Welcome back to the Young Historians Corner, where we get to hear from rising historians. In this series, every story is dreamed up and written by students with a passion for the past.
This month, Amel is taking us on a journey to the Islamic Golden Age to meet one of history’s most incredible physicians. His name was Al Zahrawi, and he was considered the greatest surgeon of his time. Ready to learn more? Keep reading to uncover the fascinating story of this medieval surgeon.
Introducing…
AL ZAHRAWI:
BRILLIANT SURGEON OF THE MIDDLE AGES
By Amel H.
Age 14
You have to admit it’s scary imagining everything that surgery involves. Most of us are at least a little afraid of blood and being cut open. But surgery saves lives. Cesarean sections and appendectomies are two of the most common surgeries worldwide that save millions of lives every year. Of course, the science of surgery took a long time to be as advanced as it is today.
How did some of the first surgeons find the courage to advance this medical practice?
The first known surgery was a leg amputation over 30,000 years ago. Skulls from the Neolithic period, which was about 10,000 years ago, were found with holes drilled into them, which also suggests some kind of surgery. This could have been due to superstitions, assuming they were letting out evil spirits, but this procedure could have also helped with the treatment of headaches or epilepsy. We also know that in Hammurabi’s code of laws from the Babylonian period around 1750 BC, there were laws that regulated surgeons, but we don’t know much about what surgery was like. In c. 168 AD, we know that Galen, the physician of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, learned anatomy through the dissection of animals, but he did not understand how blood moved.
Portrait of the Greek physician Galen. Image from Wikimedia.
One of the most inspiring surgeons in history is Al Zahrawi, also known by his Latin name Albucasis. He is considered the greatest medieval surgeon of the Middle Ages. He was born during the Islamic Golden Age, when art, science, and commerce flourished (622–1258 AD). He lived in the Andalusia region of southern Spain from 936 to 1013 AD. In the 10th century, the city of Cordoba was the center of this flourishing. Al Zahrawi started his studies in this city, excelling in school and eventually becoming the court physician to the Caliph Al-Hakam II, where he found resources to further his studies even more.
Al Zahrawi was convinced that the most important thing to study was anatomy, and he devoted his life to this study.
His mastery of the subject played a role in his interest in surgery. He noticed that other physicians were practicing surgery without a proper understanding of the best procedures with anatomy in mind. To help solve this problem, he created a 30-volume medical encyclopedia with illustrated pictures of tools to be used in different operations, as well as how to perform each operation. All of this was written in beautiful Arabic script.
Left: Illustration of surgical devices from Al Zahrawi's book Kitab al-Tasrif. Right: Portrait of Al Zahrawi. Images from Wikimedia.
Al Zahrawi invented more than 200 surgical tools, including scalpels, pincers, specula, and forceps. He invented special tools for cesarean sections and the removal of eye cataracts. This book was the first illustrated surgical guide ever written, and it was translated into Latin in the 12th century and used in European Universities for 500 years after he wrote it. The text has influenced the advancement of surgery to this day.
He was one of the first surgeons to use anaesthetics to relieve pain during surgery. He did mastectomies on women with breast cancer and was the first to describe ectopic (abdominal) pregnancy. He also discovered that haemophilia (which interferes with blood clotting) was hereditary and that paralysis was often related to a fracture in the spine. His encyclopedia also describes how to ligature or tie off blood vessels so they stop bleeding. It also describes the use of cauterization, which is the burning of tissue to close it off to keep it from bleeding, but also to control infections at a time when antibiotics were not available.
Al Zahrawi was even the first to discover dissolvable stitches, which are practiced in modern surgery.
Catgut (made not from cat guts, fortunately, but the intestines of sheep or horses) is the only natural substance capable of dissolving that is tolerated by our bodies. It was first used in stringed instruments like the oud, which is an Arabic guitar-like instrument, similar to a lute. His pet monkey happened to eat some of these strings one day, and Al Zahrawi was worried that the monkey might die. But he realized that it didn’t hurt the monkey at all and, in fact, had dissolved in the monkey’s body, giving him the idea to use the material as dissolvable stitches.
Painting of Al Zahrawi, or Albucasis, blistering a patient in the hospital at Cordova. Image from Wikimedia.
Being a court physician gave Al Zahrawi access to the advanced knowledge and materials he needed to excel in medicine, but his careful attention, observation, and bravery made him known as a pioneer of medicine through new surgical methods. Equally as important, he was also known for his kindness. Al Zahrawi treated patients regardless of their financial or social status, including slaves. This compassion also gave him a huge amount of experience and practice with a wide variety of patients.
The time period was also known for social and cultural exchange between Muslims, Jews, and Christians, and the presence of female physicians who trained alongside their male counterparts.
During this Islamic Golden Age, the study of medicine flourished alongside math and science because scholars like Al Zahrawi believed studying anatomy would unlock mysteries of the universe. It wasn’t until Al Zahrawari that surgery began to be systematized, documented, and shared with others, for it to flourish as standard practice, saving thousands of lives in his time and beyond.
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