Al-Razi 854 – 925
Abu Bakr al-Razi, known to the Latin West as Rhazes, was a Persian polymath, physician, alchemist, and philosopher, and one of the most original minds of the Islamic Golden Age. As head of hospitals in Rayy and Baghdad, he produced a vast encyclopedic medical work, the Comprehensive Book, and a celebrated treatise on smallpox and measles. In philosophy he defended a strikingly heterodox position: that the prophets are unnecessary because reason is the gift of God to every human being, and that revealed religion is a source of conflict among peoples. He held that knowledge is the highest good and the practice of medicine its proper exercise.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Persian
- Era
- Medieval
- Movements
- Islamic, Medieval
Selected quotes
-
Attributed to Al-Razi:
“Truth in medicine is an unattainable goal, and the art as described in books is far beneath the knowledge of an experienced thoughtful physician.”
-
Attributed to Al-Razi:
“All learning is preceded by the recognition of one's own ignorance.”
-
Attributed to Al-Razi:
“The intellect is God's greatest gift to humankind, and we should not impose another authority above it.”
-
Attributed to Al-Razi:
“When the patient gets too much medicine, the disease is harmed but the patient is harmed too.”
-
Attributed to Al-Razi:
“The physician's task is to imitate the work of nature.”