Today's Edition
SARA ALZAABI (ABU DHABI)
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) has been considered the most influential philosopher and scientist of the Islamic world. At the ongoing Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, visitors get to learn more about the life and legacy of the great physician, who has been selected as Focus Personality for the event this year.
Born in 980 CE in Afshana (present-day Uzbekistan), Ibn Sina was raised in a family with strong intellectual roots. His father hailed from Balkh (modern-day Afghanistan) and later moved the family to Bukhara, where Ibn Sina would start his academic pursuits.
By the age of 10, he already knew the entire Quran by heart, and shortly thereafter, his interests broadened to philosophy, mathematics, and the natural sciences.
Intellectual growth took shape for Ibn Sina in a city known for its rich cultural and scientific heritage, Bukhara.
He was only 22 when his father died and he had to leave Bukhara in search of wider horizons.
The subsequent move served as the incredible groundwork for his scientific and philosophical contributions that inspired the world even until today.
Ibn Sina’s groundbreaking contributions span a wide spectrum — from physics to chemistry, philosophy, astronomy, and medicine.
He anticipated ideas on motion and stillness that would later be echoed by Isaac Newton.
His work in chemistry cleared up subtle theories, while his synthesis of Greek philosophy and Islamic thought bore such deeper incursion into existence, essence, and the soul.
His astronomical observations about Venus on closer approach to the Sun were settled only after centuries.
His major medical treatise, called “The Canon of Medicine”, became the cornerstone of medical education in Europe and kept on rendering its potency even until the 17th century.
He looked into human psychology, studied the aspect of the soul, and defined music as a mathematical science.
His writings and ideas were part of the great number of academic disciplines he left behind, which made a major contribution in the European Renaissance when his works were translated and studied in most prominent universities, such as the University of Paris, Harvard University, and Cambridge University.
With his contributions, Ibn Sina has gained distinction not only as one of the main scholars of the Islamic Golden Age, but also a bridge between the Eastern and Western intellectual traditions.
His work continues to inspire and influence scholars across various disciplines, celebrating his contributions to global knowledge that transcend time.
