The Arab contribution to Neurology ( 500 – 1516 AD )

centuries. Starting from the pre-Islamic era in the 6th century AD and extending to the 16th Century AD when the Ottoman Sultan Salim I in 1516 AD invaded and destroyed the Mamluk Dynasty in Syria and Egypt extending the Ottoman Empire into North Africa. The language of science at the time was Arabic. Many scientists and physicians throughout the Muslim Empire taught and wrote in Arabic. This was later translated to Latin through Andalusia and back to Europe during the Renaissance. Many scientists were born all over the Muslim Empire from Central Asia to Andalusia with various ethnic and religious backgrounds, but what united all of them was the Arabic language which they all used in their work. The political and cultural stability coupled with religious tolerance was paramount in allowing their work to flourish. One should not restrict the term of Arab Medicine to those born in what is now an "Arab" country, but think more globally without ethnic, religious or social restraints. In the history of Arab medicine, we can easily identify several consecutive periods: 1. Pre-Islamic and early Islamic medicine from 500 750 A.D, the end of the Umayyad caliphate in Damascus. 2. The expansion of Arab medicine when the Arabs conquered Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia and Egypt and came in contact with an established medical science and tradition. This period started with the Abassid caliphate from 750 900 A.D, and included the translation wave from the Greco-Roman medicine into Arabic with personal commentaries and additions to these translations. 3. The flourishing period of pure Arab medicine, which started during the Abassid Caliphate around 900 A.D and spanned through to the Andalusian era until 1300 A.D. 4. The fourth period from 1300 1516 AD. This was exemplified by the reverse wave of translations from Arabic into Latin starting in the western countries of the Arab domain, and the propagation of Arab medicine from the schools of Southern Italy and Spain into the north, especially Northern Italy, France and Germany. And although at the same time another direct translation from Greek into Latin was provided to the physicians of Europe, the Arabic translations, due to their rich and encyclopedic material remained the main stimuli for the inception of the new era of modern medicine in the world. Special Article