Al-Razi (Rhazes)
Iranian physician, alchemist, and philosopher (c. 864–925) from Rayy, one of history's greatest physicians, who wrote the first clinical account of smallpox and measles.
Read in context →At a glance
- Field
- Medicine, alchemy (chemistry), philosophy
- Era
- Islamic Golden Age (Abbasid era)
- Key work
- Al-Hawi; treatise on smallpox and measles
- Birthplace
- Rayy (near Tehran)
Biography
Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (c. 864–925 CE), known in the West as Rhazes, was an Iranian physician, alchemist, and philosopher from Rayy near modern Tehran and one of the most influential physicians in history. He directed hospitals in Rayy and Baghdad and brought an empirical, observation-driven, patient-centered approach to medicine. His most famous medical work is al-Hawi (Liber Continens), a vast compendium assembled after his death that served as a European reference for centuries; his treatise al-Judari wa'l-Hasba is regarded as the first clear clinical description distinguishing smallpox from measles. In alchemy (proto-chemistry) he was a pioneer, describing substances such as acids and laboratory procedures and pushing the field toward practical method. A contested point is his philosophical-religious thought: works attributed to him critique prophecy and hold universal human reason to be sufficient, making him one of the most controversial freethinkers in the history of Islamic thought — though the authenticity of some of these texts and the fidelity of his opponents' reports (such as the Ismaili Abu Hatim al-Razi) are debated by scholars.
Quotes & narrations
«The physician should strive to cure disease by diet, and resort to medication only when that fails.»
Related entities
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Iranica, "Rāzī, Abū Bakr Moḥammad b. Zakariyāʾ"
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, "al-Razi"
- Lenn E. Goodman, in Encyclopaedia of Islam (Brill), "al-Rāzī, Abū Bakr"