<Home> <Muslim Scientists> <Surgical Heritage of Egypt During the Early Islamic Period>

Dr. Henri Amin Awad
EGYPT

The Arab conquest of Egypt during the seventh century (641 A.D. -21 A.H.), had led to a great advance in the art of healing i.e. medicine, surgery, pharmacy. The natives of the Nile valley aided the Arabs and welcomed the change of Masters. The spirit of innovation of the ancient Egyptians which had persisted despite the passing of time and despite its periods of decline and degeneration was taken by the Arabs and this led to significant contributions and development of better practice in medicine and surgery since the dawn of Islam.3

The Arab interest in the art of healing was mostly due to a religious incentive which finds its expre- ssion in tradition. One tradition makes science two fold, theology and ecology. Other tradition reported that God never permitted a disease in a place without creating there a way to combat and cure it, so they utilized, searched, and trusted treatment to the very end. The Arabs in the Arabian peninsula, since the rise of Islam have had a fair knowledge and good practice in surgery.4

This fact is confirmed by the following: -

Fustat began as a military garrison, then soon became one of the most important cities in the Islamic Empire. Amr built his mosque in the centre of the city which is considered the first mosque in Africa and the oldest university that radiated its lights over the whole empire.

Egypt saw its first hospital "el-Kanadil" in the seventh century and it was near Amr Ibn el- -As mosque.

These excavations unearthed a large number of surgical tools which are considered the first and earliest known of their kind, according to the sites of these excavations. These excavated tools are attributed to the late Ommyad and Abbasid periods in Egypt. These instruments bear much resemblance to the ancient Egyptians' surgical tools and to those pictured on the walls of the "Kom-ombo" temple in upper Egypt and dating from the Ptolemic period "second century B.C.". The presence of these tools in the Egyptian soil proves the presence of a great progress in surgery during the early Muslim reign of Egypt. Among the excavated tools, there are various types of cauteries, surgical needles, trocars, hooks, pincers, forceps, scissors, tweezers, osteotomes, tongue depressors, ear cones. In this paper forty five pieces were studied and illustrated.
1. Olivery end cautery used for the treatment of paralyses, headache, and dislocation of hip.
2. Two pronged end cautery used for hip dislocation.
3. "Knobbed end" cautery used in ophtalmology.
4. Nail shaped cautery used in treatment of tumours of buttocks, lumbago... cautery is carried in three
    raws, every raw five points.
5. Hollow cautery, one end like a probe, the other end like a tube used in treatment of fistulae.
6. Circular cautery used in the treatment of stomach troubles.
7. Double edge fine scalpel used for incising the skin before ligation of arteries.
8. Extra fine scalpel for excision of tumours in the ear .
9. Scalpel, like a lancet for eye surgery .
10. Tonsilectomy scalpel, curved, one end sharp, the other blunt.
11. Short scalpel, double-edged, blunt-ended, used, for bladder operation.
12. Knife with hooked end for venesection.
13. Broad knife, double-edged, blunt-ended.
14. Triangular fine scalpel for eye surgery.
15. Fine scalpel, one-edged, sharp ended, for conjuctival incision.
16. Long forceps for removal of foreign bodies from the ear .
17. Forceps with toothed end for removal of warts, "Monkash".
18. Forceps with a guard used as a clamp for stoppage of bleeding, " Artery forceps".
1 9. Forceps with broad circular ends, for removing pieces of bones from fractures.
20. Tweezer with a probe "Mirwad".
21. Tweezer used for eye surgery.
22. Hollow tube for removal of skin tags and papilloma.

23. Two bars used to remove excess skin in case of ectropion.
24. Spoons of various sizes and calibres for application of chemicals on inflamed uvula and fistula.
25. Pincer called ..Middas", a probe ending with a sharp spoon which is inserted in a tumour, then with rotation, the surgeon can collect pathological matter.
26. Scissors called clipper, ..Mikrad".
27. Three pronged hook for pulling up and handling the tissue when operating on tumours and haemor- roids.
28. Scrapers, ..Mijrad", for scraping bones in fractures and in dental surgery and orthopedies.
29. Tongue depressor, used to keep the tongue down during tonsillectomy.
30. Piece of metal shaped like a spoon, one end narrow, the other broad used to protect soft tissues, during operations.
31. Lever used for removing roots of broken tooth.
32. Sound, used as a dilator for urethra and inspection of fistulae.
33. Explorer ..Barid" used for inspection of fistuale, wounds, tumours.
34. Elevator ..sinara" for removing broken tooth.
35. Hooks for removal of foreign bodies from throat.
36. Currette, sharp end and edges, for operations on lachrymal canal.
37. Orill ..Mithgab" for bone surgery.
38. Fine currette for scraping eye lids in case of trachoma.
39. Cannula for Ascites.
40. Ear cone for removing worms, pus from the ear by suction.
41 .Straight surgical needle.
42. Curved surgical needle.
43. Small chisel or osteotome.
44. Big osteotome.
45. Osteotome, its handle is decorated like a bird.

SUMMARY AND RESULTS

The fame of surgery which flourished in Egypt at the dawn of Islam spread rapidly over the Islamic world, in East as well as in the West. Two centuries later Abul Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis) wrote his I profusely illustrated, Treatise ..al- Tasrif" and described many of the surgical tools that bear much resemblance to excavated ones.6 Then in the twelfth century , in Egypt, the Egyptian physician ..Abu--Naser Ibn al-Ayn Zarbi" in his book al-Kafi described many similar instruments. One century later, Abu'l Farag Ibn al-Quff in his book ..al-Umdah fi Sinat al-Jiraha", described many surgical procedures and instruments and is considered the largest manual in medicine and surgery .  Finally,7 the Turkish physician ..Sharaf al-Oin Ali" in his royal surgical book ..al-Jiraha-al Kaniya" 8 described and illustrated many surgical instruments. In the second half of the twelfth century ..al- Tasrif" was translated to Latin by Gerard of Cremona and its influence on Latin world was enormous.

 REFERENCES

1. The excavated surgical tools examined and evaluated are in the collection of Dr. Henri Amin Awad, the Islamic Art Museum, the Coptic Museum Cairo.
2, A concise article in the magazine of the faculty of Archeology Cairo University 1976, pp. 19-23. Dr. H.A. Awad gave general data about these excavated surgical instruments, the journal International surgery , October 1977 No.10, Page 520-24, Sami H. Hamarneh and H.A. Awad, "Early surgical instruments excavated in old Cairo", a paper prepared for the 25th International congress for the history of medicine, Quebec, Canada, 1976.
3. SEE GEORGE SARTON, "Introduction of the history of science" vol. I Baltimore Md. Institute 1927, 583-89.
4. The "Medicine of the Prophet", IBN QUEIME EL-GOZIA, Cairo 1978.
5. DR. HASSAN KAMAL, Pharonic Medicine, Cairo, 1964.
6. SAMI HAMARNEH, "Drawing and pharmacy in al-Zahrawi 10th century", USNM Bulletin 228 paper, 22 Washington D.C. 1961, pp. 81-94 .
7. S. HAMARNEH, "The physician, therapist and surgeon Ibn al-Quff", Cairo atlas press 1974, pp. 94-136.
8. Serefiddin Sabuncon by Suheyl Unver, Istanbul.

KEY TO PLATES:

1. Plates from I-VIII; The figures of the excavated and studied forty five surgical instruments.
 2. Plates IX-X; Dr. Henri Amin Awad collection.
 3. Plate XI; The Islamic Art Museum Collection.