Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

Ibn Sina, known in Europe as Avicenna, was a Persian physician and philosopher who lived around 980–1037 CE. His Canon of Medicine and Book of Healing were studied for centuries from Central Asia to Western Europe.

Ibn Sina was born near Bukhara, at Afshana, around 980 CE, and grew up in a city then ruled by the Samanid dynasty. His own account, completed by his student al-Juzjani, describes a boy who mastered the Qur'an and the basic sciences early and then pursued logic, mathematics and medicine ¹.

He left Bukhara after about 1002 CE and worked at several courts in Iran as a physician and, at times, a vizier. In his last years he served Ala al-Dawla at Isfahan. He died at Hamadan in June 1037 CE (Ramadan 428 AH) ².

Among his best-known books are the Canon of Medicine, an encyclopaedic medical text, and the Book of Healing, a wide-ranging philosophical summa. He wrote mostly in Arabic and also in Persian ².

Later Muslim thinkers engaged with him in both directions: al-Ghazali criticised some of his views, while many others built on his system. Latin translations carried his medicine and philosophy into medieval Europe.