Ibn Al Thahabi:
Brief description about Ibn Al Thahabi:
Shaikh Abu Mohammed Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Azdi Al-Sohari (also know as Ibn Al-Thahabi); a Physician, Doctor and Scholar.
Author of Kitab Al-Ma’a (The Book of Water); The first medical encyclopedia in the world’s history.
He was born in Sohar; Oman’s metropolis by that time. Then, he moved to Basra and then to Caucasus; where he met the great scientists; Al-Biruni and Avicenna, and deeply studied physics and medicine. He was considered to be among the first who enriched Al-Biruni’s library in Tashkent.
He escorted Avicenna; a scholar, doctor and philosopher, in his scientific and therapy trips. He was one of those who contributed in dealing with Plague, which was widely spread in Caucasus by that time; where Avicenna was seen as a scientific reference in
medicine. After he became well versed in the sciences he studied, he moved to Jerusalem; where he practiced and taught medicine and followed in succession compiling and inscribing his book, in which he introduced plenty of plants and medications from the Levant. Then, he moved to Valencia in Al-Andalus, where he proceeded in inscribing the first specialized encyclopedia which he named Kitab Al-Ma’a (The Book of Water). He continued to practice and teach medicine in Valencia until he died there in 456 after Hijra /1068 AD.
Kitab Al-Ma’a (The Book of Water)
The first medical and linguistic encyclopedia in the history
Author: Abu Mohammed Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Azdi Al-Sohari (Ibn Al-Thahabi)Kitab Al-Ma’a
It was written by Shaikh Ibn Al-Thahabi; a physician, doctor and scholar, who completed it in 440 after Hijra. It is considered to be the first book that compiles diseases and medications used to cure them in a unique form and in an alphabetical order.
It includes names of medications and herbal medicines, their benefits and the diseases they cure in an alphabetical order, taking into consideration human body organs and their location, and the preparations and herbs in Oman. It also considers many herbs and
preparations in Persia, Caucasus, the Levant, Al-Andalus and North Africa listed with an
explanation of their preparation method and their use.