NewsLetter (1)  April 2002

Contents
Birth of ISHIM
Objective & By-Law of ISHIM
The Executive Council of ISHIM
Al-Razi
Publications
News
Forthcoming meetings
Members

Membership form

 

 

Birth of ISHIM

    Lastly the dreams become reality,,,

    There is a consensus among the historians of medicine that Islamic medicine has achieved its success in two fields:

    Firstly, Islamic Medicine preserved the Greek medical heritage and knowledge for more than ten centuries, by translating all Greek medical knowledge known at that time into Arabic. Without these translations the majority of Greek scientific heritage may have been lost.

    Secondly, development of medical knowledge by Muslim physicians during the Islamic civilization, a practice which spanned   for more than eight centuries in the Bimaristans (hospitals) which were widely distributed all over the Islamic world at that time.

    In spite of this it is well known that this heritage has not been adequately studied and not gained the appropriate credit for it's important contribution to the development of modern medicine or it's effect on the European renascence.    

    I have been the studying the history of Islamic medicine for more than fifteen years and after finishing my orthopedic specialty, I registered as a diplomat student in the history of medicine department, institute for the History of Arabic Science which belongs to Aleppo university. After having been awarded Ph.D. in history of medicine in 1993, I recognized that there was a great need to study the history of Islamic medicine at an international level, and should not be strictly at an individual level. This is how the idea of founding the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine  emerged.

    To achieve this, the first question was when and where the founding meeting could be held? This question was important, as it is not so easy to find a permanent headquarter for the society in addition to invite scholars interested in history of Islamic medicine from all over the world in order to hold the founding meeting.

     I had began the first step when I wrote to HE Dr. HajarA.Hajar Al-Binali, Minister of Health in Qatar, since then we have met each other on many occasions, the first was in Tehran in 1992 regarding the holding of the International Congress of History of Medicine in Islam and Iran. His reply was extremely positive, as his Excellency welcomed the idea and expressed his desire to be Doha the permanent headquarter of the society by holding the first meeting there. The next step was to nominate the scholars interested in taking part in this historical meeting.

    Well known scholars participated in the founding meeting and arrived from all over the world, from Qatar, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Bahrain, Egypt, Britain and the USA. The aims and the By-Laws were discussed and approved during the meetings, which lasted for two days. It was universally agreed by all participants that the meetings were surprisingly productive and fruitful, and what was achieved during two days expected to last months. This was because of the high spirit, which dominated all meetings, in addition to the hard working teams who were, behind the meeting room, preparing and editing all the proposals and decisions immediately.

    This was briefly the story of this society birth, looking forward to receiving support and help from our fellow scholars and researchers all over the world.

 

 

Abdul Nasser Kaadan, MD, Ph.D.

The Secretary General

 

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The main objectives of the society are:

1. Bringing to light the contributions of Arab and Muslim physician to the history of medicine and to promote public awareness of these contributions. This is to be achieved through encouraging more research and academic studies of earlier Islamic Medicine.
2. Establishment of a library, which will include an index and copies of old manuscripts in addition to recently published books about the history of Islamic Medicine.
3. Issuing a bi-annual journal for publishing researches and articles related to history of Islamic medicine. Also issuing a quarterly newsletter.
4. An international conference to be held every two years (the first meeting will be held in Istanbul in 2002).
5. Allocating a prize to be awarded every two years for the best work on the History of Islamic Medicine.
6. A museum for the History of Islamic Medicine is to be established in Doha.
7. Cooperation with other societies and organizations having similar purposes.

 

By-Law of the Society :

Article (1)

There shall be established hereunder, a Scientific Society in Doha - Qatar, called the "International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine" with the following purposes:
1. To promote public awareness of the contributions undertaken by scientists in the field of Islamic medical sciences.
2. To establish a library to include manuscripts and indexes of the old medical manuscripts, photocopies of such manuscripts in addition to the recently published books of relevance to the history of Islamic Medicine.
3. To issue a Journal twice a year for publishing researches and articles related to history of Islamic Medicine.
4. To convene International Meetings and Conferences every two years
5. To allocate a nominal prize to be awarded every two years to the best contribution to the history of Islamic Medicine.
6. Cooperation with other institutions/organizations having similar purposes.

Article (2)

The Society will be composed of Regular Members, Student members, and Honorary members. Regular member: Shall mean any person or individual, irrespective of nationality and religion, concerned with history of Islamic Medicine and whose membership is approved by the society's Executive Council and will pay the prescribed fees. He/she can vote/hold office. Student member : He/she can not vote or hold office.

