Editing Abu Bakr al-Razi (section)

==Biography==
[[File:Al-RaziInGerardusCremonensis1250.JPG|thumb|upright=1.4|left|Depiction of al-Razi in a 13th-century manuscript of a work by [[Gerard of Cremona]]]]
Al-Razi was born in the city of [[Rey, Iran|Ray]] (modern Rey, also the origin of his [[nisba (onomastics)|name]] "al-Razi"),<ref name="auto">{{harvnb|Adamson|2021a}}.</ref> into a family of Persian stock and was a native speaker of [[Persian language]].<ref>{{harvnb|Kahl|2015|page=6}}<br/>{{nowrap|{{harvnb|Ruska|1937|page=4}}}}<br/>{{harvnb|Ullmann|1997|page=29}}<br />{{harvnb|Sarton|1927|page=590}}<br/>{{harvnb|Hitti|1969|page=188}}<br/>{{harvnb|Walzer|1962|page=18}}</ref> Ray was situated on the [[Silk Road|Great Silk Road]] that for centuries facilitated trade and cultural exchanges between East and West. It is located on the southern slopes of the [[Alborz]] mountain range situated near [[Tehran]], Iran.

In his youth, al-Razi moved to [[Baghdad]] where he studied and practiced at the local [[bimaristan]] (hospital). Later, he was invited back to Rey by [[Mansur ibn Ishaq]], then the governor of Ray, and became a bimaristan's head.<ref name="ENW2" /> He dedicated two books on medicine to Mansur ibn Ishaq, ''The Spiritual Physic'' and ''Al-Mansūrī on Medicine''.<ref name="ENW2" /><ref>{{Cite web
| last = Rāzī
| first = Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā
| title = The Book of Medicine Dedicated to Mansur and Other Medical Tracts – Liber ad Almansorem
| work = World Digital Library
| language = la
| access-date = 2 March 2014
| url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/7381/
}}</ref><ref name = "bookonmedicinededicatedtoalmansur">{{Cite web
| last = Rāzī
| first = Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā
| title = The Book on Medicine Dedicated to al-Mansur – الكتاب المنصوري في الطب
| work = World Digital Library
| language = am, ar
| access-date = 2 March 2014
| url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/4276/
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web
| title = Commentary on the Chapter Nine of the Book of Medicine Dedicated to Mansur – Commentaria in nonum librum Rasis ad regem Almansorem
| work = World Digital Library
| language = la
| access-date = 2 March 2014
| year = 1542
| url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/10672/
}}</ref> Because of his newly acquired popularity as physician, al-Razi was invited to Baghdad where he assumed the responsibilities of a director in a new hospital named after its founder [[al-Muʿtaḍid]] (d. 902 CE).<ref name="ENW2" /> Under the reign of Al-Mutadid's son, [[Al-Muktafi]] (r. 902–908) al-Razi was commissioned to build a new hospital, which should be the largest of the [[Abbasid Caliphate]]. To pick the future hospital's location, al-Razi adopted what is nowadays known as an [[evidence-based]] approach suggesting having fresh meat hung in various places throughout the city and to build the hospital where meat took longest to rot.<ref>{{cite journal | pmc= 3644752 | pmid=23661862 | doi=10.4103/0257-7941.107357 | volume=31 | issue=4 | title=Rhazes' concepts and manuscripts on nutrition in treatment and health care |vauthors=Nikaein F, Zargaran A, Mehdizadeh A | journal=Anc Sci Life | pages=160–3| year=2012 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

