"Let your first thought be to strengthen the natural vitality." "Truth in medicine is an unattainable goal, and the art as described in books is far beneath the knowledge of an experienced and thoughtful physician."

Abu Bakr Mohammad Ibn Zakariya al-Razi (864-930 A.D.) was born at Ray, Iran. Initially, he was interested in music but later on he learnt medicine, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry and philosophy from a student of Hunayn Ibn Ishaq, who was well versed in the ancient Greek, Persian and Indian systems of medicine and other subjects. He also studied under Ali Ibn Rabban. The practical experience gained at the well-known Muqtadari Hospital helped him in his chosen profession of medicine. At an early age he gained eminence as an expert in medicine and alchemy, so that patients and students flocked to him from distant parts of Asia.

No one could describe the achievements of Al Razi as he did, in an introduction to one of his philosophical articles:

"In short, so far while I am writing the present book, I have written around 200 books and articles on different aspects of science, philosophy, theology, and hekmat (wisdom)... I was never at the service of any king as a military man or a man of office, and if I ever did have a conversation with a king, it never went beyond my medical responsibility and advice ... those who have seen me know that I have never gone to excess in eating, drinking, and doing blamed things, as for my interest in science, people know well and have witnessed how I have devoted all my life to science since my youth ... and my patience and persistence in the pursuit of science have been to such extent that about only one special matter I have written 20,000 pages in small letters, and I spent fifteen years of my life-day and night-writing the big collection entitled Al Havi, and during this time, I lost my eyesight, my hand got paralyzed, and thus, now I am deprived of reading and writing as a result. Nonetheless, I never gave up, but kept on reading and writing with the help of others instead. Practically speaking, I can make concessions to my enemies and admit my shortcomings, but I wonder what they would say scientifically. If they find my approach defective, they can put forward their views and make their points clear so that I may study them. If I found their views right, I would admit it, and if I found them wrong, I could discuss the matter and prove my case. However, if this is not the case , and if they merely disagree with my approach and my way of life, I hope they would make use of my knowledge and not interfere with my attitude."

The most sought after of all his compositions was The Comprehensie Book on Medicine (Kitab al-Hawi fi al-tibb) - a large private notebook or commonplace book into which he placed extracts from earlier authors regarding diseases and therapy and also recorded clinical cases of his own experience. The material comprising the Hawi is arranged under headings of different diseases, with separate sections on pharmacological topics. The National Library of Medicine is fortunate in having the oldest recorded copy of this treatise, or rather part of the treatise, for the manuscript contains only the section on gastrointestinal complaints. The unnamed scribe completed the copy on the 19th of the month Dhu al-Qa`dah in the year 487 of the Muslim era, which is equivalent to 30 November 1094.

Europe knew al-Razi by the Latinized form of his name, Rhazes. His Comprehensive Book on Medicine, the Hawi, was translated into Latin in 1279 under the title Continens. Even more influential in Europe was al-Razi's Book of Medicine Dedicated to Mansur, a short general textbook on medicine in ten chapters. The treatise was translated into Latin and it became one of the most widely read medieval medical manuals in Europe, and the ninth chapter, on therapeutics, frequently circulated by itself under the title Liber nonus ad Almansorem. In the Renaissance many editions of it were printed with commentaries by the prominent physicians of the day.

A third treatise by al-Razi that was also influential in Europe was his book on smallpox and measles (Kitab fi al-jadari wa-al-hasbah). His was not the earliest monograph on the subject - that honor goes to Thabit ibn Qurrah, a 9th-century translator and scholar working in Baghdad who became one of the great names in the history of Islamic science, especially in mathematics and astronomy. Among al-Razi's smaller medical tracts were treatises on colic, on stones in the kidney and bladder, on curing diseases in one hour (such as headache, toothache, hemorrhoids, and dysentery in small children), on diseases of children, on diabetes, on food for the sick, on maladies of the joints, on medicine for one who is unattended by a physician, on medical aphorisms, and on the fact that some mild diseases are more difficult to diagnose and treat than the serious ones.

