He is Ala-al-Din Abu al-Hassan Ali Ibn Abi al-Hazm al-Qarshi
al-Dimashqi (known as Ibn Al-Nafis), a well-known Muslim physician in the
Arab world. Ibn Al Nafis was born in 1213 A.D_607 A.H. in Damascus.
He received his education at the Medical College Hospital (Bimaristan Al-Noori)
founded by Noor al-Din Al-Zanki. Ibn al-Nafis did not only study medicine,
he also learned jurisprudence, literature and theology. He thus became a
renowned expert on the Shafi'i School of Jurisprudence as well as a reputed
physician.
After acquiring his expertise in medicine and jurisprudence, Ibn Al-Nafis
moved to Egypt In 1236 and worked in Al-Nassri Hospital then in Al-Mansouri
Hospital, where he became chief of physicians and the Sultan's personal
physician. Before he died in 1288 A.D_678 A.H he donated his house, library
and clinic to the Mansuriya Hospital.
His major contribution was the discovery of the pulmonary circulation, which
was re-discovered by modern science after a lapse of three centuries. Ibn
Al-Nafis was the first to correctly describe the constitution of the lungs
and gave a description of the bronchi and the interaction between the human
body's vessels for air and blood. He also elaborated on the function of the
coronary arteries as suppliers of blood to the cardiac musculature.
‘Al-Shamil fi al-Tibb' is the most voluminous of his books, which was
designed to be an encyclopedia comprising 300 volumes, but was not completed
because of his death. The manuscript is available in Damascus. His book on
ophthalmology is largely an original contribution and is also extant.
His most famous book, however, was Mujaz al-Qanun (The Summary of Law) and a
number of commentaries that were written on this same topic. The
commentaries include one on Hippocrates' book, and several volumes on Ibn
Sina's ‘Qanun', which are still extant. Likewise he wrote a commentary on
Hunayn Ibn Ishaq's book. Another famous book embodying his original
contribution was on the effects of diet on health entitled ‘Kitab al-Mukhtar
fi al-Aghdhiya'.
Arab Discovery of the Pulmonary Circulation
It was commonly believed that the Discovery of Pulmonary Circulation, which
is the movement of blood from the right to the left ventricles of the heart
via the lungs, had its inception in Europe in the sixteenth century by
Servetus, Vesalius, Colombo, and finally Harvey. However later it was found
that 300 years before Servetus, Vesalius or Harvey were born, an eminent
physician of the thirteenth century: Ibn Al-Nafis explained correctly the
Pulmonary Circulation. This fact has been now recognized by many of the
historians but some people still try to argue the fact.
In 1924 an Egyptian physician, Dr. Muhyo Al-Deen Altawi, discovered a script
entitled, "Commentary on the Anatomy of Canon of Avicenna" in the Prussian
state library in Berlin while studying the history of Arab Medicine at the
medical faculty of Albert Ludwig's University in Germany. This script is
known as one of the best scientific books in which Ibn Al-Nafis covers in
details the topics of anatomy, pathology and physiology. This discovery
revealed an important scientific fact, which up to then had been ignored:
the first description of the pulmonary circulation.
The theory that was accepted before Ibn Al-Nafis was placed by Galen in the
second century, who had theorized that the blood reaching the right side of
the heart went through invisible pores in the cardiac septum to the left
side of the heart where it mixed with air to create spirit and was then
consequently distributed to the whole body. According to Galen's views, the
venous system was quite separate from the arterial system, except when they
came in contact through the unseen pores.
However, Ibn Al-Nafis, based on his knowledge in anatomy and scientific
thinking stated that:
"The blood from the right chamber of the heart must arrive
at the left chamber but there is no direct pathway between them. The thick
septum of the heart is not perforated and does not have visible pores as
some people thought or invisible pores as Galen thought. The blood from the
right chamber must flow through the vena arteriosa (pulmonary artery) to the
lungs, spread through its substances, be mingled there with air, pass
through the arteria venosa (pulmonary vein) to reach the left chamber of the
heart and there form the vital spirit..."
Elsewhere in his book he said:
"The heart has only two ventricles ...and between these
two there is absolutely no opening. Also dissection gives this lie to what
they said, as the septum between these two cavities is much thicker than
elsewhere. The benefit of this blood (that is in the right cavity) is to go
up to the lungs, mix with what is in the lungs of air, then pass through the
arteria venosa to the left cavity of the two cavities of the heart..."
In describing the anatomy of the lungs, Ibn Nafis stated:
"The lungs are composed of parts, one of which is the
bronchi, the second the branches of the arteria venosa and the third the
branches of the vena arteriosa, all of them connected by loose porous
flesh."
He then added:
"... The need of the lungs for the vena arteriosa is to
transport to it the blood that has been thinned and warmed in the heart, so
that what seeps through the pores of the branches of this vessel into the
alveoli of the lungs may mix with what there is of air therein and combine
with it, the resultant composite becoming fit to be spirit when this mixing
takes place in the left cavity of the heart. The mixture is carried to the
left cavity by the arteria venosa."
Another important contribution of Ibn Nafis that is rarely mentioned is his
postulation that the nutrition of the heart is extracted from the small
vessels passing through its wall, as he said:
"... Again his (Avicenna's) statement that the blood that
is in the right side is to nourish the heart is not true at all, for the
nourishment to the heart is from the blood that goes through the vessels
that permeate the body of the heart..."
Ibn Al-Nafis was thus the first to put forward the concept of the coronary
circulation.
Europe's Late Awakening
These important facts were not known in Europe until 300 years later when
Andrea Alpago of Belluno translated some of Ibn Al-Nafis' writings into
Latin in 1547. Later, Michael Servetus described the pulmonary circulation
in his theological book, "Christianismi Restitutio", in 1553 and wrote,
"...air mixed with blood is sent from the lungs to the heart through the
arterial vein; therefore, the mixture is made in the lungs. The bright color
is given to the sanguine spirit by the lungs, not by the heart."
Views of Some Modern Historians:
It may be useful to mention the views of a some of the modern historians who
reviewed the works of Ibn Nafis;
Max Meyrholf, a distinguished scholar of Arabic historical medicine, stated:
"... We have seen that Ibn Nafis, three centuries before
Colombo, had already noticed visible passages between the two types of
pulmonary vessels."
In the William Osler Medal Essay on the discovery of the pulmonary
circulation, Edward Coppola said
"...The theory of pulmonary circulation propounded by Ibn
Nafis in the 13th century was not forgotten and that centuries after his
death it may have influenced the direction of the anatomical investigations
of Colombo and Valverde, who finally announced it to the Western world as a
physiological fact susceptible to experimental proof."
Sheikh Abdulfattah Abu-Abdullah Adelabu (Ph. D. Damas),
a West African Islamic Academic founded AWQAF Africa, of
which he's the first al Amir (i.e. President).
Sheikh Dr. Adelabu was studying Postgraduate Degrees in
Damascus early 1990's during when Syria reviewed its
national security after an ‘Oslo Accord'...
Syria like many other countries around the world
witnessed, during this period, the flood of refugees
from war troubled nations like Somalia, arrival of
people from Algeria during the brutal struggling between
the Mujahidun and the government, resettlement of the
Palestinians fleeing from sophisticated guns of the
Israelis as well as adventure of African migrants for
reasons uncountable…
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