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Medicine & life sciences

Abū Bakr al-Rāzī

Also found as Abu Bakr al-Razi · Muhammad ibn Zakariyya Razi · Rhazes

Al-Razi was a physician who challenged some of the medical ideas of the ancient writer Galen.

An illustration of al-Razi at work in a laboratory.
An illustration of al-Razi at work in a laboratory. From 1001 Inventions, printed page 91.
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The doctor who kept asking why

Ages 7–9

Al-Razi was a physician who challenged some of the medical ideas of the ancient writer Galen.

Lost Islamic History describes al-Razi treating poor patients without charging them in Baghdad.

Al-Razi recorded laboratory experiments, including distillation and crystallization.

He designed and described laboratory instruments and explained how they were used.

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Find Al-Razi in our books

Use the printed page in a physical book, or the PDF page in your copy. Open a reference for the surrounding text.

Lost Islamic History

Firas Alkhateeb

3 reading locations

Printed p. 86 PDF p. 102Reading page

“…the ideas of Galen was Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi, who lived in the ninth century . Based in Baghdad, he was a strong proponent of a rational, instead of theoretical understanding of the…”

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Printed p. 87 PDF p. 103Reading page

“…to medicine, giving him insight that others, including al-Razi, lacked. He formulated a theory that everything in the body can be understood through a causal chain of events. While this may seem like…”

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Printed p. 90 PDF p. 106Reading page

“…further advance the knowledge of giants such as al-Razi and Ibn Sina, who advanced the knowledge of Galen and Hippocrates. Today’s medical knowledge and institutions come largely from the West, but are based…”

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1001 Inventions

Edited by Salim T. S. al-Hassani

13 reading locations

Printed p. 26 PDF p. 29Reading page

“…Al-Razi , known as "Hippocrates of the Arabs" • 850 Banu Musa brothers publish their Book of Ingenious Devices. 858 Astronomer Al-Battani is born. He…”

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Printed p. 32 PDF p. 35Reading page

“…printed in Rome and, along with Al-Hawi by Al-Razi, becomes a standard text in the European medical curriculum . 1604 Edward Pococke is born. He spent five years in Aleppo learning Arabic; he…”

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Printed p. 46 PDF p. 49Reading page

“…loved it. The grear masters, though, were Al-Suli, Al-Razi, Al-Aadani, and Ibn al-Nadim. In the mid-zoth century, Russian grand master Yuri Averbak played an astonishing move in one of his championship games, which…”

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Printed p. 90 PDF p. 93Reading page

“…mortar and a large piece of gold. • Al-Razi, or Rhazes (864 to 925, Iran) Muhammad ibn Zakariya' al�Razi was known in the West as Rhazes, and he wrote The Book of the…”

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Printed p. 91 PDF p. 94Reading page

“…Al-Razi also excelled in writing up his experiments. From his Secret of the Secrets we know he was performing distillation, calcination, and crystallization more than…”

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Printed p. 92 PDF p. 95Reading page

“…for pesticides, papermaking, paints, and medicines. AI-Razi, or Rhazes in Latin, made hundreds of di scoveries in his chemical laboratory, writi ng up his findings in a book intriguingly entitled The Book of…”

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Printed p. 162 PDF p. 165Reading page

“…to use catgut in surger y, it was Al-Razi who was the fi.rst to use animal (sheep) gut for sutures. Al-Zahrawi also used twisted fi.bers from strings of musical instruments for surgical purposes.…”

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Printed p. 164 PDF p. 167Reading page

“…the text Sushruta Samhita in Hindu medicine. Both Al-Razi and Al-Zahra wi stressed that the inner incision should be smaller than A thousand years ago, patient s were treated in hospitals for a…”

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Printed p. 168 PDF p. 171Reading page

“…til Galen re vived it, dispersed until Rhazes [al-Razi } collect ed it, and deficient until Avicenna [Ibn Sina } completed it." DE POURE, EUROPEAN PHYSICIAN gathered from many civilizations up to his…”

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Printed p. 180 PDF p. 183Reading page

“…like his A Treatise on Plants, others, like Al-Razi, a tenth-century medical scholar, used colchicum as a drug for the treatment of gout. As botany became an academic science, chemistry was advancing at…”

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Printed p. 182 PDF p. 185Reading page

“…large variety of drugs and remedies for ailments; Al-Razi, who promoted chemical compounds in medicine; Ibn Sina, who described 700 preparations, their properties, actions, and their indications; and Al-Kindi, who determined and applied…”

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Printed p. 310 PDF p. 313Reference feature

“…the Secret of the Secrets by ninth-century Zakariya' al-Razi, known in the West as Rhazes. In Latin, this was Secr etum Secr etorum. • Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519 ) Leonardo da Vinci was…”

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Printed p. 316 PDF p. 319Biographical entry

“…architect. Islamic Cairo, Al-Qahirah, in 972/3 and the Al-Razi, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya (865- � � t mosque of Al-Azhar. 925); Ray, Iran; physician and chemist known Al-Muktafi. (d. 908); Abbasid caliph…”

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FROM THE RESEARCH ARCHIVE

Follow the research

Clinical medicine, hospital work, and writing across medicine, alchemy, and philosophy.

This summary comes from the collected Islamic Scientific Heritage posts. It has not been independently verified in full. A book name match alone does not confirm every claim in a post.

Research note: Distinct from Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī.

3 original research posts

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