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A bimaristan ( Persian : بيمارستان , romanized :  bīmārestān ; Arabic : بِيْمَارِسْتَان , romanized :  bīmāristān ), or simply maristan , known in Arabic also as dar al-shifa ("house of healing"; darüşşifa in Turkish ), is a hospital in the historic Islamic world . Its origins can be traced back to Sassanian Empire prior to the Muslim conquest of Persia .

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111-496: The word "bimaristan" is still used in the dialect of Persian spoken in Iran for hospitals. Bimaristan is a Persian word ( بیمارستان bīmārestān ) meaning "hospital", with bimar- from Middle Persian (Pahlavi) of vīmār or vemār , meaning "sick" or "ill person" plus the suffix -stan "place, location." In English literature , the term is often used to designate the historical or pre-modern institutions that existed in

222-841: A lecture hall , kitchen, pharmacy, library, mosque and occasionally a chapel for Christian patients. Recreational materials and musicians were often employed to comfort and cheer patients up. The Qur'an provided the basis for the development of professional ethics where the rise of ritual washing also influenced the importance of hygiene in medical practice. The importance of hygiene promoted healthy lifestyles, and cut down on disease by enticing communities to create hygiene infrastructures. Bimaristans promoted hygiene through practices of regularly bathing patients and staff, providing clean bedding and medical materials, as well as through their architecture, which promoted air circulation and bright, open lighting. Pharmacies were periodically visited by government inspectors called muhtasib , who checked to see that

333-518: A bad reputation in general", Floor speculates bribes were solicitated to "get back" their monthly payment. Nizam al-Mulk writes that the muhtasib "must take particular care ... that moral and religious principles are observed", and since scholars of Islamic law would have particular expertise in this regard, it would make sense that muhtasib would often be someone learned in Islamic "moral and religious principles". However, according to Willem Floor, this

444-514: A distorted notion of the deity and, therefore, violated the basic tenets of Islam". Manuals written specifically for instruction and guidance in the duties of a Muḥtasib and that the Muḥtasib often relied on were called ḥisba ; they contained practical advice on management of the marketplace, as well as other things a muhtasib needed to know — for example, manufacturing and construction standards. Another source, though much more limited in volume,

555-654: A famous scholar ( Ibn Taymiyya ) translated as Public Duties in Islam the institution of the Hisba ) that as one review put it, not only "delineates the duties of the Muhtasib" but preaches that it "is not just the commercial behavior of the Muslims that needs to be regulated, but also their behavior to God", and that fraud in business transactions is not wrong because it "was "judged 'immoral,' but because such behavior stemmed from

666-698: A fashion practically unchanged until the 16th century, and in Egypt it existed until the reign of Muhammad Ali, the founder of the Khedive dynasty. Moreover, it was renewed in the Ottoman Empire in 1855, and in the Republic of Syria in 1925". According to authors Cahen and Talbi, writing in the Encyclopaedia of Islam , "it is now commonly accepted that the function of muhtasib in Islamic countries

777-491: A form of therapy . The Al-Mansuri also obtained the personal library of Ibn al-Nafis upon his death in 1258. The Al-Mansuri Hospital remained operational through the 15th century CE and still stands in Cairo today, though it is now known as " Mustashfa Qalawun ." Damascus is credited with being the home of the first ever Islamic hospital, which was established between 706 and 707 CE. Founded by Walid ibn 'Abdulmalik, this hospital

888-473: A good deed." It acquired another meaning sometime early in the 9th century" as "a religious position or bureau the aim of which was to carry out" enjoining good and forbidding evil. At least one scholar (Willem Floor) distinguishes the muḥtasib , officials who in Islamic law are following " fard 'ayniyya [political duty]" and mutatawwi ("true believers" or volunteers who follow fard kifaya [individual duty] of Islamic law to take "the initiative to see to

999-446: A main source of medical education for students, and a form of practical training for all doctors and physicians that were working within the bimaristans. They documented how the centers ran: how medical records were kept safe, how doctors and physicians became properly licensed, and how upkeep was maintained so that the hospitals could continue to serve the patients that needed many different forms of help. Later hospitals were modelled from

1110-578: A muhtasib is called a muhtasibat . There were about 44 muhtasibat s in Tatarstan as of 2002. The position appears to have disappeared in the nineteenth century, as law enforcement across the Muslim world underwent modernization. In Pakistan, the Mohtasib is an Ombudsman , responsible for the prosecution and redressal of grievances against federal or provincial government functionaries. In Iran,

1221-624: A multitude of situations. During this era, physician licensure became mandatory in the Abbasid Caliphate. In 931 CE, Caliph Al-Muqtadir learned of the death of one of his subjects as a result of a physician's error. He immediately ordered his muhtasib Sinan ibn Thabit to examine and prevent doctors from practicing until they passed an examination. From this time on, licensing exams were required and only qualified physicians were allowed to practice medicine. The early Islamicate empires, while on their quest for knowledge, translated

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1332-411: A patient's medical symptoms, there was also focus on the patient's nutrition, emotional health, and environmental surroundings when coming up with a diagnosis. Ibn Sina also had the belief that anatomy served as the cornerstone of medicine. Ibn Sina was the first known physician to use a flexible catheter with the purpose of irrigating the bladder and combatting urinary retention in the human body. Ibn Sina

1443-401: A physician's error. Siban Ibn-Thabit was tasked with examining each of the 860 practicing physicians at the time, resulting in the failure of 160 and setting a new precedent within the medical world. From this point on, physicians were required to pass licensing examinations prior to being able to practice medicine. In an effort to properly enforce licensing examination, the position of 'Muhtasib'

1554-477: A piece of meat in several places for a few days and deciding in favor of the place where meat was found to be least infected." At its inception, the Al-Adudi Hospital had twenty-five staff members, specializing in fields ranging from optics to surgery. In addition to these specialists, the Al-Adudi Hospital also served as a teaching hospital for new doctors. The Al-Adudi Hospital remained operational into

1665-638: A short period of time. The first bimaristan, built in 706 in Damascus by the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid , focused on treating individuals with leprosy , but served patients with other concerns as well. Around the same period, the second bimaristan was built in Cairo, quickly followed by two more in Baghdad, including the first documented general hospital. More were soon built by Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid . As hospitals developed during

1776-469: A similar position in the Baghdad hospital. He developed two significant works regarding advancements in medicine and philosophy. The Kitāb al-Manṣūrī and the Kitāb al-ḥāwī , ("Comprehensive Book") which surveyed early Greek, Syrian, and Arabic medicine, and added his own judgement and commentary. He also wrote several minor treatises, perhaps the most famous being Treatise on Small Pox and Measles . This treatise

1887-489: A supervising specialist. The hospitals also had lecture theaters and libraries. Hospitals staff included sanitary inspectors, who regulated cleanliness, and accountants and other administrative staff. The hospitals were typically run by a three-person board comprising a non-medical administrator, the chief pharmacist, called the shaykh saydalani, who was equal in rank to the chief physician, who served as mutwalli ( dean ). Medical facilities traditionally closed each night, but by

1998-589: A waqf also set forth rules for how the hospital should be organized and operate in relation to the patient, stating that anyone could be admitted regardless of race, gender, or citizenship. Patients of all socioeconomic statuses would have had access to full treatment as all costs were borne by the hospital itself. An example was the Al-Mansuri Hospital in Cairo, built under the orders of the Mamluk ruler of Egypt , Al-Mansur Qalawun . Its maximum capacity

2109-416: A way to catalogue all of their findings which in the end lead to the first medical records. This made hospitals more efficient as they were able to check records of other patients for people that had similar symptoms and, hopefully, treat them the same way they were able to with the other patients. Not only did physicians keep medical records but they kept notes on patients and provided them for peer review as

2220-419: A way to not be held responsible for malpractice. This information also enabled physicians to start to notice patterns in patients more making the medicinal practices more accurate as everything is with more trials. The efficiency gained from keeping records allowed hospitals to run more smoothly and treat patients faster. This information also enabled physicians to start to notice patterns in patients more making

2331-595: Is also reflective of the political realities in the Safavid, Qajar and Pahlavi periods. Overall, Iran's Western Persian dialects appear to have changed more rapidly in lexicon and phonology than the Eastern Persian dialects of Afghanistan and Central Asia. There are phonological, lexical, and morphological differences between the Persian dialects of Iran and elsewhere. There are no significant differences in

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2442-462: Is especially important in understanding what Muḥtasib did. Sources, usually historical and geographical, "which occasionally refer to the existence of a muhtasib, his activities", are valuable because they "tell us how the muhtasib really was, not how he ought to be". Some examples of how widespread Muhtasib was in Islamic history are that "in Persia, the function of the mutasib continued to operate in

2553-465: Is likely that the multiple relocations of the capital city of Iran itself influenced the development of a distinctive metropolitan sociolect that would affect Persian dialects throughout the country. During the late 12th and late 15th or early 17th centuries in Iran, the vowel repertory of the Persian language was reduced and a few consonants were altered in most of Iran's Western Persian dialects, while these features have been predominantly preserved in

2664-432: Is still being used in hospitals today. Not only did these discoveries lead to lasting improvements in medicine in the Muslim world, but through the influence of early Islamic and Arabian hospitals, medical institutions around the world were introduced to various new concepts and structures, increasing the efficiency and cleanliness which can still be found in modern-day institutions. Some of these influential concepts include

2775-586: Is the direct successor of that of the Byzantine agoranomo ", i.e. overseer or market inspector. Willem Floor writes that "we ... know that the market overseer existed" in [pre-Islamic] Parthian (247 BC – 224 AD) and Sassanian Iran (224–651 CE). "We know that this official, who was referred to as agoranomos , existed in Babylonia, Seleucia, and Dura". Floor notes that the societies conquered by early Muslims had market inspectors similar to muhtasib; that

2886-539: The Buyids of the Abbasids ) the office of the muhtasib (along with offices such as qadi (judge), and sahib al-shurta (chief of police)), was for sale. In 961 CE the office was sold for 20,000 dirhams per month. Based on the fact that the office holders would very likely want to recoup the large sum of money they were paying, and that the historical literature of this time indicated it was "clear" that "the muhtasib had

2997-576: The Tehrani dialect in relation to the Persian in Iran. The following are the primary phonological differences between Iran's mainstream Persian and the Persian dialects of Afghanistan and Tajikistan (Dari and Tajik), as well as Classical Persian. Muhtasib A muḥtasib ( Arabic : محتسب , from the root حسبة ḥisbah , or "accountability" ) was "a holder of the office of al-hisbah in classical Islamic administrations", according to Oxford Islamic Studies. Also called ‘amil al-suq or sahib al-suq ,

3108-475: The muḥtasib was a supervisor of bazaars and trade , the inspector of public places and behavior in towns in the medieval Islamic countries , appointed by the sultan , imam , or other political authority. His duty was to ensure that public business was conducted in accordance with the law of sharia . Hisbah , the office and root of muḥtasib , is an Islamic doctrine referring to " enjoining good and forbidding wrong " of shariah law, and "by extension, to

3219-459: The suq (Arab for marketplace) of Medina sometime after the conquest of Mecca (629 AD). Later, Rashidun ('Rightly Guided Caliph') Umar also had "two men working for him over the suq of Medina". One of whom used the title ʿAmil ʿalā Sūq . During the Umayyad period there were reports of four market inspectors, including those covering the sūq of Mecca for Ibn al-Zubayr, sūq of Wāsit under

3330-559: The varieties of the Persian language spoken in Iran and by others in neighboring countries, as well as by Iranian communities throughout the world . These are intelligible with other varieties of Persian , including Afghanistan 's Dari and Tajikistan 's Tajik . Iran's national language has been called, apart from Persian or Farsi , by names such as Iranian Persian , Western Persian and Western Farsi , exclusively. Officially,

3441-443: The ʿAmil ʿalā Sūq market inspectors, handled religious duties, and that later renaming the official Muhtasib "was intended to indicate ... an Islamicizing of the post". According to Oxford Islamic Studies, the office of muḥtasib, in classical Islamic administrations, fell "roughly between" that of judge ( qadi ) and court magistrate". Unlike a qadi , he "had no jurisdiction to hear cases—only to settle disputes and breaches of

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3552-550: The " Canon of Medicine ." This separation of diseases not only helped the timely treatment of patients but also helped the patients and physicians from getting sick with other diseases that surrounded them because they only had to worry about the prevention of one disease. By separating patients, the specialization of certain wings and treatments really advanced the medicine and improved the efficiency of hospitals ultimately leading to how modern day hospitals are designed. With Islamic hospitals advancing medicine so quickly, they needed

3663-522: The 10th century laws had been passed to keep hospitals open 24 hours a day. Both men and women worked in these hospitals, including as physicians, but hospital staff had a worked in a range of professions. Much like today's hospitals, they also relied on pharmacists, nurses, sanitary inspectors, supervising specialists, secretaries, and superintendents. The superintendents, or in Arabic, sa'ur, ensured that hospitals met certain standards in addition to managing

3774-683: The 12th century CE when, in 1184, it was described as "...being like an enormous palace in size." Ultimately, the Al-Adudi Hospital was destroyed in 1258 by Mongols led by Hulagu Khan in the siege of Baghdad. One of the first Egyptian hospitals was the Al-Fustat Hospital, which was founded in 872 CE. It was founded by Ahmed ibn Tulun and was located in Fustat , located in what is now modern Cairo. The Al-Fustat Hospital shared many common features with modern hospitals. Among these were bath houses separated by gender, separate wards and

3885-468: The 18th century. This combination and rationalization of practical science, religion, and thought highlighted the pinnacle of Muslim medical scholarship, and the nature of the true developments which were made in the medical world. In addition to his work with Canon of Medicine, Ibn Sina served as a trailblazer for 'holistic medicine,' making an emphasis on the patient as a whole, not just focusing on one certain aspect when diagnosing. While Ibn Sina looked at

3996-506: The 9th century CE, with the first having most likely been established in 805 by the caliph Harun al-Rashid and his vizier , Yahya ibn Khalid . By the end of the 10th century CE, five more hospitals had been built in Baghdad. Founded in 981 by the then ruler of Baghdad, Adud al-Dawlah , this hospital was administered by al-Razi , who also chose its location along the Tigris River . He determined where it should be located by "hanging

4107-552: The Byzantine nosocomia , which was a charitable institution tasked with treating "...the sick, the lepers, the invalid, and the poor." The Bimaristan of Nur al-Din or Al-Nuri Hospital was founded in Damascus nearly four and a half centuries after the Al-Walid Hospital, in 1156 CE. It was named after Nur al-Din Zanji. The Al-Nuri Hospital, which operated for some 700 years, was the same hospital where Al-Mansur Qalawun

4218-630: The Eastern dialects of Dari and Tajik up until the present day. From the time of the Turco-Mongol invasions to the Safavid and subsequent Turkic-speaking dynasties, Persian received a number of lexical borrowings from Turkish, although never as much as those from Arabic. However, in contrast with the Tajik dialects of Central Asia, which are heavily influenced by Turkic, Persian in Iran has had its Turkic borrowings largely declined and assimilated. This

4329-752: The Hindu fashion. Among the Tatars of the Russian Empire the möxtäsip was a Muslim functionary expected to keep vigilant watch on the execution of the Sharia . In 1920s, after the October Revolution and ban on religion, their service was abolished. Today, in Russia and a number of former Soviet republics, a muhtasib is a regional representative of a spiritual board (muftiate). The office of

4440-526: The Islamic civilization, specific characteristics were maintained. For instance, Bimaristans served all people regardless of their race, religion, citizenship, or gender. The Waqf documents stated nobody was ever to be turned away. This included those with mental illnesses or disorders—in Aleppo 's Arghun Hospital, for example, care for mental illness included abundant light, fresh air, running water and music. The ultimate goal of all physicians and hospital staff

4551-517: The Islamic world, but they are also still used sometimes in their native languages to refer to modern hospitals or to specific types of medical institutions. Many centers of health in antiquity helped shape the ways Muslim scholars would pursue the study and advancement of medical science . Mobile hospitals were the first version of the bimaristans. These mobile hospitals carried medications , food, and water, and traveled with physicians and pharmacists to aid those in need. According to tradition,

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4662-407: The Muslim world, un-Islamic activities like "begging, vagrancy, gambling, castrating, using the mosques for eating, sleeping, giving verdicts, and disturbing the performance of the daily prayers", pigeon flying, making music, were less than rare occurrences in the jurisdiction of muhtasibs in medieval Baghdad, Seljuq, Ilkhan, Timurid, Safavid Afshars, Zands, and Qajar periods . Floor argues that

4773-439: The advancement of medicine. Education in hospitals during the Islamic period modernized hospitals today in that now before people can become doctors they must complete a period of residency in which students study at a hospital and job shadow licensed physicians for a number of years before they are fully able to become licensed physicians. This came at a time when much of Europe's medical practices were much less advanced, and with

4884-509: The all this may be explained by Islamic legal scholars ( fuqaha ) taking "the existing institution" of market inspector and imposing a "religious-judicial ... conceptual framework" on it to add enforcement of Islamic law to the list of their duties. According to Islamic tradition, the first persons with jurisdiction over the markets in Mecca and Medina, were appointed by the Islamic prophet Muhammad . Muhammad engaged Saʿid b. Saʿid b. al-As over

4995-401: The caliph Harun al-Rashid and his vizier , Yahya ibn Khalid . Although not much is known about this hospital due to poor documentation, the system of the general hospital itself set forth an example for the many other hospitals to come. By the year 1000, Baghdad had five more hospitals. As new hospitals were built throughout the Islamic world, they followed similar organizational structures to

5106-519: The centuries, the basic treatment remains the same even today. Diseases of the eye were further explored during this era by ʻAli ibn ʻIsa al-Kahhal or Ibn Isa (died c. 1038), who practiced and taught in the Al-Adudi Hospital in Baghdad. He wrote and developed the Tadhkirat al-kaḥḥālīn ("The Notebook of the Oculist"), which detailed more than 130 eye diseases based on anatomical location. The work

5217-428: The church. This introduction of government operated hospitals lead to not having any discrimination against people for any reason allowing the hospital to solely focus on their main goal of serving all people and working together to help everyone out. Bimaristans were some of the first known hospitals to have been built and truly served a purpose to the people around them. They became established centers for patient care,

5328-588: The circulation of traffic." The muhtasib or muhtesip was authorized to audit the businesses if they were selling their products at the price limits set by the government. In addition, craftsmen and builders were usually responsible to the muhtasib for the standards of their craft. The muhtasib also inspected if the food sold was safe and the measuring equipment was accurate. "The Muḥtasib also inspected public eating houses. He could order pots and pans to be re-tinned or replaced; all vessels and their contents had to be kept covered against flies and insects... The Muḥtasib

5439-517: The compilation and creation of Avicenna 's (Ibn Sina) medical textbook, The Canon of Medicine , these groundbreaking Islamic discoveries were able to influence Europe and the rest of the world for centuries to come. During the Islamic Golden Age , there was a translation movement to convert Greek medical texts into Arabic. Some of the books that impacted the field were Tarkib-Al-Advieh about mixtures of drugs, Al-Advieh Al-Mofradeh which

5550-709: The dialect of Dari spoken in Western Afghanistan stands in between Dari and Iranian Persian. For instance, the Herati dialect shares vocabulary and phonology with both Dari and Iranian Persian. Likewise, the dialect of Persian in Eastern Iran, for instance in Mashhad , is quite similar to the Herati dialect of Afghanistan. The Kabuli dialect has become the standard model of Dari in Afghanistan, as has

5661-833: The drug's sensation as the dosage was increased. Some of the main areas of study when it came to pharmacology involved Toxicology and the science behind sedative and analgesic drugs. Many physicians, Arabic and not alike, were fascinated with poisons. They sought out knowledge on how to make them and remediate them. Similarly, the science of sedative and analgesic drugs also fascinated Arabic physicians. Substances such as Cannabis sativa ( Hashish ), Hyoscyamus Niger (narcotic), and Papaver somniferum ( opium ) were well studied and used in their medicine. Iranian Persian Iranian Persian ( Persian : فارسی ایرانی , romanized :  Fârsi-ye Irâni ), Western Persian or Western Farsi , natively simply known as Persian ( Persian : فارسی , romanized :  Fârsi ), refers to

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5772-406: The entire hospital institution. Pharmacists produced drugs as means for treatment of the hospitals' patients; they relied on a knowledge of chemistry , or Alchemia . Before the 10th century, hospitals operated throughout the day and closed at night. Later hospitals operated on a 24-hour basis. Nonetheless, the practicing physicians worked a set number of hours with their salaries prescribed by law;

5883-543: The first bimaristan was located in a tent set up by Rufaidah al-Asalmia in 627 CE during the Battle of Khandaq . Later on, these mobile care centers would evolve from one or two tents to enormous units of medical care equipped with medicinal herbs, food, physicians, and pharmacists. Under the Seljuq Sultanate reign of Muhammad Saljuqi, a single mobile care center required 40 camels for transportation. The idea

5994-559: The first independent work on surgery. Such instruments included tools like forceps , pincers , scalpels , catheters , cauteries , lancets, and specula , which were accompanied by detailed drawings of each tool. Al-Zahrawi also wrote the At-Taṣrīf limanʿajazʿan at-Taʾālīf , or At-Taṣrīf ("The Method"), which was a 30-part text based on earlier authorities, such as the Epitomae from the 7th-century Byzantine physician Paul of Aegina . It