Honorary member: Shall mean a person who has undertaken tremendous achievements in History of Islamic Medicine sphere or a person who has offered considerable financial contributions to support the Society's activities. Honorary members shall be designated by the Executive Council and awarded the Certificate of Honorary membership. He/she shall not vote or hold office.

Article (3)

Applications for membership shall be submitted to the Secretary General, and accompanied by a brief CV. Acceptance shall take effect after payment of US$ 25 fee. Student membership fees application must be accompanied by proof/letter that he/she is a student. Student membership shall be US$ 10.
The member will then receive a membership certificate. The Active member shall receive on a regular basis the Journal of the Society, news bulletin, and all publications related to the Society.
Membership shall be terminated under the following circumstances:
1) Official resignation.
2) Cessation of payment of membership fee.

Article (4)

The financial resources of the Association shall consist of:
1. Annual membership fees.
2. Donations offered to the association by organizations, agencies and individuals.
3. Other resources as may be approved by the Executive Council from time to time.

Article (5)

The Society will be run by an Executive Council of 9 members and composed of President, three (3) Vice Presidents, a Secretary General, a treasurer and 3 members for 2 years renewable. Members of the Executive Council shall be elected by the Administrative Council.

The Executive Council will be assisted by an Administrative Council composed of the Executive Council in addition to National Delegates. Each State will be represented by a member in Society's Administrative Council.

Article (6)

The President of the Society will be elected by the Administrative Council to a two-year term and shall not serve for more than two consecutive terms. Duties and responsibilities of the President shall be to represent the society in all conferences and meetings, to approve Agenda of the Executive Council, Administrative Council and General Assembly, and to Chair all meetings.

Article (7)

The Vice-Presidents shall be elected by the Administrative Council to a three years term. Their duties and responsibilities shall be to assume all duties and authority of the President in the latter's absence or otherwise by delegation by the President.
Quorum: The presence of 50% of the members of the Administrative Council and Executive Council shall constitute a quorum.

Voting: Voting by the Administrative Council may be made in person or can be submitted by post or e-mail.

Article (8)

The Secretary General will be elected by the Administrative Council to a 3-year term renewable for one time only.
The Secretary General shall be responsible for conduction of communication with all members of the Society as well as the other relevant associations, planning the Agenda of the meetings of the Executive Council and Administrative Council.

Article (9)

The Treasurer shall be elected by the Administrative Council to a 3-year term. He must have permanent office in Qatar, in which is the Society's headquarters. The duties and responsibilities of the Treasurer shall be to care for the Society's funds deposited in US$ in the Society's name in a Qatari Bank. Cheques must be signed by the Treasurer and the President or one of the Vice-Presidents. The Treasurer will submit to the Executive Council an annual report on the financial turnover.

Article (10)

The National Delegates shall be elected by members of the Society of their representative states. They must maintain on-going contacts with the General Secretary of the Society and report to him on the Society's activities in that particular country.

Article (11)

Meetings of the Executive Council shall be held in the headquarter once a year as scheduled by the President of the Society, whereas the Administrative Council shall meet once every two years in the course of the International Conference.

Article (12)

The Executive Council shall pass its decisions by a simple majority vote and in case of equality of votes the Chairman shall have a casting vote.

Article (13)

The meetings of the General Assembly (all members) will be chaired by the Society's President. Such a meeting will be held every two years in the course of the International Conference for the discussion of the Society's activities, and presentation of proposals, and suggestions made by the members.
During these meetings, an administrative report will be presented by the Secretary General and a financial report audited by an independent auditor to be submitted by the Treasurer.

Article (14)

The place and date of International Conferences will be determined by the Executive Council.

Article (15)

As this Society is formed only recently, this By-law is subject to modification by the Executive Council without referral to the General Assembly until this paragraph is nullified by the General Assembly.
 

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The executive council and the founding members of ISHIM :

Dr. HajarA.Hajar Al-Binali, Minister of Health in Qatar, Chairman.
Dr. Abdul Nasser Kaadan (Syria), Secretary General.
Dr. Mehdi Mohaghegh (Iran), First Vice-Chairman.
Dr. Husain Nagamia (USA), Second Vice-Chairman.
Dr. Nil Sari (Turkey), Third Vice-Chairman.
Dr. Sharif Kaf Al-Ghazal (England), member.
Dr. Mostafa Shehata (Egypt), member.
Dr. Faisal Latif Alnasir (Bahrain), member.
Mr. Ali Suwaidi (QATAR), (Treasurer).

The founding members of the society
Standing (from left):
Dr.H.Nagamia, Dr. A.N.Kaadan, Dr.S.Kaf Al-Ghazal, Dr.H.A.Hajar, Dr.F.L.Alnasir, Dr.M.Mohaghegh, Dr. M.Shehata
Sitting (from left):
Dr.N.Sari , Dr.R.Hajar

 

 

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Al-Razi  (Rhazes)
 (864 - 930 C.E.)