He was first placed in-charge of the first Royal Hospital at Ray, from where he soon moved to a similar position in Baghdad where he remained the head of its famous Muqtadari Hospital for a long time. He moved from time to time to various cities, especially between Ray and Baghdad, but finally returned to Ray, where he died around 930 A.D.

Razi was a Hakim (which in Arabic means a wise man), but is as well an alchemist and a philosopher. He was also an expert surgeon and was the first to use opium for anesthesia.

In addition to being a physician, he compounded medicines and, in his later years, gave himself over to experimental and theoretical sciences. It seems possible that he developed his chemistry independently of Jabir Ibn Hayyan. He has portrayed in great detail several chemical reactions and also given full descriptions of and designs for about twenty instruments used in chemical investigations. His description of chemical knowledge is in plain and plausible language. One of his books called Kitab-al-Asrar deals with the preparation of chemical materials and their utilization. He went beyond his predecessors in dividing substances into plants, animals and minerals, thus in a way opening the way for inorganic and organic chemistry. By and large, this classification of the three kingdoms still holds. As a chemist, he was the first to produce sulfuric acid together with some other acids, and he also prepared alcohol by fermenting sweet products.

His contribution as a philosopher is also well known. The basic elements in his philosophical system are the creator, spirit, matter, space and time. He discusses their characteristics in detail and his concepts of space and time as constituting a continuum are outstanding. His philosophical views were, however, criticised by a number of other Muslim scholars of the era.

Razi's interest in alchemy and his strong belief in the possibility of transmutation of lesser metals to silver and gold was confirmed half a century after his death by Ibn an-Nadim (The Philosophers Stone). He attributed a series of twelve books to al-Razi, then seven more, including his refutation to al-Kindi's denial of the validity of alchemy, and finally, al-Razi's two best-known alchemical texts: al-Asrar and Sirr al-Asrar (the secrets, and secret of secrets). These two works were not only among al-Razi's last publications on alchemy, but they superseded his earlier ones as the final representation of his alchemical teachings.

He was a prolific author, who has left monumental treatises on numerous subjects. He has more than 200 outstanding scientific books to his credit, out of which about half deal with medicine and 21 concern alchemy. He also wrote on physics, mathematics, astronomy and optics, but these writings could not be preserved. A number of his books, including Jami-fi-al-Tib, Mansoori, al-Hawi, Kitab al-Jadari wa al-Hasabah, al-Malooki, Maqalah fi al- Hasat fi Kuli wa al-Mathana, Kitab al-Qalb, Kitab al-Mafasil, Kitab-al- 'Ilaj al-Ghoraba, Bar al-Sa'ah, and al-Taqseem wa al-Takhsir, have been published in various European languages. About 40 of his manuscripts are still extant in the museums and libraries of Iran, Paris, Britain, Rampur, and Bankipur. His contribution has greatly influenced the development of science, in general, and medicine, in particular.

Some of his many books on medicine:

* The Embody (Large Comprehensive) (al-Hawi)
* An Introduction to Medical Science
* Al 'tibb Al jahez
* The Experimentation of Medical Science and its Application
* The Classification of Diseases
* Royal Medicine
* For One Without a Doctor
* The Book of Simple Medicine
* The Great Book of Krabadin
* The Book of Taj (Crown)
* The Book of Disasters
* Food and its Harmfulness
* The Book of Smallpox and Measles
* Stones in the Kidney and Bladder
* Ketab Al Falej
* The Book of Tooth Aches
* Dar Hey'ateh Kabed
* Awjaul Qalb
* About the Nature of Doctors
* About the Earwhole
* The Book of Surgical Instruments
* The Book on Oil
* Fruits Before and After Lunch
* Book on Medical Discussion
* About the Menstrual Cycle
* Snow and Medicine
* Snow and Thirst
* The Foot
* Fatal Diseases
* About Poisoning
* Hunger
* Soil in Medicine
* The Thirst of Fish
* Sleep Sweating
* Warmth in Clothing
* Spring and Disease
* Misconceptions of a Doctors Capabilities
* The Social Role of Doctors