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Ibn al-Nafis becomes Chief Physician of Egypt and personal physician of Baybars, c. 658/1260

ابن النفيس رئيساً لأطباء مصر وطبيباً خاصاً للظاهر بيبرس، نحو ٦٥٨هـ

c. 1260 CE · c. 658 AH

Cairo

Headship of medicine in Egypt came to rest with him 1: he was given the post of Chief Physician of Egypt and became the personal physician of sultan Baybars 2. He also lectured on Shafi'i law at the Masruriyya madrasa, where the grammarian Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati was his disciple in logic 2 — all within Baybars's reign (658–676/1260–1277); al-Suwaydan has him move to Qalawun's hospital as Baybars's private physician 3.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era
Region
Egypt & Nile

In time

125012601270 c.
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks · The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era

In space

Cairo

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Summary

Headship of medicine in Egypt came to rest with him: he was made Chief Physician of Egypt and personal physician of sultan Baybars 1 2, within Baybars's reign of 658–676/1260–1277.

Teaching and logic

He lectured on Shafi'i law at the Masruriyya madrasa, where the grammarian Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati was his disciple in logic 2; al-Suwaydan has him move to Qalawun's hospital as Baybars's private physician 3.

Connections

Explore the connections

Had participant
Ibn al-Nafis· al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars
Occurred at
Cairo

People and things also explored

Mosque of al-Zahir Baybars, Cairo· Baybars takes the sultanate, 658 AH· Death of Ibn al-Nafis at Cairo and his endowment of estate and books to the Mansuri maristan, 21 Dhu al-Qa'da 687/December 1288· Ibn al-Nafis settles in Cairo and joins the Nasiri hospital, 633/1235· Ibn al-Nafis composes the Theologus Autodidactus (Fadil ibn Natiq) at Cairo, c. 670/1270· Completion of the Mansuri maristan in Cairo, 683/1284· Al-Zahir Baybars· Ibn al-Nafis

Sources

  1. Tarikh al-Islam wa-Wafayat al-Mashahir wa-l-A'lam — al-Dhahabi , s.a. 687 p. 312
  2. Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition (Leiden: Brill, 1954–2008), 13 volumes , vol. 3 p. 897
  3. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Mubdioune, episode 17, at 00:10:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Ibn al-Nafis becomes Chief Physician of Egypt and personal physician of Baybars, c. 658/1260”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/ibn-al-nafis-baybars-physician-660/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-01.

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Mosque of al-Zahir Baybars, Cairo

The huge mosque Sultan al-Zahir Baybars built (1266-1269) north of Cairo beyond Bab al-Futuh, the first major mosque since al-Hakim's, with a great dome over the mihrab covering nine bays.