A thread on the Islamic Golden Age, a period of time where medicine, philosophy, geography and mathematics evolved, during 800- 1258 AD.

MEDICINE: To start off with this topic, the Prophet ﷺ said: “Make use of medical treatment, for Allah has not made a disease without appointing a remedy for it, with the exception of one disease: old age.”

People were keen to learn about the wisdom of other cultures, especially the Greco-Roman culture preserved in Egypt and the Near East. They sought to lay claim to the knowledge of philosophy, technology, and medicine, sometimes referred to as the “science of the ancients.”

Greek science became the basis for the development of Arabic medicine. The early theoretical basis of Islamic medicine drew on the Greek and Roman theory of humors, attributed to Hippocrates, in the 4th century BC.

The system of humors divides human fluids into four basic types: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. The balance between each one determines whether an individual is sick or well. Patients became depressed, for example, because of a surfeit of black bile.

Hence why Islamic medicine had so much emphasis on hygiene and diet because health could be restored by rebalancing them with diets and purges.

By the 900s, drawing from a growing body of Greek, Persian, and Sanskrit works translated into Arabic, Islamic medicine quickly became the most sophisticated in the world. Christians, Jews, Hindus, and scholars from many other traditions, looked to Arabic as a language of science

Al-Zahrawi invented a wide range of instruments: forceps, pincers, scalpels, catheters, cauteries, lancets, and specula. His recommendations on pain-reduction techniques, such as the use of very cold sponges, were followed by Western medics for centuries.

One of the most lasting contributions of Islam was the hospital. Funded by donations called waqf, public hospitals treated the sick, provided a place to convalesce and recover, housed the mentally ill, and provided shelter to the aged and infirm.

Study and education were also important components of Muslim medical culture, and hospitals affiliated with universities educated the next generation of physicians. Founded in the 12th century, the Syrian Al-Nuri Hospital in Damascus was one of the leading medical schools.