İbn-i Nefis

The versatile scientist, philosopher (B. 1210, Kaş / Turkestan – D. 1288, Zilkade / Egypt). His full name was Alaaddin Ebu’l-A’lâ Ali ibn Ebi’l-Hazm el-Kureşî ed-Dımeşkî. İbn-i Nefis, who had works in many different branches of science was a physiologist, psychologist, astronomer and a cosmologist at the same time. In addition to these, İbn-i Nefis, who had many works in the social and natural sciences, was also muhaddis (who was engaged with the science of Hadith), Shafii (sect) lawyer, philosopher, logician, sociologist, novelist, science fiction author, grammarian, linguist and historian.

İbn-i Nefis, who knew the high sciences in Shafii sect, learnt the science of medicine from İbn-üd-Dahvân in the hospital that was founded by Nureddin Zengî in Damascus in the 7^th century. Then, he went to and settled in Egypt when invited by the Sultan of Ayyubid Melik Kâmil. He educated many students by working as the chief physician and director firstly in Nasırî, then in Mansurî hospitals. In addition, he gave lectures on the Islamic law of Shafii sect in Mansuriyye Madrasah of Cairo. İbn-i Nefis, who was famous around the world of medicine of Islamic world, presented an outstanding example of management and medical profession that has been unprecedented for centuries. Especially in that era, there was no one similar to him in the science of medicine. He left Avicenna also far behind in medications.

İbn-i Nefis spent a large part of his life with medical research. He worked to make this science progress theoretically and practically. Firstly he focused his works on anatomy by taking cognizance of the similarity of systems in between human and animal body. He achieved certain conclusions regarding to anatomy as a result of his studies on animals.             He opened new horizons regarding to the human body and its structure with comparative anatomy studies.

İbn-i Nefis was noted as the first discoverer of capillaries and coronary circulation along with “pulmonary circulation”. They form the basis of the circulatory system. Thus, he was seen as the father of the circulatory physiology and "The greatest physiologist of the Middle Ages" due to these discoveries he made. In addition, he is one of the early proponents of experimental medicine, postmortem autopsy (after death), and human dissection (cutting and organ extraction techniques). İbn-i Nefis, who was the first person that defines the concept of metabolism, developed the new physiology, anatomy, psychology, and pulse systems which were separated from the anatomical and medical systems of Avicenna and Galen. He didn’t give place to the various errors proposed or accepted by his predecessors in these systems and used various diagrams, figures in order to describe body parts in the new physiological system.

İbn-i Nefis, who was one of the famous physicians of the 13^th century, wrote a book titled as “Anatomi Kısmı İçin Açıklama” (T.N. Explanation for the Anatomy Section ) for the book of Avicenna titled as “Kanun” and contested the views of Galenos on the blood stream.

Galenos was thinking that there were holes in the wall between the left and right ventricle of the heart and the blood passes from the right to the left side. İbn-i Nefis identified that there were no visible or invisible holes in the wall between the right and left ventricle as a result of the investigations he had made. Accordingly, the blood that arrived to the right side of the hearth was required to arrive to the left side of the heart after going to and cleaning in the lungs, which we call small blood circulation.

The “Anatomi Kısmı İçin Açıklama” work of İbn-i Nefis was known in the Islamic world and the Ottoman Empire, but they didn’t notice that he made a significant discovery. Later, the small blood circulation was rediscovered by Michael Servetus (1511-53) and Realdo Colombus (1516-59) in the 16^th century. Servetus, who knew Arabic and Latin, probably learnt his knowledge of small blood circulation that he published in his religious work “Restatement of Christianity” from the books of İbn-i Nefis which were published in Arabic and Latin in Europe. Colombus was giving the medicine courses in Padua; he should have learned the small blood circulation from this book, when the Latin copy of the work of İbn-i Nefis was published in Italy (1547).

İbn-i Nefis was a good observer as can be understood from the above discovery. He was particularly interested in infectious diseases and gave satisfactory explanations for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases which were undetermined until then. These include vitiligo (the white spots seen as the result of the loss of pigment in the skin) and some skin diseases.

