Al-Razi made contributions to the field of medicine, chemistry and philosophy and have written 184 books and articles in various field. He practiced medicine for over 35 years and his medical commentaries contributed mainly to the fields of ophthalmology, obstetrics and gynecology. He also wrote in other subjects, such as physics, mathematics, astronomy and optics.
He travel intensively and rendered service to several princes and rules, especially in Baghdad, where his laboratory was located. Al-Razi only started studied medicine at the age of thirty. He did chemistry experiment until he got eye disease, obliging him to search for physicians to cure. He took up study in medicine after first visit to Baghdad.
Al-Razi became Director of Rayy hospital during the reign of Mansur ibn Ishaq, Governor of Rayy. To this ruler, al-Razi dedicated two books, al-Almansuri fi’l Tibb and al-Tibb alRuhani. These were intended to unite the study of disease of the body with those of the soul.
Having achieved fame in al-Rayy, al-Razi returned to Baghdad to become head of its newly founded hospital, Muqtadari Hospital, named after its founder the Abbasid caliph al-Mu’tadid. A special feature of his medical system was that he encouraged cure through healthy and regulated food. This method was combined with his emphasis on the influence of psychological factors on health. Razi was an expert surgeon, and was the first to use opium as anesthesia.
The last year of his life were spent in Rayy where he suffered from glaucoma and died in AD 925.
The most sought after of all his composition was The Comprehensive Book of Medicine. It is a large private note book into which he placed extracts from earlier authors regarding disease and therapy and also recorded clinical cases of his own experience.
The last work known as Comprehensive Book of Medicine was translated into Latin in 1279 under the title Continens by Faraj ben Salim. The book offers pathological descriptions of and remedies for colic, psychiatric disorders, skin disease, kidney stones and bladder infection.
Another book ‘Book of Medicine Dedicated to Mansur’ was translated to into Latin by Gerard of Cremona and was known as Liber ad Almansoris. It became one of the most widely read medieval medical manuals in Europe.
Al-Razi stands out among Islamic philosophers for his ethics and his metaphysical and physical doctrines, although he did not ignore logic (in Aristotelian terms, philosophy’s indispensible implement).
Abū Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi (Rhazes)
