Moorish Medicine Health Care
Moorish Medicine Health Care Took into Account Multiple Factors
One phrase inspired Islamic medicine.
Allah had created a cure for every disease.
Moorish Health Care, aimed, to achieve a working conscious harmony - in body and spirit. Psychological aspects were considered equally important as physical symptoms. Based on the Mohammadian notion - a cure for every disease existed - not surprizingly, the early authors of Islamic Medicine were clerics, rather than doctors.
Medical Ethics
Every religion (irrespective of social status -
the rich and poor ) were treated equally in Birmanistan Islamic hospitals. Staff, too, were multicultural with Islamic, Christian and Jewish members.
Women also worked in Islamic hospitals as doctors, surgeons and nurses.
Medical ethics were of the highest nature: Ishaq bin Ali Rahawi wrote a twenty-chapter treatise called the Conduct of a Physician: Adab al-Tabib.
Ishaq bin Ali Rahawi considered doctors as "guardians of souls and bodies." The same ethics served in the curriculum in Moorish Medicine Education.
Uniform
Regulation attire for Doctors, was white. Their nails were to be short and clean. Moorish doctors
had to be genuinely caring about their patients. Doctors' behaviour towards patients was to be dignified and respectful - even if they were insulted and threatened for their work.
Moorish Medicine Health Care Pathology
Doctors meticulously studied their patients' lifestyles.
Text books listed illnesses in a head-to-feet order. Moorish Andalusian doctors' pathological assessments were similar to modern-day doctors' examinations.
Prevention
General Factors:
- Age of patient, the time of year: spring, summer, etc.
Patients were classified: hot, cold, dry or wet
- Lifestyle home conditions
- Diet and exercise
- Sexual habits, frequency - any sexual malfunctions
- Psychological states
- Types of clothing worn and general hygiene
Psychological Categories
- Sanguine
- Bilious
- Phlegmatic
- Choleric
Illness Categories
Fevers, epidemics, venomous bites, or matters requiring surgery.
Therapeutic Remedies
- Diet - see: the role of how three civiliztions contributed to What is the Mediterranean Diet?
- All Medications were classified under the hot, cold, wet or dry categories - and as such - used for different fever treatments
- Plant medications - simple medications prepared in diverse manners: Pills, electuaries, syrups, tablets, poultices, enemas, ointments, suppositories, dental pastes
- Compound medicines were more complex...
These were a blend of several simple medications which were combined with a thickening agent (i.e. Theriaca-antidote for snake bites or poisonous stings
- Or, Surgery
Theriaca Antidote preparation for venomous bites
Moorish Medicine Plant Medicines: Botany and Pharmacology
Certain plants were "known" for healing properties. Plant medicines were the prefered choice of medication. Each plant or plant-section: its leaves, fruit, flower, or roots etc, represented a pharmacological remedy for one individual illnesses.
First Botanical Garden of the al-Andalus
Cordova hosted "new plant acclimatization" in the Aljama Mezquita's garden. The oldest Moorish Garden was the
Patio de los Naranjos.
Abd ar-Rahman 1 ordered that new plant species - brought from Mesopotamian areas - were to be first acclimatized to the soil conditions of the al-Andalus. The Middle East's medicine cabinet was thus replicated. (Abd-ar-Rahman's descendants repeated "plant acclimatizations" in their respective royal gardens: Madinat az-Zahra and in the Alhambra-Granada-Spain-1 and Generalife royal gardens.)
Two Books that Profoundly Influenced Moorish Medicine
In 948 AD the Byzantianium Emperor sent Caliph Abd ar-Rahman 111 an illustrated copy of
Discorides's De Materia Medica.
Three men of three religions translated this work into Arabic: Hasdat Ibn Saprut (Jewish), Ibn Yulyul (Moslem), Nikolaeos (Christian).
Names of plants were extremely clear. No less than six languages had their corresponding translation for each species: Latin, Greek, Andalusian Arabic, classical Arabic, Berber and Romance.
In addition to Discorides' work, the translators, added more discoveries. The writings of Discorides laid the praxis cornerstone of al-Andalusian Moorish Medicine Health Care.
Discorides - De Materia Medica
De Materia Medica was written in the 1st century AD by the Greek phyisican Discorides. Over 600 plants were extensively studied alongside therapeutic minerals and the healing properties of animals.

Avicenna's
Canon on Medicine:
Kitab al-Qanun fi l-tibb and the work of Discorides were two of the most important medical books.
Discorides de Materia Medica
Museo de Ciencias, Granada, Andalucia
The need for Stability
Establishing political stabilty in
Moorish Spain, was a foremost issue. From the eight to the tenth centuries, some Visigoth medicine carried over, practised by specifically trained Monks (and some Mozarabs).
Opening Frontiers
The Islamic Translation Movement revolutionized scientific fields. The highest levels of Saracen culture (Syrian-Arabization) and its luxurious refinement became well established in the
al-Andalus by Emir Abd-ar-Rahman 11's rule. The Emir was an enthusiastic philanthropist. He widely influenced and promoted the study of all sciences, but especially, in Moorish Medicine Health Care.
Moorish Medical Savants
New Surgical Tools Albucasis
Museo de Ciencias, Granada Andalucia.
Abu al Qasim: Albucasis - the father of modern surgery – developed new medical instruments. Born in Zahara , Cordova 1013 - 1106 AD. Albucasis introduced the use of catgut in surgical-ligature. He introduced the forceps, the surgical needle, scalpel, the specula, surgical spoon, hook, rod and bone-saw, the curette, the retractor.
Albucasis's work in obstetrics introduced the caesearian. Cauterization was implemented, dentistry advanced, stones were removed from the bladder and the tracheotomy was untertaken by Albucasis.
Many of Albucasis's techniques in neurosurgery remain in use.
Book "Collection" : Altasarif
Attitude about Surgery in Europe during the lifetime of Albucasis
In Europe 1163 AD, many doctors were clerics. A lot of patients lost their lives to the barbers and charlatans of European Medieval medicine. The church declared, at the Council of Tours that "surgery and the study of surgery was to be abandoned by all schools of medicine and all decent physicians."
Ibn Sina: Avicenna - the father of modern medicine .
Born in the al-Andalus, late 10th century, Avicenna lived till he was 101. He introduced quarantine to stop the spread of infectious diseases. He was the father of Aromatherapy. He treated his patients gratis.
Books
Canon : compendium and summary of Greek-Islamic medicine. The Canon served the European medical world for over three hundred years.
Antidotarium : the base for drugs.
General inhalant anaesthetics were introduced by Avicenna soaking sponges with narcotic substances.
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