tahun 370 H/ 980 M di Afsyanah, sebuah kota kecil di wilayahUzbekistan saat ini. Ayahnya yang berasal dari Balkh Khorasan adalah seorang pegawai tinggi pada masa Dinasti Samaniah (204-395 H/819-1005 M).

Sejak kecil, Ibnu Sina sudah menunjukkan kepandaian yang luar biasa. Di usia 5 tahun, ia telah belajar menghafal Alquran. Selain menghafal Alquran, ia juga belajar mengenai ilmu-ilmu agama. Ilmu kedokteran baru ia pelajari pada usia 16 tahun. Tidak hanya belajar mengenai teori kedokteran, tetapi melalui pelayanan pada orang sakit dan melalui perhitungannya sendiri, ia juga menemukan metode-metode baru dari perawatan.

Profesinya di bidang kedokteran dimulai sejak umur 17 tahun. Kepopulerannya sebagai dokter bermula ketika ia berhasil menyembuhkan Nuh bin Mansur (976-997), salah seorang penguasa Dinasti Samaniah. Banyak tabib dan ahli yang hidup pada masa itu tidak berhasil menyembuhkan penyakit sang raja.

Sebagai penghargaan, sang raja meminta Ibnu Sina menetap di istana, paling tidak untuk sementara selama sang raja dalam proses penyembuhan. Tapi Ibnu Sina menolaknya dengan halus, sebagai gantinya ia hanya meminta izin untuk mengunjungi sebuah perpustakaan kerajaan yang kuno dan antik. Siapa sangka, dari sanalah ilmunya yang luas makin bertambah.

Ibnu Sina selain terkenal sebagai orang yang ahli dalam ilmu agama dan kedokteran, ia juga ahli dalam bidang matematika, logika, fisika, geometri, astronomi, metafisika dan filosofi. Pada usia 18 tahun, Ibnu Sina memperoleh predikat sebagai seorang fisikawan.

Tak hanya itu, ia juga mendalami masalah-masalah fikih dan menafsirkan ayat-ayat Alquran. Ia banyak menafsirkan ayat-ayat Alquran untuk mendukung pandangan-pandangan filsafatnya.

Ketika Ibnu Sina berusia 22 tahun, ayahnya meninggal. Setelah kematian ayahnya ia mulai berkelana, menyebarkan ilmu dan mencari ilmu yang baru. Tempat pertama yang menjadi tujuannya setelah hari duka itu adalah Jurjan, sebuah kota di Timur Tengah. Di sinilah ia bertemu dengan seorang sastrawan dan ulama besar Abu Raihan Al-Biruni. Ia kemudian berguru kepada Al-Biruni.

Setelah itu Ibnu Sina melanjutkan lagi perjalanannya untuk menuntut ilmu. Rayy danHamadan adalah kota selanjutnya, sebuah kota dimana karyanya yang spektakularQanun fi Thib mulai ditulis. Di tempat ini pula Ibnu Sina banyak berjasa, terutama pada raja Hamadan. Seakan tak pernah lelah, ia melanjutkan lagi pengembaraannya, kali ini daerah Iran menjadi tujuannya. Di sepanjang jalan yang dilaluinya itu, banyak lahir karya-karya besar yang memberikan manfaat besar pada dunia ilmu kedokteran khususnya.

Tentu tak berlebihan bila Ibnu Sina mendapat julukan Bapak Kedokteran Dunia. Karena perkembangan dunia kedokteran awal tidak bisa terlepas dari nama besar Ibnu Sina. Ia juga banyak menyumbangkan karya-karya asli dalam dunia kedokteran. Dalam Qanun fi Thib misalnya, ia menulis ensiklopedia dengan jumlah jutaan item tentang pengobatan dan obat-obatan. Ia juga orang yang memperkenalkan penyembuhan secara sistematis, dan ini dijadikan rujukan selama tujuh abad lamanya.

Ibnu Sina pula yang mencatat dan menggambarkan anatomi tubuh manusia secara lengkap untuk pertama kalinya. Dan dari sana ia berkesimpulan bahwa, setiap bagian tubuh manusia, dari ujung rambut hingga ujung kaki kuku saling berhubungan.

Ia adalah orang yang pertama kali merumuskan, bahwa kesehatan fisik dan kesehatan jiwa berada kaitan dan saling mendukung. Lebih khusus lagi, ia mengenalkan dunia kedokteran pada ilmu yang sekarang diberi nama pathologydan farmasi, yang menjadi bagian penting dari ilmu kedokteran. Selain The Canon of Medicine, ada satu lagi kitab karya Ibnu Sina yang tak kalah dahsyatnya. Asy-Syifa, begitu judul kitab karya Ibnu Sina ini.

Sebuah kitab tentang cara-cara pengobatan sekaligus obatnya. Kitab ini di dunia ilmu kedokteran menjadi semacam ensiklopedia filosofi dunia kedokteran. Dalam bahasan latin, kitab ini di kenal dengan nama Sanati.

Ibnu Sina wafat pada tahun 428 H/1037 M di kota Hamdan, Iran. Beliau pergi setelah menyumbangkan banyak hal kepada khazanah keilmuan umat manusia. Hampir sebelas abad sudah Ibnu Sina meninggalkan kita, tapi ilmu dan karyanya sampai sekarang masih berguna.

Mendapat banyak gelar 
Kebesaran nama Ibnu Sina terlihat dari beberapa gelar yang diberikan orang kepadanya. Di bidang filsafat ia mendapat gelar asy-Syaikh ar-Rais (Guru Para Raja). Dalam bidang filsafat, ia memiliki pemikiran keagamaan yang mendalam. Pemahamannya mempengaruhi pandangan filsafatnya.

Ketajaman pemikiran dan keda -laman keyakinan keagamaannya seca ra simultan mewarnai alam pikirannya. Ibnu Rusyd menyebutnya sebagai seorang yang agamis dalam berfilsafat. Sementara Al-Ghazali menjulukinya sebagai filsuf yang terlalu banyak berpikir.

Seperti pendahulunya, al-Farabi (870-950 M), Ibnu Sina mengakui bahwa alam diciptakan secara emanasi (memancar dari Tuhan). Tuhan menciptakan alam dalam arti memancarkannya. Ia juga mengemuka kan pemikiran filsafat tentang jiwa (annafs) dan kenabian. Ibnu Sina berpendapat bahwa nabi adalah manusia terunggul dan pilihan Tuhan. Filsuf hanya dapat menerima ilham, sedangkan nabi menerima wahyu. Oleh karena itu, ajaran nabi harus menjadi pedoman hidup manusia.

Di bidang kedokteran ia mendapat julukan Pangeran Para Dokter dan Raja Obat. Banyak para pembesar negeri pada masa itu yang mengundangnya untuk memberikan pengobatan. Para pembesar negeri tersebut di antaranya Ratu Sayyidah serta Sultan Majdud dari Rayy, Syamsu Dawla dari Hamadan, dan Alaud Dawla dari Isfahan. Karenanya dalam dunia Islam, ia dianggap sebagai puncah atau Bapak ilmu kedokteran.

Bukan hanya dalam filsafat dan kedokteran saja Ibnu Sina memberikan andil dan pemikirannya. Ia juga turut serta ambil bagian dan memberikan andil pada berbagai ilmu pengetahuan pada zamannya, di antaranya yang menonjol adalah ilmu astronomi. Ibnu Sina menambahkan dalam bukunya al-Magest (buku tentang astronomi) berbagai problem yang belum dibahas, mengajukan beberapa keberatan Euclides, meragukan pandanganAristoteles tentang kesamaan bintang-bintang tak bergerak, kesamaan satuan jaraknya, dan sebagainya. Untuk itu di dalam buku Asy-Syifa, ia menguraikan bahwa bintang-bintang yang tak bergerak tidak berada pada satu globe.

Ibnu Sina juga banyak membuat rumusan-rumusan tentang pembentukan gunung-gunung, barang-barang tambang, di samping menghimpun berbagai analisis tentang fenomena atmosfer, seperti angin, awan, dan pelangi. Sementara orang yang sezaman dengannya tidak mampu menambahkan sesuatu ke dalam bidang penelitian mereka.

Sepanjang hayatnya, Ibnu Sina banyak menu lis berbagai macam karya yang berkaitan dengan bidang yang ditekuninya. Jumlahnya mencapai 250 karya, baik dalam bentuk buku maupun risalah.

Karya-karyanya itu antara lain :
Qanun fi Thib 
Kitab ini ditulis ketika ia menuntut ilmu di Rayy dan Hamadan. Qanun fi Thib yang dalam bahasa Inggris telah diterjemahkan dengan nama The Canon of Medicine, berisi tentang berbagai macam cara penyembuhan dan obat-obatan. Didalamnya tertulis jutaan item tentang pengobatan dan oabt-obatan. Karena itu, ada pula yang menamakan kitabnya ini sebagaiEnsiklopedia Pengobatan.

Al-Magest
Buku ini berkaitan dengan bidang astronomi. Diantara isinya, bantahan terhadap pandangan Euclides, serta meragukan pandangan Aristoteles yang menyamakan bintang-bintang tak bergerak. Menurutnya, bintang-bintang yang tak bergerak tidak berada dalam satu globe.

Asy-Syifa
Dalam buku Asy-Syifa ini, Ibnu Sina juga menuliskan tentang masalah penyakit dan pengobatan sekaligus obat yang dibutuhkan berkaitan dengan penyakit bersangkutan. Sama seperti Qanun fi Thib, kitab Asy-Syifa ini juga dikenal dalam dunia kedokteran sebagai Ensiklopedia filosofi dunia kedokteran. Kitab ini terdiri dari 18 jilid.

De Conglutineation Lagibum
Kitab ini ditulis dalam bahasa latin, yang membahas tentang masalah penciptaan alam. Diantaranya tentang asal nama gunung. Menurutnya, kemungkinan gunung tercipta karena dua sebab. Pertama, menggelembungnya kulit luar bumi lantaran goncangan hebat gempa. Dan kedua, karena proses air yang mencari jalan untuk mengalir. Proses itu mengakibatkan munculnya lembah-lembah bersama dan melahirkan penggelembungan pada permukaan

References:

1.  Edward G. Browne (1921) Arabian Medicine, London, Cambridge University Press.

2.  Ynez Viole O'Neill (1973) in Mcgraw-Hill Encyclopaedia of World Biography vol I: Aalto to Bizet.

3.  Philip K. Hitti (1970) History of the Arabs, 10th ed, London, Macmillan, pp 367-368

4.  M.A. Martin (1983) in The Genius of Arab Civilisation, 2nd ed, Edited by J.R. Hayes, London, Eurabia Puplishing, pp 196-7