Page 18 The Islamic Bulletin Volume XXIV No. 28 Pharmacy (the science or practice of the preparation and dispensing of medicinal drugs) is practiced universally today and has its roots deeply embedded over many centuries by scholars, alchemists, and physicians of the Muslim Middle East. Abu al-Rayanal-al-Biruni c.1045 CE described the pharmacist as: “The professional who is specialized in the collection of all drugs, choosing the very best of each simple or compound and in the preparation of good remedies from them following the most accurate methods and techniques as recommended by experts in the healing arts.” By the start of the seventh century, medicine was a fusion of Greek, Indian, Persian and Roman practices that had progressed over nearly a whole millennium. These were mostly lists of plants and minerals and their various effects. Due to various events in the West and Near East many of these documents were on the brink of having been lost. By the mid seventh century, the rise of Islam brought with it a new thirst for knowledge that eventually expanded on what had nearly been lost in the world of medicine. Medical practitioners took guidance from several hadiths (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) and took it upon themselves to discover cures for the various ailments. Bukhari related: “God never inflicts a disease unless He makes a cure for it.” Abu Darda narrated: “God has sent down the disease and the cure, and He has appointed a cure for every disease, so treat yourselves medically.” The ruling court of the Umayyads in Damascus was one of the first to approach the use of drugs in a systematic way. Sudden deaths were not uncommon and they were often attributed, mostly erroneously, to poison. Concerned about issues like snake bites, scorpion and spiders stings among others the exploitation of the poisonous properties of minerals and plants such as aconite, mandrake and black hellebore interested them. The Greek physicians Galen and Dioscorides were considered to be the ancient authorities in this field and were studied profusely; therefore the alchemists of that time worked mostly on toxicology. The son of the second Umayyad Yazid, Khalid bin Yazid, was particularly interested in alchemy. He had Greek and Egyptian books on chemistry, medicine and astronomy translated into Arabic. During the same time Jabir ibn Hayyan, called Geber in the West, was promoting alchemy as a profession, thereby laying the early foundations for chemical and bio chemical research. These early Islamic alchemists made careful written observations of their experiments and their Islamic Roots of Modern Pharmacy results were designed to gather information and most importantly to answer specific questions. They avoided unproven beliefs and relied on trials that could be tested and reproduced. This work was the true advent of the scientific method. By the ninth century the work was completed and the creation of Arabic alchemic manuals represented some of the best work in this field; their careful methodology served all fields, including pharmacy. During the experimentation process and in the mixing of the various elixirs many mineral and chemical substances were used and the list includes, vitriol, arsenic, common salt and many more. Many botanical products such as olives, saffron, fennel etc. and gums such as frankincense were also used. Their laboratories were very well equipped and included scales and bottles. The processes we use today such as distillation, sublimation, evaporation, pulverization, condensation and many others were standard procedure for them too. In the ninth century the translations of many works blossomed under the Baghdad-based Abbasids. Hunayan ibn Ishaq was probably the greatest of the translators. He had a superlative knowledge of Syriac, Greek and Arabic and his translations included works of Hippocrates and Galen. The highest levels of the government supported and funded the intellectuals and so paved the way for 400 years of achievements. New methods of extracting and preparing medicines became essential processes of pharmacy and chemistry. The Sanskrit word for a seller of sandalwood, saydalani, is how pharmacists became known. They introduced new drugs that contained – not unexpectedly- sandalwood, camphor, aloe, mercury and others. These were dispensed in the form of ointments, pills, elixirs, confections, tinctures, suppositories and inhalants. The trend that had started in Baghdad soon spread to other Muslim cities by the beginning of the ninth century. Initially, the pharmacy shops were unregulated, but as pharmacy students were trained theoretically and practically and were required to pass examinations in order to become licensed professionals all this changed. They had to pledge to follow the physician’s prescriptions. Doctors could not own or be a partner in a pharmacy so as to avoid conflicts of interest and government appointed inspectors (muhtasib) ensured that the premises were clean, medicines were not diluted and that medicines were mixed properly. Fines or beatings were imposed in the event that something was amiss. Hospitals developed their own dispensaries too that were run by the shaykh saydalani (chief pharmacist). By medieval times Islamic pharmacology was extensive and a strong empirically based biological science. Like in the West the Islamic viewpoint was based on Galen’s Humoral Theory and focused on the need to balance the humors (bodily fluids). Cathartics, purges and laxatives were used to achieve this and senna (a low bush with small yellow flowers, greenish yellow leaves and fat seed pods) was particularly efficient. Taken alone the infusion from the leaves had a distinctive smell and a nauseatingly sweet taste and had to be mixed with aromatic spices. The Arabs introduced manna and tamarind as safer, milder and more reliable laxatives. Scammony, a plant from the morning glory family, was used by some, who regarded it as a functional medicine, but was controversial because of its violently laxative
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