6105-497: The first round, students were expected to answer medical questions having to do with the current cases. The second round was designated for students with more experience to answer the remaining, more complex questions. Finally, if questions still remained after round two, al-Razi would provide answers and often document his findings. Abu-Bakr al-Razi has been credited with writing more than 200 books and treatises throughout his life. Although surgical developments and advancements made in

6216-417: The forms such as tablets, powders, and syrups. After learning from the different books and coming to their own conclusions, Arabic physicians made numerous contributions when it came to determining dosage for patients depending on their condition. Multiple scholars, including the Arabic scholar and physician al-Kindi, determined the geometric progression of dosage. They found there was an arithmetic increase in

6327-551: The future medical practices we see today. Ibn Sina did this by combining the medical developments of Greek physician and philosopher Galen , with the philosophy of Aristotle . Furthermore, as Islamic medicine recognized that many diseases are contagious, such as leprosy, smallpox , and sexually transmitted diseases , Ibn Sina recognized tuberculosis as a contagious disease, among others which can be spread through soil and water. The Canon of Medicine continued to be studied by European medical professionals and institutions even into

6438-676: The governor of Iraq and the East for Yazld II. The market inspector in Umayyad dynasty in Spain was called Sāḥib al-Sūq . According to R.P. Buckley, "it is during the early years of the Abbasid Caliphate that the first Muhtasibs are mentioned." Buckley states that "some later commentators" tell stories implying that the hisba duties of the Mutasib were undertaken by the early caliphs (such as Umar and Ali ), suggesting that they, not

6549-519: The heart, surgical procedures used in midwifery, cauterizing and healing wounds, and the treatment of headaches. Although Zahrawi was somewhat disregarded by hospitals and physicians in the eastern Caliphate (no doubt due to his Spanish roots, being near Córdoba, Spain ), his advancement and documentation of medical tools and observations contained in his work had a vast influence on the eventual medical development in Christian Europe, when it

6660-413: The hospital in Baghdad. The typical hospital was divided into departments such as systemic diseases, surgery, and orthopedics, with larger hospitals having more diverse specialties. "Systemic diseases" was the rough equivalent of today's internal medicine and was further divided into sections such as fever, infections and digestive issues. Every department had an officer-in-charge, a presiding officer and

6771-411: The implementation of separate wards based on disease and gender, pharmacies, housing of medical records, and the education associated with practicing medicine. Prior to the Islamic era, most European medical care was offered by priests in sanatoriums and annexes to temples. Islamic hospitals revolutionized this by being operated secularly and through a government entity, rather than being solely operated by

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6882-493: The importance of acquiring knowledge, played a vital role in influencing the Muslims of this age in their search for knowledge and the development of the body of science. Bimaristans were not only used to provide care for individuals. They were also educational institutions meant to advance medical students' knowledge in the medical field , especially in cities like Baghdad, Damascus, and Cairo. Some madrasas were also closely linked with bimaristans so that students could learn in

6993-601: The individual languages Dari and Iranian Persian. The code pes is used for Iranian Persian, exclusively. On November 19, 2005, the Academy of Persian Language and Literature delivered a pronouncement on the name of the Persian language, rejecting any use of the word Farsi (instead of English Persian , German Persisch , Spanish persa , French persan , etc.) in foreign languages. The announcement reads: Supporting this announcement, gradually other institutions and literary figures separately took similar actions throughout

7104-470: The institutions and put their theoretical knowledge directly into practice. Basic science preparation was learned through private tutors, self-study and lectures. Many of these hospitals also contained a conjoined library typically filled with any possible writings that may be relevant to the medicine practiced in the hospitals. Physicians in these proto-medical schools were not exclusively Muslim; Jewish and Christian physicians also practiced and taught. In

7215-464: The invention of countless medical instruments. Among the many developments stemming from Islamic hospitals were those designed to treat specific ailments, diseases, and anatomy. Ammar al-Mawsili , a 10th-century physician and ophthalmologist , developed a revolutionary treatment for cataracts . The practice included a hollow syringe (which he developed) and removing the cataract through suction. Although this procedure has further developed throughout

7326-477: The last of the great Mughal emperors , Emperor of India from 1658 to 1707, muḥtasibs were in contrast to polities to the west, "censors of morals", enforcers of "increasingly puritanical ordinances" by the militant orthodox Sunni Muslim emperor. They worked to destroy "Hindu idols, temples, and shrines" in the majority Hindu country, saw that the Muslim confession of faith, "was removed from all coins lest it be defiled by unbelievers", and that forbade from saluting in

7437-461: The law where the facts were admitted or there was a confession of guilt". In the reign of the Sultan Barqūq , for example, the duties of the muḥtasib of Cairo included "the regulation of weights, money, prices, public morals, and the cleanliness of public places, as well as the supervision of schools, instruction, teachers, and students, and attention to public baths, general public safety, and

7548-534: The literature describing of the function of muhtasib that scholars use comes from two sources: the "theoretical writings on the role, function, and tasks of the muhtasib", and from "practical manuals to guide the muhtasib in his work in a particular place and time". One of the earliest and most influential manuals for a muḥtasib is the Nihāyat al-rutba fī ṭalab al-ḥisba by Abd al-Rahman ibn Nasr ibn Abdallah al-Shayzari (d. 1193). Another example of book on hisbah (by

7659-485: The maintenance of public law and order and supervising market transactions". But whether muḥtasibs devoted themselves to hisbah frequently or vigorously in every region of the Muslim world, or focused instead on the orderly function of the marketplace, regulating weights, money, prices (though sometimes collecting bribes), is disputed. According to Sami Hamarneh, in "religious terminology", hisbah "denotes providing for ... for oneself, or seeking reward in life to come for

