A recent study has revealed that the Arab physician and scholar Hunayn ibn Ishaq, who lived in the ninth century, played a pivotal role in shaping Western medical knowledge, thanks to his translations of the works of great Greek physicians.
According to the research paper published in the journal Cogent Arts and Humanities , researchers from the University of Sharjah analyzed and translated an original manuscript by Hunayn entitled “Two Hundred and Seven Questions on the Eye,” an innovative treatise on ophthalmology that corrected misconceptions prevalent in the Middle Ages and greatly influenced the later development of medicine.
The letter, written in a question-and-answer format, complements ten other works by Hunayn, and together they are considered a landmark in the history of Islamic and Western medicine. These works provided a detailed analysis of the anatomy of the eye, including its layers and optic nerves.
Lead author Dalal Al-Zoubi explained that Hunayn ibn Ishaq demonstrated his scientific expertise in ophthalmology, providing evidence-based explanations. He emphasized that the disagreement regarding the number of layers in the eye was merely semantic, not substantive, clarifying that the eye consists of seven layers, only one of which is responsible for vision, while the others support its function. He also accurately described the eye muscles and the brain's role in controlling them via the optic nerve.
Hunayn's influence wasn't limited to medicine; he was also a brilliant translator. He enriched the Arabic language with precise medical terms that are still used today, such as "retina" and "cornea." Instead of literal translation, he coined Arabic terms that accurately conveyed the meaning, such as "retina of the eye" because its structure resembles a fisherman's net, given the dense network of interwoven veins and arteries within it.
Hunayn, a Christian from Hira in Iraq, was nicknamed "Sheikh of Translators". He worked at the House of Wisdom in Baghdad and contributed to the translation of Greek and Syriac manuscripts into Arabic, which preserved ancient Greek knowledge and facilitated its later transmission to Europe.
Hunayn is considered an intellectual bridge between ancient Greek medicine and medieval European medicine. European universities later relied on Latin translations based on his Arabic translations. His book "Questions on Medicine," translated into Latin as Isagoge Johannitius, is particularly noteworthy and remained a foundational text for medical education in Europe for centuries.
Professor Mamoun Saleh Abdul Karim, Professor of Archaeology and History at the University of Sharjah, who participated in the study, describes Hunayn as a figure of lasting importance, saying: “Hunayn ibn Ishaq had a significant impact on the development of Western medicine. He played a crucial role in translating Greek medical texts into Arabic, especially those of Galen and Hippocrates, where he refined and explained them with remarkable scientific accuracy. Hunayn was not merely a transmitter of Greek medicine, but was one of the most important intellectual bridges that connected classical knowledge with European medicine in the Middle Age
Professor Masoud Idris, Professor of Islamic Civilization at the University of Sharjah, adds: "Hunayn ibn Ishaq's translations and original writings exerted an influence not only within the Islamic world but also in medieval Europe."
Professor Idris noted that historians of medicine pay particular attention to Hunayn's book "Questions on Medicine" (for learners), which was translated into Latin as Isagoge Johannitius. He said, "This text served for centuries as an introductory medical guide in European universities. The widespread circulation of Hunayn's works in the Latin world illustrates the important role played by the Islamic medical school in shaping the foundations of medical education in Europe
Professor Abdul Karim concluded that Hunayn ibn Ishaq's legacy reminds us that scientific progress did not arise from a vacuum, but rather from dialogue between civilizations. The history of medicine "is not merely the story of a single civilization, but a tale of knowledge transmitted across cultures to shape global sciences."
This study examines Hunayn's contributions to the development of the translation movement in the early Abbasid era, highlighting how he pioneered a translation model that aimed to convey the full meaning of the original text rather than adhering to the prevailing practice of literal, word-for-word translation. This study is the first to translate the manuscript "On the Eye: Two Hundred and Seven Questions" into English, offering a new perspective on the greatness of this scholar who combined medical expertise with linguistic genius
