Muslim scientists made many important contributions to biology and medicine between the 8th and 15th centuries. Some of the most notable scientists included Jabir ibn Hayyan who introduced experimental chemistry and wrote about plants and animals, Al-Jahiz who wrote about animal behavior and migration, and Ibn al-Baitar who compiled a botanical encyclopedia listing over 1,400 plants. Other influential Muslim biologists were Al-Razi who made breakthroughs in infectious disease, Ibn al-Nafis who discovered the pulmonary circulation of blood decades before Western scientists, and Ibn Sina whose medical encyclopedia became a standard text for centuries. Overall, Muslim scientists during this period advanced the fields of biology, medicine,

2. Role Of Muslim
Scientist In
Biology

3. Role Of Muslim Scientist In
Biology
• Muslim scientists contributed a lot of knowledge in to the
science of biology and medicines from 8th
to 15th century.
• There have been hundreds of notable Muslim scientists who
have made contributions to civilization and to society by
furthering the development of science in the High Middle Ages.
• Some of the famous Muslim Scientist are:

9. Jabir Bin Hayan (721-815
AD)
• He was born in Iran
• He introduced experimental chemistry
• He wrote a numbers of books on plants and
animals
• Among these “Al-Nabatat” and “Al-Hayawan” are
note worthy

10. ABU USMAN UMAR ALJAHIZ
(776-868 Basra)
• He wrote famous book “Al Haywan” which
describe his own observation on animals,
such as the seasonal migration of fish river
Tigris,
• Similarly, he described the life system of an
ant

11. AL FARABI
(870-950AD)
• AL Farai was a biologist, lived in 870-950 AD
• He wrote two books “kitab ul Nabatat” and “Kitab
ul Haywanat”

12. Ibn UL Haitham
(965-1039)
• He was an ophthalmologist
• He corrected the Greek Concept of Vision
locating retina as the seat of vision
• His famous book is “Kitab ul Manazir” AND
“Mizanul Hikma’

13. Ibn al-Baitar
(1227-1248(21)
• The most credited botanist was Ibn al-Baitar.
• Kitab al-Jami fi al-Adwiya al- Mufrada, is one of the greatest
botanical compilations dealing with medicinal plants in Arabic.
• In his pharmaceutical encyclopedia, al-Baitar lists 1,400 plants, herbs, and
foods.
• Among 1,400 plants, 200 were discovered by him and he gave the proper
guidelines for their usage in medicine
• It enjoyed a high status among botanists up to the 16th century
• The book refers to the work of some 150 authors mostly Arabic, and it also
quotes about 20 early Greek scientists.
• It was translated into Latin and published in 1758.
• After his services, he was appointed as chief herbalist in Damascus in 1224
AD

14. Ibn al-Nafis
(1213- Dec 17-1288 ad)
• He was a renowned biologist of 13 century A.D
• He describe the circulation of blood in human body
• Ibn al-Nafis was a doctor and physician of Islamic Golden Age.
• Born in Damascus, Syria, in 1213 AD.
• He is famously known for his work on blood circulations
• He describe the right sided circulation, while William Harvey,
after 400 years, describe right sided circulation.
• Invention: Describe right sided pulmonary circulation.

15. Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi
(936-1013/1004.)
• Medical students, especially surgeons, may have heard his name before
because of his contribution in the field of medical.
• Al-Zahrawi was a Muslim surgeon born in Medina Azahara, modern day Spain.
• He was famous surgeon of medieval age in Europe
• He was famous for the removal of stone from Urinary Bladder
• He is best known for his original work on Surgical Encyclopedia Al-Tasrif, which
was consider as standard reference in medicine for 500 years.
• The encyclopedia is based on Zahrawi’s operations that he performed for
decades.
• Additionally, Al-Zahrawi is also an inventor of several surgical instruments like,
instrument for inspecting urethra and others. After serving medical for decades,
• Title: The Father of Modern Surgery.

16. Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi
(854-925 AD Iran)
• When it’s about medical, it’s about al-Razi. He is a very renowned doctor of medieval age.
• Beside medical, his contributions in chemistry are also remarkable.
• He has got many titles, like the world’s first best doctor, father of phycology (not modern
phycology), father of psychotherapy, and father of pediatrics.
• Furthermore, he wrote 200 books on various sciences in which half of them were on medical. His
work and treatises were the part of Western University curriculum.
• His book on medical – Kitab al-Mansouri – is among the only two most influential medical books of
medieval age, and interesting fact, both of them were written by him. Al-Razi’s another book – Kitab
al-Hāwī fī al-Tibb – is a comprehensive encyclopedia on medical, which gained success under the
Latin name Liber Continents.
• Have you ever been through smallpox and measles? Most probably, you have. Thanks to al-Razi, the
first person who identity the disease and gave most trustworthy treatment of that time.
• For his enormous contribution in medical field, he was honored the title “Doctor’s Doctor”. Indeed,
he was greatest Muslim scientist.
• His end was not justified, in later life al-Razi became blind because of the tortured. He was tortured
to not successfully convert base metals into precious metals like silver and gold.
• Finally, he died in in 925 or 935 in Ray, Iran.

17. Al-Kindi (801–873 AD)
Al-Kindi was born in Kufa and educated
in Baghdad
The Italian Renaissance scholar Gerolamo
Cardanol (1501–1575) considered him as one of
the twelve greatest minds
• There are more than thirty treatises attributed
to al-Kindi in the field of medicine,
• His most important work in this field is
probably De Gradibus, in which he demonstrates
the application of mathematics to medicine,
particularly in the field of pharmacology.
• According to Plinio Prioreschi, this was the first
attempt at serious quantification in medicine.

18. Bu Ali Sina (Avicenna)
(980-June 21-1037)
• Ibn-Sina (Latinized, Avicenna) born in Bukhara, present day
Uzbekistan, in 980 AD.
• Like Philosophy, Ibn-Sina contributed in the field of medicine
• He wrote many books on medicines, in which 40 survived
• He worked on the structure,function,disease of eyes
• He Described 130 disease of the eye in his book “Al Qanoon Fil
Tib’
• His medical encyclopedia – The Canon of Medicine – became
standard medical book in universities.
• His another encyclopedia (The Book of Healing) on philosophy
gained fame in medieval time.

19. Aziz Sancar
• Muslim Nobelist from Turkey
that won Nobel Prize in 2015 on
his work on DNA repair. Only
three Muslim scientists have
won Nobel Prize.
1. Aziz Sancar
2. Ahmed Zewali
3. Muhammad Abdus Salam