Get to know Ibn Sina 

by Abdul Syahid Dzulkafli, Pharmacist 

Ibn Sina ( ,)ابن سیناcommonly known as Avicenna in the West, was a Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, philosophers, and writers of the Islamic Golden Age and the father of early modern medicine. The Law of Medicine - al-Qānūn fī alالقانون في الطب (Ṭibb) is his most famous book and was used as a standard medical textbook through the 18th century in Europe. 

Ibn Sina, also known as Abu Ali AlHussein Ibn Abdullah Ibn Sina and often known in the West as Avicenna (980 – June 1037), was one of the most eminent Muslim physicians and philosophers of his days whose influence on Islamic and European medicine persisted for centuries. It is believed that he had written about 450 works; around 240 have survived, including 150 on philosophy and 40 on medicine. His most famous work is Kitab AI-Qanun fit Tibb (The Law of Medicine), a medical encyclopedia that became a standard medical text at many medieval universities and remained in use as late as 1650. The other book he wrote is Kitab AI- Shifa (The Book of Healing), a philosophical and scientific encyclopedia.

The Law of Medicine is his most celebrated book in medicine, summarising all the medical knowledge of his time. Ibn Sina wrote a complete section about kidney calculi, whereas 65 herbals, 8 animals and 4 mineral medicines are mentioned in the book as beneficial drugs for dissolving, expelling, and preventing kidney calculi. Ibn Sina introduced a very advanced drug design based on drug delivery, targeting the organ, deposition in the site of action, pain control, wound healing, clearance after action, and supporting the organ. Ibn Sina's ideas help scientists choose better drugs with a historical background to reduce the cost of therapies and research projects. The Law of Medicine contains over a million words that review the entire medical knowledge available from ancient and Muslim sources and his original contributions. It was the principal guide for medical science in the West from the twelfth to the seventeenth century. 

The Book of Healing is a scientific and philosophical encyclopedia written by Ibn Sina from medieval Persia, near Bukhara in Maverounnahr. He most likely began to compose the book in 1014, completed it around 1020, and published it in 1027. This work is Ibn Sina's major work on science and philosophy and is intended to "cure" or "heal" ignorance of the soul. Thus, despite its title, it is not concerned with medicine, in contrast to Avicenna's earlier The Law of Medicine (5 vols.), which is, in fact, medical. The book is divided into four parts (20 volumes): logic, natural sciences, mathematics (a quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music), and metaphysics. It was influenced by ancient Greek philosophers such as Aristotle, Hellenistic thinkers such as Ptolemy, and earlier Persian/Muslim scientists and philosophers, such as Al-Kindi (Alkindus), Al-Farabi (Alfarabi), and Al-Bīrūnī.