Ibn al-Nafis

Ala-al-din abu Al-Hassan Ali ibn Abi-Hazm al-Qarshi al-Dimashqi (Arabic: علاء الدين أبو الحسن عليّ بن أبي حزم القرشي الدمشقي ), known as Ibn al-Nafis (Arabic: ابن النفيس ), was an Arab physician mostly famous for being the first to describe the pulmonary circulation of the blood. The work of Al-Nafis regarding the right sided (pulmonary) circulation pre-date the much later work (1628) of William Harvey's De motu cordis. Both theories attempt to explain circulation. Together, they represent the earliest and best of Eastern and Western exploration of cardiac physiology.

Apart from medicine, Ibn al-Nafis learned jurisprudence, literature and theology. He was an expert on the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence and an expert physician. He also performed several human dissections during the course of his work. The number of medical textbooks written by al-Nafis in his lifetime is estimated at more than 110 volumes.

Biography

He was born in a village called al-Qurashiyya Damascus and studied medicine at Nuri Hospital in Damascus, which was founded by the Turkish Prince Nur-al Din Muhmud ibn Zanki, in the 12th century. Ibn al-Nafis was taught by the founder of a medical school in Damascus, Muhadhdab al-Din ‘Abd al-Rabin ib ‘Ali al-Dakhwar. Al-Nafis taught and practiced at his own, then lesser known hospital in Egypt. He became the chief physician there and personal physician for prominent political leaders, thus becoming also an authority among practitioners of medicine. Prior to his death, he donated his house and personal library to Qalawun Hospital or, as it was also known, the House of Recovery. He died on December 17, 1288, in Cairo.