İbn-i Nefis clarified the structure of eye and vision by review as close to their modern meaning. According to him, the eye organ was the device of vision and the eye itself did not see. Visual experience, in fact occurred with the detection of the visions formed in the eye by the understanding part of the brain and which arrived to the brain through the nerves.  The eye itself did not move, it moved through the nerves that it was connected. The two nerves carrying the image from the eye were combined in the brain. İbn-i Nefis who also examined the eye diseases, reported the treatment procedures and medication of inflammation. He was using fresh and natural foods as medicines rather than using chemical substances.

In addition to his contributions to medical science, he wrote the books in the subject of Islamic religious sciences. Especially his book “Muhtasar fî İlm-i Usûl el-Hadîs” (A Brief Description of the Procedure of Hadith) which he wrote in the science of hadith, was important, he introduced a more rational and logical classification for hadith science in his book. In addition, he produced Arabic literary works, and contributed to the fictional literature. The most significant of them is “er-Risaletü’l-Kâmiliyye fi’s-sîreti’n-nebeviyye” (Theologus Autodidactus). The book addresses process of a child reaching puberty. İbn Nefis presented various religious, philosophical and scientific themes and his ideas by using the basic causes of his book.

İbn Nefis, who was a great scientist of medicine of his era, mostly researched the factors that affected the human organism. He focused on the main causes of the diseases rather than the treatments. He was also one of the founders of orthopedics branch. İbn-i Nefis, who also produced valuable works in fiqh styles and logic along with medicine, wrote his works in medicine subject himself and had not referred to other works since he knows the subtlety of the sciences he was engaged. His most important work is “El-Mûciz”. The first section of this work that consists of four main sections is about the scientific and functional, in other words the theoretical-practical rules and procedures of medicine science. The second section is about the regulation and medical definition of drugs and food products. The third section is about the diagnosis and treatment of diseases that can be seen in the human body; the fourth chapter is about the diseases that are not particular to certain organs their diagnosis and treatment. The work was published for the first time in Calcutta in 1828.

WORKS:       

Eş-Şâmil fit-Tıb (He could only complete the eighty volumes of the work which had he planned as three hundred), Kitâb-ül-Mühezzeb fil-Kuhl (About eye diseases), Şerh-ut-Tenbîh liş-Şîrâzî fi fürû-il-Fıkh-ış-Şâfiî (The annotation of the work Tenbih written by Şîrâzî.), El-Muhtâr fil-Egdiye, Şerhu Fusûli Hipokrat (The annotation of the work he wrote for the Fusûl of Hippocrates), Şerh-ut-Takaddüm li Mâ’rifeti Hipokrat (The annotation of the work of Hippocrates on infectious diseases), Şerh-ul-Hidâye fit-Tıb li-İbn-i Sînâ, Şerhu Tasrîh-ul-Kânûn (Anatomy), Şerhu Kânûnî İbn-i Sînâ, El-Mûciz, Tefsîr-ul-İlel ve Esbâb-ul-Emrâz (The diagnosis and treatment of diseases.), El-Verakât fil-Mantık, El-Muhtas fî İlm-il-Usûl-il-Hadîs (A work that explains the principles of the hadith science), Kitâbun fir-Remed (About eye diseases), Kitâbun fit-Ta’lîk alâ Kitâb-il-Evbieti li Hipokrat, Tarîk-ul-Fesâhati, Buğyet-üt-Tâlibîn vel-Huccet-ül-Müteabbibîn, Şerh-ul-Külliyât, Er-Risâlet-ül-Kâmiliyye fis-Sîretin Nebeviye (The life of Hz. Muhammad), Kitâbun fit-Tevhîd (About akâid and kalam sciences).

REFERENCE: Prof. Dr. Esin Kâhya / “İbn Nefis ve Eseri, El-Mucez” (Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Felsefe Bölümü Dergisi Cilt: 14 Sayfa: 189-200, 1992), İhsan Işık / Ünlü Devlet Adamları (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 1, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013).