He spent the last years of his life in his native Rey suffering from [[glaucoma]]. His eye affliction started with cataracts and ended in total blindness.<ref>Magner, Lois N. ''A History of Medicine''. New York: M. Dekker, 1992, p. 140.</ref> The cause of his blindness is uncertain. One account mentioned by [[Ibn Juljul]] attributed the cause to a blow to his head by his patron, [[Mansur ibn Ishaq]], for failing to provide proof for his alchemy theories;<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = CRC Press| isbn = 978-0-8247-4360-4| last = Magner| first = Lois N.| title = A History of the Life Sciences, Revised and Expanded| date = 13 August 2002|page=60}}</ref> while [[Bar Hebraeus|Abulfaraj]] and [[Miguel Casiri|Casiri]] claimed that the cause was a diet of beans only.<ref>Pococke, E. ''Historia Compendosia Dynastiarum''. Oxford, 1663, p. 291.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Long|first=George|title=The Penny cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, Volume 19|year=1841|publisher=C. Knight|page=[https://archive.org/details/pennycyclopdias23longgoog/page/n453 445]|url=https://archive.org/details/pennycyclopdias23longgoog|quote=rhazes.}}</ref> Allegedly, he was approached by a physician offering an ointment to cure his blindness. Al-Razi then asked him how many layers does the [[Human eye|eye]] contain and when he was unable to receive an answer, he declined the treatment stating "my eyes will not be treated by one who does not know the basics of its anatomy".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ddc.aub.edu.lb/projects/saab/S16R27/html-640/003-002.html |title=Saab Medical Library – كتاب في الجدري و الحصبة – American University of Beirut |publisher=Ddc.aub.edu.lb |date=1 June 2003 |access-date=15 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425001329/http://ddc.aub.edu.lb/projects/saab/S16R27/html-640/003-002.html |archive-date=25 April 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The lectures of al-Razi attracted many students. As [[Ibn al-Nadim]] relates in ''[[Ibn al-Nadim#Al-Fihrist|Fihrist]]'', al-Razi was considered a ''[[Sheikh|shaikh]]'', an honorary title given to one entitled to teach and surrounded by several circles of students. When someone raised a question, it was passed on to students of the 'first circle'; if they did not know the answer, it was passed on to those of the 'second circle', and so on. When all students would fail to answer, al-Razi himself would consider the query. Al-Razi was a generous person by nature, with a considerate attitude towards his patients. He was charitable to the poor, treated them without payment in any form, and wrote for them a treatise ''Man La Yaḥḍuruhu al-Ṭabīb'', or ''Who Has No Physician to Attend Him'', with medical advice.<ref>Porter, Roy. ''The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity''. New York: W. W. Norton, 1997, p. 97.</ref> One former pupil from [[Tabaristan]] came to look after him, but as [[Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī|al-Biruni]] wrote, al-Razi rewarded him for his intentions and sent him back home, proclaiming that his final days were approaching.<ref name="Brilliant Biruni">Kamiar, Mohammad. ''Brilliant Biruni: A Life Story of Abu Rayhan Mohammad Ibn Ahmad''. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2009.</ref> According to Biruni, al-Razi died in Rey in 925 sixty years of age.<ref name="Al-Birūni">Ruska, Julius. ''Al-Birūni als Quelle für das Leben und die Schriften al-Rāzi's''. Bruxelles: Weissenbruch, 1922.</ref> Biruni, who considered al-Razi his mentor, among the first penned a short biography of al-Razi including a bibliography of his numerous works.<ref name="Al-Birūni" />

[[Ibn al-Nadim]] recorded an account by al-Razi of a [[China|Chinese]] student who copied down all of [[Galen]]'s works in [[Chinese language|Chinese]] as al-Razi read them to him out loud after the student learned fluent Arabic in 5 months and attended al-Razi's lectures.<ref name="NeedhamWang1954">{{cite book|author1=Joseph Needham|author2=Ling Wang|title=中國科學技術史|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lNXZGQVdz_gC&pg=PA219|year=1954|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-05799-8|pages=219–}}</ref><ref name="Gernet1996">{{cite book|author=Jacques Gernet|title=A History of Chinese Civilization|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern|url-access=registration|date=31 May 1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-49781-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern/page/34 34]–}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.physique48.org/serv/razi.htm|title=الرازي|first=فيزياء|last=غليزان|access-date=24 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303224956/http://www.physique48.org/serv/razi.htm|archive-date=3 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nooonbooks.com/media/downloadable/files/links/2/5/pages/25058/OPS/Text/chapter-012.xml|title=قلم لنكبرده ولساكسه , قلم الصين|access-date=2 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304223624/http://www.nooonbooks.com/media/downloadable/files/links/2/5/pages/25058/OPS/Text/chapter-012.xml|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

After his death, his fame spread beyond the Middle East to Medieval Europe, and lived on. In an undated catalog of the library at [[Peterborough Cathedral|Peterborough Abbey]], most likely from the 14th century, al-Razi is listed as a part author of ten books on medicine.<ref>Gunton, Simon. The History of the Church of Peterborough. London, Richard Chiswell, publisher, 1686. Facsimile edition published by Clay, Tyas, and Watkins in Peterborough and Stamford (1990). Item Fv. on pp. 187–8.</ref>