Medicine, surgery, and psychology—three things humans could not live without. Thanks to intelligent physicians and psychologists during the Arab Empire, people have much knowledge today that they would not have had without them. The Arab Empire existed from around the early 600s to the early 1200s (Pourshariati). It started, as all successful empires do, with a visionary leader. This leader was the Prophet Muhammad. After his death in 632, the Caliphate system of government was implemented. The Caliphs reigned until around 660 CE, when the Umayyad Dynasty took over. When the Umayyad Dynasty was overthrown, in 750 CE, the Abbasid Dynasty came into power and fell with the Empire circa 1258 CE. The Arab Empire left many lasting legacies, such …show more content…
These ideas had continuing effects on modern Western medicine and thought. Ancient Arab thoughts on medicine, surgery, and psychology have had a lasting impact on Western medicine today.
Avicenna was at the forefront of medical and scientific thought during the 10th Century. Avicenna, or Ibn Sina, was born in 980 CE to a father of high intellectual standing. Sina himself was extremely intelligent, and soon found a passion for medicine. At the age of 18, he cured a local royal of a serious sickness, earning him an elite reputation. He worked mostly at a traveling physician, only settling down in the years before his death in 1037. Avicenna’s most famous work was The Canon of Medicine, a multi-book series on everything pertaining to medicine and disease treatment. This work was imperative to the development of medical and scientific thought in both Islamic and Western cultures. (Sizgorich, …show more content…
Ali Ibn Sahl Rabban at-Tabari (838-870) was one of these people. He advocated for psychotherapy, and, according to Haque, "he was a pioneer in the field of child development," (361). Furthermore, he encouraged doctors to be "smart and witty" so that patients would have a speedier recovery. "People frequently feel sick due to delusive imagination, at-Tabari explained, but the competent doctor can treat them by 'wise counseling'. He relates the story of a practitioner who would ask his patient 'did you eat grapes or watermelon' during the season of such fruits. Such intuitive questions would win the rapport and confidence of the patient and would lead to a positive therapeutic outcome," (Haque 361.) This view is not unlike the common American saying of "Laughter is always the best medicine." At-Tabari clearly had some modern ideas about the practice of psychotherapy—ideas that are still in place today. Another forward-thinking psychologist was Abu Zaid al-Balkhi (850-934). Haque explains that "Abu Zaid al-Balkhi is probably the first cognitive and medical psychologist who was able to clearly differentiate between neuroses and psychoses, to classify neurotic disorders, and to show in detail how rational and spiritual cognitive therapies can be used to treat each one of his classified disorders," (362). Haque also explains that he sorted the neuroses disorders into four categories: