AL ASHARI SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY

 *Ibn Sina*

*Name*: Ibn Sina, Ibn Sina al-Haqq  

*Born*: Bukhara  

*Died*: Emirates  

*Full name*: Abu Ali Abdullah Sharaf al-Mulk Hujjat al-Sheikh al-Rais Bu Ali Sina  

*Born*: 980 CE, Afshana, Peshkunsky, Samanid Empire  

*Died*: June 1037 (age 56–57), Hamadan, Kakuyid  

*Era*: Islamic Golden Age, Samanid Empire, Ziyarid Tabaristan  

*Field*: Medicine  

*Main interests*: Aromatherapy, philosophy and logic, Kalam [Islamic theology], science, poetry  

*Major works*: _The Book of Healing_, _The Canon of Medicine_

Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abdullah ibn Sina  

When a drug is introduced to the market today, it has to pass many clinical trials to prove it actually cures a disease. But long ago, doctors prescribed medicines based on hearsay or even imagination. So who changed all that? The father of modern medicine, Ibn Sina, lived in Persia from 980 CE to 1037 CE. He wrote nearly a hundred books in his lifetime. 

_The Canon of Medicine_ is the most famous of them, running into fourteen volumes. It describes the organs of the body, various types of diseases, methods to prevent the spread of diseases, and the use of simple and compound drugs. This comprehensive book remained the most important medical text in Europe and the Arab world until the 18th century. 

The book laid out principles for testing a new drug:  

1. It must be pure.  

2. You must know exactly when it works, like morning or night.  

He was also considered a great poet. Avicennism, as European scholars call his philosophy, emphasizes that knowledge comes from observation and experiment, and it rejects magic and miracles.

*Life of Ibn Sina*  

He was born in 980 in Afshana, a town that is now in Uzbekistan. At age 10 he went to school in the great city of Bukhara. By fourteen, he had learned everything that could be learned there. His curiosity pushed him to gain knowledge outside school. He learned Indian mathematics from a grocer and practical medicine from a wandering physician. 

By eighteen he was a qualified physician himself. His skill proved vital in 997 when the Emir of Bukhara became dangerously ill. But later, war and politics made his life very turbulent. When the ruling dynasty of Bukhara fell in 1007, Ibn Sina had to flee. After wandering for a long time, he settled in Ray in Persia, where he wrote thirty of his books. Later he went to Hamadan, where he served as vizier and physician to the emir there.

*Rationalist and Polymath*  

Ibn Sina was a scholar of many sciences. He wrote _The Book of Healing_, which set out many principles of physics and geology. He wrote that mountains are formed by folds in the earth’s crust, like the Himalayas, not by divine magic. For this he is also called the father of geology. 

He wrote four books refuting alchemy, following Ibn Hayyan and al-Kindi. He also invented the refrigerated coil, which is important for distillation. 

He wrote books on philosophy, psychology, engineering, astronomy, and theology. He is also regarded as a great poet.