The Canon of Medicine (al-Qanun fi al-Tibb) by Avicenna

The Canon of Medicine with original title is “Qanun" which translates to The Law of Medicine is a 14-volume Persian medical encyclopedia written by Avicenna.

Completed in 1025 AD, it served as a foundation for medical teaching for over 700 years.

Written in Arabic, the book was based on a combination of his own personal experience, medieval Islamic medicine, the writings of the Greek physician Galen, the Indian physicians Sushruta and Charaka, and ancient Arabian and Persian medicine.

Composed in five long volumes totaling on million words, the Canon drew together all of the medical knowledge that existed in the world up to his time, which he refined and codified into science of medicine. 

The Canon of Medicine became a reference source and the principal authority for medical studies in the universities of Europe and Asia from the 12th century.

Canon of Medicine remained a medical authority up until the 18th century and early 19th century. It set the standards for medicine in Europe and the Islamic world, and is Avicenna's most renowned written work.

The principles of medicine described by him ten centuries ago in this book, are still taught at UCLA and Yale University, among others, as part of the history of medicine.

Who is Avicenna? Also known as Hakim Ibn Sina, he is more commonly known in the west as Avicenna. He was a court physician to a succession of caliphs, and this eminent position enhanced his authority. Besides medical writings he made significant contributions to geology in his theory of the formation of mountains.

Avicenna is known as the father of early modern medicine. He practiced evidence-based medicine and helped elucidate the contagious nature of infectious disease, introducing the concept of quarantine to control outbreaks of infections.

It was translated into Latin toward the end of 12th century AD by Gerard of Cremona, Dominicus Gundissalinus and John A vendeath.

The improved version was published in Venice in 1527 and reprinted more than 30 times in the 15th and 16th centuries. There are more than 50 complete or partial copies of the Qanun, and manuscripts of the many later commentaries on it are even more numerous. It has been observed that probably no other medical work ever written has been so much studied.

The Canon of Medicine is considered by many to represent the first pharmacopeia, including more than 600 medicinal, chemicals and physical properties and details of their implementation.
The Canon of Medicine (al-Qanun fi al-Tibb) by Avicenna