7770-417: The major hospitals at Cairo, Baghdad, and Damascus, students often visited patients while under the supervision of a practicing physician—a system comparable to a medical residency today. Like in today's medical training programs, working and learning in the bimaristans under the supervision of practicing physicians allowed medical students to gain hands-on experience treating various ailments and responding to

7881-467: The medicinal practices more accurate as everything is with more trials. This keeping of records ultimately lead to the accumulation of the " Canon of Medicine ", which is a book of medicine compiled by the Persian philosopher Avicenna (Ibn Sina) that was completed in 1025. Another legacy that vastly changed the way through which medical practices were developed, was the method of education and perpetuation of medical knowledge. Islamic hospitals modernized

7992-438: The medicines were mixed properly, not diluted and kept in clean jars. Additionally, al-Razi , who was once asked to choose the site for a new hospital in Baghdad, suspended pieces of meat at various points around the city and recommended building the hospital at the location where the meat putrefied the slowest. The various Quranic injunctions and Hadith (or actions of Muhammad ), which place values on education and emphasize

8103-756: The medieval Islamic period are of extreme importance, the largest and most wholesome contribution to the medical world stemming from Islamic medicine and hospitals came from the Baghdad firmament from Ibn Sina , or "Avicenna" in the West. Ibn Sina, who had already become a doctor by the age of 18, developed the Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb ( Canon of Medicine ). This work is largely known as one of the most famous medical works of all time. The ways in which Ibn Sina's Canon of Medicine worked to bring together various disciplines and cultures, essentially revived Greek authors and philosophers and fostered new thought patterns to develop much of

8214-755: The most notable translated pieces is a human anatomy book translated from Greek to Arabic by Muslim physician, Avicenna, the book was used in schools in the West until the mid-17th century. One of the most remarkable contributions of the Islamic hospitals was the organizational structure itself and how it functioned in Islamic culture. These contributions still influence contemporary medical practice. For example, bimaristans kept written records of patients and their medical treatment—the first written medical histories for patients. Students were responsible in keeping these patient records, which were later edited by doctors and referenced in future treatments. The first documented general hospital arose in Baghdad in 805, built by

8325-499: The muhtasib technical manuals that dealt with the market inspection "came into being earlier than those" that put the office of hisba "in its religious-judicial context"; and that the general historical and geographical Islamic sources that mention the muhtasib's tasks indicate these were primarily market supervision, as in real life the medieval muhtasib either didn't have much to do with moral and religious tasks or "just didn't bother with them", as according to sources describing life in

8436-540: The muhtasib was "as unpopular a figure as had been his predecessors in earlier periods," accepting presents and bribes, and it was said one "could neither expect good nor profit from the muhtasib." In Mamluk Egypt , muḥtasibs were appointed by the sultan to inspect marketplaces and monitor the honesty of merchants. According to Kristen Stilt, "muḥtasibs in Cairo markets had a stand ( dikka ) from which they observed and whipped those who cheated when weighing their goods". "Muḥtasibs were instructed to parade cheaters" before

8547-633: The muḥtasib was abolished in Shiraz around 1852, in Isfahan , in 1877. In Tehran it lived on as the idara-yi ihtisa losing its "police and judicial functions and developed into a city cleaning department" that was "sold" each year to the highest bidder. While city dust removal carried on, the "definitive end" of the ihtisab came with its abolition in 1926 following the fall of the Qajar dynasty . With variant spellings as Muhtasib, Muhtaseb, and Montase,

8658-410: The national language of Iran is designated simply as Persian ( فارسی , fārsi ). The international language-encoding standard ISO 639-1 uses the code fa for the Persian language in general, as its coding system is mostly based on the native-language designations. The more detailed standard ISO 639-3 uses the code fas for the dialects spoken across Iran and Afghanistan. This consists of

8769-524: The need for the works to be translated from Greek to Arabic, there is a lot of documentation available regarding the naming of drugs. Authors such as Abulcasis and Maimonides, went into detail on this aspect and discussed the naming of drugs including the linguistics, as well as the synonyms and explanations behind the name given to the drug. Avicenna also contributed to the naming and categorization of drugs. In his Cannon of Medicine, he explained medicine types such as antiseptics and narcotics as well as explained

8880-446: The original bimaristans, which shows that they were well-run centers that served a great purpose to the people in surrounding areas. Western hospitals may not be what they are today without the history of early medical practices in bimaristans Islamic hospitals also brought about the idea of separate wards or segments of the hospital that were separated by patient diagnostic. When Islamic hospitals first brought this about, not only were

8991-401: The physicians were paid generously enough so as to retain their talent. Chief of staff physician, Jabril ibn Bukhtishu , was salaried 4.9 million Dirham ; for comparison, a medical resident worked significantly longer hours salaried at 300 Dirham per month. Islamic hospitals attained their endowment through charitable donations or bequests, called waqfs. The legal documents establishing

9102-439: The public as both punishment and deterrence against cheating by other merchants. The manuals of the Muhtasib included "information on merchants’ tricks." In 1837, Mehmed Ali (aka Muhammad Ali of Egypt ) "issued a siyāsa code" (a legislative order} that "completely abolished the muḥtasib offices in Cairo and Alexandria and transferred their duties to police and the health administration" in those two cities. Under Aurangzeb ,