"The writings of Al-Razi on smallpox and measles show originality and accuracy, and his essay on infectious diseases was the first scientific treatise on the subject."  
The Bulletin of the World Health Organization (WHO), May 1970

Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Zakariya Ar-Razi was born at Ray near modern Tehran in 251 A.H. (864 C.E.) .

Because of his eagerness for knowledge, he became more interested in the study of alchemy and chemistry, philosophy, logic, mathematics and physics. It was the field of medicine that he spent most of his life, practicing it, studying and writing about it. Due to his fame in medicine he was appointed head of the physicians of the Ray Hospital, and later put in charge of the Baghdad main Hospital during the reign of the AdhuDullah.

An interesting episode of Al-Razi's remarkable method of choosing the right spot for the Baghdad main hospital is described as follows. When AdhuDullah asked Al-Razi to build a hospital, he had pieces of fresh meat placed at various parts of the city of Baghdad. Some time later, he checked each piece to find out which one was less rotten than the others, and he chose the spot of the least rotten pieces of meat a site for the hospital.

Ar-Razi was a pioneer in many areas of medicine and treatment and the health sciences in general. In particular, he was a pioneer in the fields of pediatrics, obstetrics and ophthalmology.

Some of his works in medicine, e.g., Kitab al-Mansoori, Al-Hawi, Kitab al-Mulooki and Kitab al-Judari wa al-Hasabah earned everlasting fame. A special feature of his medical system was that he greatly favored cures through correct and regulated food. This was combined with his emphasis on the influence of psychological factors on health. He also tried proposed remedies first on animals in order to evaluate in their effects and side effects. Ar-Razi was the first person to introduce the use of alcohol for medical purposes. He was also an expert surgeon and was the first to use opium for anaesthesia.

Ar-Razi was the first to give an account of the operation for the extraction of a cataract and also the first scientist to discuss the pupillary reaction or the widening and narrowing of the pupil of the eye. He explained that the reaction was due to the presence of small muscles which act according to the intensity of light. The current understanding on this subject confirms his work.

The greatest medical work of Ar-Razi (Rhazes), and perhaps the most extensive ever written by a medical man, is Al-Hawi, i.e., the "Comprehensive Book," which includes indeed Greek, Syrian, and early Arabic medical knowledge in their entirety. Throughout his life Ar-Razi must have collected extracts from all the books available to him on medicine. In his last years, he combined these with his medical experience into an enormous twenty volume medical encyclopedia. Al-Hawi was the largest medical encyclopedia composed by then.

It was translated into Latin under the auspices of Charles I of Anjou by the Sicilian Jewish physician, Faraj ibn Salim (Farragut) in 1279 and was repeatedly printed from 1488 onwards. Al-Hawi was known as 'Continens' in its Latin translation. "By 1542 there had appeared five editions of this vast and costly work, besides many more of various parts of it. Its influence on European medicine was thus very considerable." (The Legacy of Islam, pp. 323-5).

Kitab al-Mansoori, which was translated into Latin (known by the title 'Liber Almansoris') in the 1480s in Milan, comprised ten volumes and dealt exhaustively with Greco-Arab medicine. Some of its volumes have been published separately into German and French. The ninth volume of the translation made by Gerard of Cremona the "Nonus Al-Mansuri," was a popular text in Europe until the sixteenth century (Durant, p247).

His al-Judari wa al-Hasabah was the first treatise on smallpox and chickenpox, and is largely based on Razi's original contribution. It was first translated into Latin in 1565 and later into several European languages and went into forty editions between 1498 and 1866. It was translated into English by William A. Greenhill, London, 1848. Through his treatise Razi became the first to draw clear comparisons between smallpox and chickenpox.

Ar-Razi gave many valuable pieces of advice to practicing physicians: "A physician should not forget to ask his patient all sorts of questions pertaining to the possible causes of his illness, both internal and external....If a physician can treat a patient through nutrition rather than medicine he has done the best thing. A physician should always try to convince his patient of improvement and hope in the effectiveness of treatment, for the psychological state of the patient has a great effect on his physical condition. He used to advise his patients thus: "Whoever seeks treatment with too many physicians might suffer the risk of the faults of each one of them. A patient should restrict consultation to one trustworthy physician."

Ar-Razi was a prolific author, who has left monumental treatises on numerous subjects. He has more than two hundred outstanding scientific contributions to his credit, out of which about half deal with medicine and twenty-one on Alchemy. He also wrote on physics, mathematics, astronomy and optics, but these writings could not be preserved.

