ABU AL-QASIM AL-ZAHRAWI (936-1013 C.E.)

ABU AL-QASIM AL-ZAHRAWI 

(936-1013 C.E.)

ABU AL-QASIM AL-ZAHRAWI 

Abul Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas al-Zahrawi (known in the west as Abulcasis) was born in 936 C.E. 

in Zahra in the neighbourhood of Cordova. He became one of the most renowned surgeons of the 

Muslim era and was physician to King Al-Hakam-II of Spain. After a long medical career, rich with 

significant original contribution, he died in 1013 C.E.

He is best known for his early and original breakthroughs in surgery as well as for his famous 

Medical Ecyclopaedia called Al-Tasrif, which is composed of thirty volumes covering different 

aspects of medical science. The more important part of this series comprises three books on 

surgery, which describe in detail various aspects of surgical treatment as based on the operations 

performed by him, including cauterization, removal of stone from the bladder, dissection of 

animals, midwifery, stypics, and surgery of eye, ear and throat. He perfected several delicate 

operations, including removal of the dead foetus and amputation.

Al-Tasrif was first translated by Gherard of Cremona into Latin in the Middle Ages. It was 

followed by several other editors in Europe. The book contains numerous diagrams and 

illustrations of surgical instruments, in use or developed by him, and comprised a part of the 

medical curriculum in European countries for many centuries. Contrary to the view that the 

Muslims fought shy of surgery, Al-Zahrawi's Al-Tasrif provided a monumental collection for this 

branch of applied science.

Al-Zahrawi was the inventor of several surgical instruments, of which three are notable: (i) an 

instrument for internal examina- tion of the ear, (ii) an instrument for internal inspection of the 

urethra, and (iii) and instrument for applying or removing foreign bodies from the throat. He 

specialized in curing disease by cauterization and applied the technique to as many as 50 different 

operations.

In his book Al-Tasrif, Al-Zahrawi has also discussed the preparation of various medicines, in 

addition to a comprehensive account of surgical treatment in specialized branches, whose modern 

counterparts are E.N.T., Ophthalmology, etc. In connection with the preparation of medicines, he 

has also described in detail the application of such techniques as sublimation and decantation. Al-

Zahrawi was also an expert in dentistry, and his book contains sketches of various instruments used 

thereof, in addition to a description of various important dental operations. He discussed the 

problem of non-aligned or deformed teeth and how to rectify these defects. He developed the 

technique of preparing artificial teeth and of replacement of defective teeth by these. In medicine, 

he was the first to describe in detail the unusual disease, haemophelia.

There can be no doubt that Al-Zahrawi influenced the field of medicine and surgery very deeply 

and the principles laid down by him were recognized as authentic in medical science, especially surgery, and these continued to influence the medical world for five centuries. According to Dr.
Cambell (History of Arab Medicine), his principles of medical science surpassed those of Galen in

the European medical curriculum.