9213-413: The qualification of physicians and education leading to a license to practice medicine in hospitals. In 931 CE, Caliph Al-Muqtadir started the movement of licensing physicians by telling Siban Ibn Thabit to only give physician licenses to qualified people. The origin of Caliph Al-Muqtadir's order to Siban Ibn-Thabit was due to the fact that a patient had previously died in Baghdad as a consequence of

9324-439: The resources and teachers available at all times, which made it a very convenient place to learn and teach in. Bimaristans paved the way for many medical institutions. Much of the legacy surrounding the Islamic influence on modern hospitals and science can be found in the discoveries, techniques, and practices introduced by scholars and physicians working in these hospitals between the tenth and nineteenth century. This time period

9435-405: The safekeeping of personal items during a patient's convalescence . In addition to these practices, the Al-Fustat Hospital is the first to have offered treatment for mental disorders. Beyond the practice of medicine, the Al-Fustat Hospital was also a teaching hospital and housed approximately 100,000 books. Another key feature of the Al-Fustat Hospital was that it offered all treatment for free. This

9546-465: The term muhtasib , but to refer to "the one who performs hisba" -- a forbidder of wrong in general and not specifically a functionary overseeing marketplaces -- leading to some confusion, according to historian Michael Cook . A large "scholastic heritage" on the subject of who was to do the forbidding, what was to be forbidden, and whom was to be told there actions were forbidden, was developed by Al-Ghazali and other medieval scholars. While most of

9657-487: The theory of pulmonary circulation. With the development and existence of early Islamic hospitals came the need for new ways to treat patients. Bamiristans brought forth many groundbreaking medical advancements in Islamic culture during this time, which eventually spread to the entire world through trade and intellectual exchange. Distinguished physicians of this era pioneered revolutionary procedures and practices in surgeries, techniques, discoveries, and cures for ailments and

9768-515: The upholding of the requirements of the law and the hisbah". Another related definition of Hisbah is not as an official function with any special connection to marketplaces, weights and measures, etc.; but as a "personal" duty of Muslims enjoined in Quranic verses such as 3:110 and 9:71, to right wrongs "committed by fellow believers, as and when one encountered them." It was "mainly an invention" of Al-Ghazali " (d.1111). Al-Ghazali also used

9879-414: The wards separated by diagnostic but by sex as well. While hospitals today are not as strict and do not separate by sex anymore, they still separate people by disease or problem. By doing so, different wings could specialize in certain treatments specific to their patient. This practice not only still exists today in modern hospitals but also lead to the advancement of treatments back then that now comprise

9990-674: The work of early pre-Islamic times from empires such as Rome, Greece, Pahlavi, and Sanskrit into Arabic, before this translation the work had been lost and perhaps it may have been lost forever. The discovery of this new information exposed the Islamicate empires to large amounts of scientific research and discoveries. Arabs translated a variety of different topics throughout science including Greek and Roman research in medicine and pharmacology. Translated artifacts such as medical dictionaries and books containing information on hygiene and sexual intercourse are still preserved. Perhaps one of

10101-508: The world. The main dynamics of the linguistic evolution of modern Persian are political and social changes such as population shifts, the advancement of particular regions, and the rise of ideological influences. In Iran, the Safavid period in particular initiated a number of sociolinguistic changes that affected the country's national language, reflecting the political and ideological separation of Iran from Central Asia and Afghanistan. It

10212-589: The written forms of Iran's standard Persian and Afghanistan's standard Dari, other than regional idiomatic phrases. However, Iran's commonly spoken Persian is considerably different in pronunciation and some syntactic features from the dialects spoken in Afghanistan and Central Asia. The dialects of Dari spoken in Northern, Central and Eastern Afghanistan, for example in Kabul , Mazar , and Badakhshan , have distinct features compared to Iran's Standard Persian. However,

10323-471: Was a groundbreaking institution and acted as a model for future bimaristans to come. The Al-Mansuri Hospital was substantial, both in size and endowments. This hospital had the capability of holding 8000 beds and was funded off of annual endowments totaling one million dirhams . Like the Al-Fustat Hospital before it, the Al-Mansuri Hospital also treated mental patients and introduced music as

10434-416: Was also expected to keep a close check on all doctors, surgeons, blood-letters and apothecaries." After 1500 C.E, the muhatsib was almost exclusively responsible for ensuring that the weights and measures used in the market were fair and consistent. According to Ahmed Ezzat, there are "three common features shared by all ḥisba treatises, from Yahya ibn ‘Umar to Mamluk Egypt": However, after 950 C.E. (in

10545-412: Was around 8000 people and the annual endowment alone was said to be one-million Dirhams . The design was intended to accommodate various pathologies for both men and women as well as a pharmacy, a library, and lecture halls. The lecture halls were used for regular meetings on the status of the hospital, lecturing residents, and staff as well. The existence of hospitals in Baghdad has been documented since

10656-486: Was established. The Muhtasib was a government official who administered oral and practical licensing examinations to young physicians. If the young physician was successful in proving his professional competence through the examinations, the Muhtasib would administer the Hippocratic Oath and a license allowing the physician to legally practice medicine. Seeing as how one of the chief objectives of Islamic hospitals

10767-493: Was extremely important to the advancement of modern medicinal practices, and is known as one of the greatest periods of development. Many of these discoveries laid the foundation for medical development in Europe, and are still common practice in modern medicine. Among these discoveries in astronomy, chemistry, and metallurgy, scholars developed techniques for medicine such as the distillation and use of alcohol as an antiseptic, which