Al-Razi died in 930 C.E.  His portrait adorns the great hall of the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Paris.

 

 

 

   

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 Publications:

1- Zahrawi & Surgery. By Dr. AbdulNasser Kaadan.

2- Treatment of fractures in Islamic Medicine. By Dr.A.N.Kaadan.

3- A history of Medicine ( 5 volumes) , by Dr.Plinio Prioreschi

 

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The ISHIM Journal :

ISHIM will publish its  journal JISHIM twice a year and the first issue of the journal will be published in the very near future . The Editorial Board of the journal consists of :

Chairman of Editorial Board:

Dr. Hajar A. Hajar (Qatar)

Editors in chief:
Dr. Aysegül Demirhan Erdemir (Turkey)
Dr. Abdul Nasser Kaadan (Syria)

Associate Editors:

Dr. Sahin Aksoy (Turkey)
Dr. Sharif Kaf Al-Ghazal (England)

Editorial Board:

News/Document of Ibn Sina Academy

IBN SINA ACADEMY OF MEDIEVAL MEDICINE & SCIENCES
Abu Ali Ibn Sina is a well-known personality among the physicians of Islamic (Unani) Medicine since medieval times. To commemorate and also to
institutionalize, an academy namely Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine & Sciences, was founded on March 1, 2000 in India. It was later on registered under Indian Trusts Act, 1882. The academy is presently working as a non-governmental, non-political and non-profit organization with multiple aims and objectives. Apart from various aims, the primary objective of this academy is to promote research studies in the works of physicians and scientists - particularly Ibn Sina and his contemporaries - belonging to medieval period and to encourage and sponsor original research in the fields of history of Unani medicine and history of sciences. To establish dialogue between different theories concerning useful knowledge including the diverse prevalent systems of medical sciences, methodologies and philosophies; and to strive for bringing about adjustment, integration and synthesis and to organize / sponsor educational programmes, seminars, symposia, workshops and conferences as well as to promote academic work of all kinds in order to advance and develop the medical science. During the year 2001, the academy organised 5 guest lectures, successfully published 3 Numbers of the Newsletter. The academy has also to its credit 3 published books on history of medicine and sciences after its inauguration (April 20, 2001). To achieve more goals, the academy signed the  the MoU with the following organizations:
1. Ibn Sînâ Institute of Tibb, Johannesburg, South Africa
2. The Great Ibn Sînâ Council, Dhaka, Bangladesh
3. International Ibn Sînâ Foundation, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

The academy requests like minded researchers to contribute their news and related material for the quarterly newsletter of Ibn Sina Academy.

ZILLUR RAHMAN LIBRARY
Professor H. S. Zillur Rahman established his personal library-cum-museum, now part of IAMMS Trust (http://www.ibnsinaacademy.com). It owns one of the most precious and highly valuable collection of books, special periodical numbers, manuscripts, paintings, postal stamps, coins and specimens of oriental calligraphy. It consists of over 400 manuscripts, several thousand books in Arabic, Persian, Urdu and English on a variety of subjects, particularly, Aligarh Heritage, Ghalibiat, Religion, Tibb and History, besides thousands of bound volumes of periodicals. There are around 105 Ghalib Numbers. Books on Aligarh heritage cover a precious collection of publications on Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and Aligarh Movement. Most of the manuscripts are very rare and matchless and cannot be found in any other library of the world. Some of them, especially the copies of the Holy Quran are highly beautiful specimens of the art of calligraphy of antiquated scripts. Some of the illuminated copies of the Holy Quran having beautiful
frontispieces and embellish borders are so alluring, and eye-catching that any one who looks at them is dazzled, lost in astonishment and stands
spell-bound gazing at them in wonder. The library-cum-museum also possesses a large collection of postal stamps, coins, sculptures, old pens and many other important memoirs of prominent personalities.

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Forthcoming meetings:

 

38th International Congress on the History of Medicine
Istanbul (TURKEY)

September 1-6, 2002

Contact Addresss:

1- Prof. Dr. Nil Sari (email  nilasari@istanbul.edu.tr )
Fax: + 90 212 586 15 09
2- Dr. Y. Ulman (email  yesimul@yahoo.com )
Fax: + 90 212 529 03 6


 

7th  Meeting of the International Society for the History of the Neurosciences (ISHN)
Los Angelos - California (USA)

June 1-5 , 2002
For more information please visit the site  http://www.ishn.org

 

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Members

 

 
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Application for Membership of (ISHIM)

      o Regular member ($25 or QR 95) عضو منتظم  (25 دولار أميركي أو 95 ريال قطري)     o
        o Student member ($10 or  QR36.50) عضوية الطلاب (10 دولارات أو 36,5 ريال قطري) o