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Ibn al-Quff was the first to establish the connection between arteries and veins with the flow of blood from the former to the latter.
Ibn al-Quff is ranked among the top scientists of Islam for his important discoveries relating to the cardio-vascular system. He was the first to establish a connection between arteries and veins, to describe the capillaries and to discuss the cardiac valves and their functions. Europe discovered the microscopic capillaries 400 years later and after the invention of powerful microscopes.
Life: Amin al-Dawla Abul Faraj ibn Muwaffaq al-Din Ibn al-Quff was born at Karak in present day Jordan in 630 AH/ 1233 AD. His father was an Arab Christian who held a high position under the Muslim rulers of Karak and Syria. On promotion, he moved from Karak to Sarkhand and Damascus. He was a close friend of physician-historian, Ibn Abi Usaibia. On his request, Ibn Abi Usaibia took Ibn al-Quff as his student and taught him medicine. Ibn al-Quff was handsome, quiet and intelligent, and took keen interest in his studies. He also studied mathematics, physics and philosophy. After the completion of his studies, he was appointed army physician-surgeon. In this capacity, he worked first at the fort of Ajlun in Jordan for several years and then at Damascus where he also taught medicine. As an army surgeon, he performed large number of surgeries which made him an expert in various types of surgeries. In his famous book on medical scientists, his teacher, Ibn Abi Usaibia gave a good account of his illustrious student. He died in 685 AH/ 1286 AD.
Achievements: Ibn al-Quff wrote a number of books on various aspects of medical science, philosophy and natural science. But he is remembered mainly for two books-kitab al-umda fil jarahat (on surgery) and Jami al-gharadh fi hifz al-sihha (on embryology and healthcare).
Kitab al-umda is one of the most comprehensive manuals on surgery in the history of medical science. It deals with both theory and practice of surgery in twenty chapters. The book reveals not only the mastery of Ibn al-Quff in anatomy, diseases and their treatment, and various types of surgical operations, but also the remarkable degree of knowledge that the Islamic civilization had attained in the matter, in the thirteenth century A.D.
Ibn al-Quff was the first to establish the connection between arteries and veins with the flow of blood from the former to the latter at the tiny capillaries ‘unseen by naked eye’. Arteries carry the blood from the heart to all parts of the body in a network ending in smaller arteries from which veins begin. Capillaries are ‘tiny pores’ between the arteries and veins where the blood ends its outward journey away from the heart and starts its inward journey towards the heart through the veins. He was also the first to explain the physiology of the cardiac valves, their number and the direction in which they open and close. Certain cardiac valves open inside to allow entry and prevent outflow of the blood, and others open outside to allow outflow and prevent inflow of the blood. These were remarkable discoveries which brought him everlasting fame. Europe learned about the tiny capillaries and the connection between the arteries and veins only after the discovery of powerful microscopes in the seventeenth century. His books were translated into Latin soon after his death.
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