10878-462: Was groundbreaking in his recognition of esophageal cancer, ligation of bleeding arteries, the anatomy of nerves and tendons, compartment syndrome following injury to human appendages, and the idea that arterial repair would one day be possible. While people used to learn medicine by traveling, working in their homes, in madrasas, or in hospitals, people learned that bimaristans were one of the most helpful institutions for people to learn in. They had all

10989-492: Was inspired to establish a hospital after his own experience being hospitalized in Damascus. Because of Al-Mansur's vision for the hospital, treatment was free to make the hospital accessible to both the rich and the poor. Furthermore, "...upon discharge the patient was given food and money as a compensation for the wages he lost during his stay in the hospital." The Al-Mansuri Hospital was so accessible, in fact, that it treated roughly 4,000 patients every day. The Al-Mansuri Hospital

11100-403: Was largely composed of medical observations, including what is considered the earliest known description of hemophilia . The 30-volume encyclopedia also documented Zahrawi and his colleagues' experiences with treatment of the ill or afflicted. Aside from the documentation of surgical instruments, the work included operating techniques, pharmacological methods to prepare tablets and drugs to protect

11211-427: Was made possible by waqf revenue, and the Al-Fustat Hospital was likely the first hospital endowed in this way. Near the Al-Fustat Hospital, Ibn-Tulum also established a pharmacy to provide medical care in emergencies. The Al-Fustat Hospital remained in operation for approximately 600 years. The Al-Mansuri Hospital was another hospital located in Cairo, and was completed in 1284 CE. Its founder, Al-Mansur Qalawun,

11322-561: Was meant to serve as a treatment center for both those with chronic illnesses, like leprosy and blindness, as well as the poor or impoverished. This began with ibn 'Abdulmalik gathering lepers and preventing them from spreading the illness by providing them money. This was done to prevent them from begging strangers for money, thereby curtailing the spread of leprosy. To accomplish these objectives, separate wards existed for infectious diseases such as leprosy, and patients faced no cost to receive treatment. The Al-Walid Hospital has been compared to

11433-541: Was not "the normal practice". An example being the Shi'ite poet Ibn al- Hajjaj, who was muhtasib of Bagdad, was at the same time one of the most notorious authors of sexually explicit poetry". Nizam al-Mulk , grand- vizir and de facto ruler of the Seljuk empire from 1064 to 1092, categorically stated: "the post [of muhtasib] always used to be given to one of the nobility or else to an eunuch or an old Turk." In Safavid times

11544-501: Was separated into three portions consisting of: This work was translated into Latin in 1497, and then into several other languages which allowed it to benefit the medical community for centuries to come. Perhaps the largest contribution to Islamic surgical development came from Abū al-Qāsim Khalaf ibn al-‘Abbās al-Zahrāwī , also known as Abū al-Qāsim or Al-Zahrawi (936–1013). He contributed to advancements in surgery by inventing and developing over 200 medical instruments which constituted

11655-523: Was the training of new physicians or students, senior physicians, and other medical officers would often hold instructive seminars in large lecture halls detailing diseases, cures, treatments, and techniques from class manuscripts. Islamic hospitals were also the first to adopt practices involving medical students, accompanied by experienced physicians, into the wards for rounds to participate in patient care. Hospitals doubling as schools not only provided hospitals with more fresh working hands but also helped in

11766-412: Was to be able to better extend medical care to rural communities that lived on the outskirts of major cities. The services provided from the mobile hospitals transitioned into the other Islamic hospitals as time went on. Though the Islamic realm was very large, Baghdad , Damascus , and Cairo housed the most well-known bimaristans. The first six bimaristans show major changes within Islamic hospitals in

11877-564: Was to work together to help the well-being of their patients. There was no time limit a patient could spend as an inpatient. Instead, waqf documents stated the hospital was required to keep all patients until they were fully recovered. Men and women were admitted to separate but equally equipped wards. The separate wards were further divided to address mental illnesses , contagious diseases , non-contagious diseases, surgery , medicine , and eye diseases . Patients were attended to by nurses and staff of their same gender. Each hospital contained

11988-505: Was translated into Latin during the 12th century. The Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad underwent extreme intellectual and medical experimentation during the 10th and 11th centuries. Among the many skilled physicians and intellectuals there was Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakariyyāʾ al-Rāzī , or in Latin, Rhazes ( c. 865–925). Rhazes served as chief physician in a hospital in Rayy , Iran, before holding

12099-513: Was translated into several modern languages as well as Latin and Byzantine Greek for teaching purposes and medical treatment of such infectious diseases. Abu-Bakr al-Razi was instrumental in improving the medical education within hospitals and was credited with the creation of 'ward rounds,' which served as a teaching method for the medical students within the hospital. The ward rounds consisted of several rounds of questions designated for students with different levels of medical expertise to answer. In

12210-463: Was treated and inspired to establish his own hospital in Cairo. The Al-Nuri Hospital, in addition to bringing about the Al-Mansuri hospital, was innovative in its practices as it became the first hospital to begin maintaining medical records of its patients. The Al-Nuri Hospital was also a prestigious medical school, with one of its most noteworthy students being Ibn al-Nafis, who would later pioneer

12321-624: Was written about single drugs, Ghova-Al-Aghzieh which concerned the potency of food for medicine, Al-Advieh Ao Al-dava, Al-Oram which concerned swellings of the body, and Al-Teriagh or The Book of Theriac. Through readings, Islamic doctors were able to find drugs that they could use to help treat patients. One of the most notable contributors to pharmacology was Galen, a physician in the Roman Empire, wrote on theories of drug action. Galen's theories were later recorded, simplified, and translated by Arabic scholars, notably Hunayn ibn Ishak. Because of

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