865-925
Hakim

Renaissance Man. With the spread of Islam, a group of learned Muslim scholars developed whose renown spread from Baghdad to the universities of Europe. In the Muslim world such a scholar is called a hakim—a word that stems from hikmah (wisdom). A hakim was expected to be a scholar of religion and philosophy, a writer, a teacher, and a scientist. Since the focus of Muslim higher education was On medicine and law, it was assumed that all hakims were also competent physicians and judges. Known as Rhazes in the West, al-Razi has been called the unchallenged chief physician of the Muslims and the most brilliant genius of the Middle Ages. He wrote books about philosophy, logic, astronomy, mathematics, physics, medicine, and music.

Life. Al-Razi was born in 864 in Persia, near the present-day city of Tehran. He had a...