Abu al-Hasan Ali Ibn Sahl Rabbani al-Tabari : A visionary

Guest author

Birjis Fatma

Ajmal Khan Tibbiya College

Aligarh

India

Introduction:

By 2020 India is projected to become second overall in the world with respect to the number of individuals having glaucoma. In 2010 more than 60 million people worldwide were suspected of suffering from glaucoma. This number is projected to increase to nearly 80 million by 2020. Nearly 8.4 million people were blind due to this disease in 2010 and model calculations estimate the number of those who will become bilaterally blind from glaucoma to increase to more than 11 million by 2020. 

Glaucoma is a disease known to mankind since antiquity. The term glaucoma is derived from the Greek word “glaukos” (greenish or bluish hue of the pupil). Hippocrates, in his aphorisms believed to be presented in 400 BC, used the term to describe “a kind of blindness which came with aging and was associated with a glazed look of the pupil”. However, when we critically analyze the definition of “glaukos” we can conclude that this glazed look of the pupil could be due to glaucoma but equally well possible from cataract. 

Life history of Al-Tabari:

For many years ophthalmology, like other branches of medicine, languished during the Dark Ages. Finally, in the 11th century AD, an Islamic scholar, Abu al-Hasan Ali Ibn Sahl Rabbani al-Tabari, demystified glaucoma and presented succinct clinical features which form the basis of this disease till today. This article sheds some light on this doyen of Medieval Islamic medicine. 

Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, a doctor’s zeal to treat is fueled by his spiritual core. This spiritual strength develops by devotion and concentration towards one’s field. A legendary figure who epitomizes the balance between spirituality and medicine is the great physician Al-Tabari. His contributions have left an indelible footprint in the history of medicine. His writings are a treasure which cannot be estimated for their value. His work has illuminated the world like the warm rays of the winter sun. 

Al-Tabari was born in the 8th or 9th century (usually mentioned as 838 but also 810, 808 or 783 AD) in an influential Syriac family of Merv in present day Turkmenistan. In his book Al-Radd ala al-Nasara, he wrote that he was Christian until the age of 70 and then converted to Islam. He has mentioned this in another book: Kitab-al-din wa-al-dawla. His father Sahl Ibn Bishr was a state official, highly educated and a well respected member of the Syriac community. It is mentioned that Al-Tabari’s father was a physician whose pre-eminence earned him the Syriac title of “Rabbān” which translates to “Our Master” or “Our teacher”. Sahl was the first translator of Ptolemy’s Almagest into Arabic (800). His uncle Abu Zakkār Yahyā Bin Al-Nuumaan was also a distinguished scholar and a leader of the Syriac society. 

At 10 years of age Al-Tabari accompanied his family to Tabristan (hence the suffix Al-Tabari). His early youth was spent in that region studying philosophy, medicine, religious and other aspects of natural sciences. On completing his education he subsequently moved to Iraq in 813, around the age of 30 years. In 825 he returned to Tabarīstān and became royal scribe of the Governor Māzyār Bin Qārin. He also started writing his treatise Firdaus al-Hikma (Paradise of Wisdom) at this time.

Later Māzyār was executed and Al-Tabari went back to Iraq. In Samarra he completed the Firdaus al-Hikma around 850 AD. While he was in Iraq,the Abbasid caliph Al-Mu’tasim appointed him as his divan scribe. Al-Tabari continued to work there until the death of the Caliph, upon which he returned to Samarra.

During the reign of the new Caliph al-Mutawakkil (847-861) Al-Tabari joined the court service again as a physician and courtier. Under the Caliph’s patronage Al-Tabari embraced Islam around the period of 849-850. The Caliph gave him the title of Mawla Amir Al-Muminin. Just like his birth, it is not clear in which year and at what place did Al-Tabari pass away. It is conjectured to be around 864 AD.

Works: 

Al-Tabari wrote a large number of books, the exact number is unknown as some his works are no more extant. Some of his famous works include the following:

Kitab al-Ain fi al-Mualajaat (The book on Ophthalmology treatments): An enormous treatise exclusively on ophthalmology. In his own words “I have authored a distinct book completely and exclusively on ophthalmology in which I have mentioned all ocular diseases including important and unimportant, each for each temper”. Unfortunately, this book is lost.

Firdaus al-hikma (Paradise of wisdom), also known as al-Kunnāsh al-hadra, it incorporated Syriac, Greek and Indian medical systems and compendiums to form the World’s first Medical Encyclopaedia. In Book 3 (Chapter 12) of Part IV, he described ocular anatomy and diseases. 

Firdaus Al-Hikma

Al-Mu’alajat al-Buqratiya (The Hippocratic Treatments) an important book, which also deals with ophthalmology. He devoted the 4th article of the book on “Ocular diseases and their categories, benefits, creation and treatments”. In this book he mentioned “Migraine of Eye” (shaqiqat al-ayn). The condition was characterized by eye pain, a pressure sensation, opacification of ocular fluids and a dilated pupil. Apparently, this was the first reference of raised intra-ocular pressure in glaucoma. He also described 2 novel types of “ramad” (conjunctivitis). 

He also wrote: Maqala fi tib al-ain (A paper on Ophthalmology). A copy of this is presumably present in Aleppo Library in Syria.

In the Firdaus-al-Hikmat he also described the Islamic codes of ethics as personal characters of the physician which are very much contemporaneous in this era of moral degradation. This code of ethics describe the physicians obligations towards his patients, community, colleagues and assistants.

In conclusion, Al-Tabari was a visionary medieval physician who used his teachings and works to spread his extensive knowledge regarding medicine in general and ophthalmology in particular.