Disease (al-marad)

المرض

Ibn Sina defines disease as an unnatural state of the body from which an injury to function follows directly, either an unnatural temperament or an unnatural composition ¹. He separates it from the cause, which comes first and brings about a state of the body, and from the symptom, which follows the state. His example: putrefaction is a cause, fever is a disease, and thirst and headache are symptoms ¹. The causes of diseases are treated in the second section of Fann 2 ².

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Overview

Ibn Sina defines disease as an abnormal state in the human body entailing of itself a lesion in function — either an abnormal temperament or an abnormal composition ¹. He distinguishes it from cause — what precedes and necessarily entails a bodily state — and from symptom, what follows the state: putrefaction is a cause, fever a disease, thirst and headache symptoms ¹. The causes of diseases are treated in the second lesson of the second book ².

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Part of: Medicine

People and things also explored

Anatomy· The four elements (al-arkan)· Health (al-sihha)· Humours (al-akhlat)· Medical treatment (al-mu'alaja)· Powers and actions (al-quwa wal-af'al)· Regimen of health (al-tadbir)· Symptoms and signs (al-a'rad wal-dala'il)

Sources

The Canon of Medicine, vol. 1 (Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, Beirut, 1999) , p.103
The Canon of Medicine, vol. 1 (Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, Beirut, 1999) , p.112

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islam.museum contributors. “Disease (al-marad)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/disease/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-22.

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Anatomy

In his commentary on the Canon's anatomy, Ibn al-Nafis says that religious restraint and compassion kept him from dissecting himself. He therefore relied on earlier practitioners, chiefly Galen, for the shapes of the inner organs, and on reasoned inquiry for their functions.