Editing Avicenna (section)

== Other contributions ==

=== Astronomy and astrology ===
{{main|Astrology in the medieval Islamic world}}
[[File:Skulls of Avicenna.jpg|thumb|Skull of Avicenna, found in 1950 during construction of [[Avicenna Mausoleum|the new mausoleum]]]]
Avicenna wrote an attack on astrology titled ''Missive on the Champions of the Rule of the Stars'' ({{lang|ar|رسالة في ابطال احكم النجوم}}) in which he cited passages from the Quran to dispute the power of astrology to foretell the future.<ref>[[George Saliba]] (1994), ''A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam'', pp. 60, 67–69. [[New York University Press]], {{ISBN|0-8147-8023-7}}.</ref> He believed that each [[classical planet]] had some influence on the Earth but argued against [[astrology in the medieval Islamic world|current astrological practices]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/avicenna-viii |title=Avicenna |last=Saliba |first=George |author-link=George Saliba |year=2011 |website=Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition |access-date=18 January 2012 |archive-date=20 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220161012/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/avicenna-viii |url-status=live }}</ref>

Avicenna's astronomical writings had some influence on later writers, although in general his work could be considered less developed than that of [[ibn al-Haytham]] or al-Biruni. One important feature of his writing is that he considers [[astronomy in the medieval Islamic world|mathematical astronomy]] a separate discipline from astrology.<ref name=Ragep /> He criticized Aristotle's view of the [[star]]s receiving their light from the [[Sun]], stating that the stars are self-luminous, and believed that the planets are also self-luminous.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ariew |first=Roger |date=March 1987 |title=The phases of venus before 1610 |journal=Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=81–92 |doi=10.1016/0039-3681(87)90012-4|bibcode=1987SHPSA..18...81A }}</ref> He claimed to have observed the [[transit of Venus]]. This is possible as there was a transit on 24 May 1032, but ibn Sina did not give the date of his observation and modern scholars have questioned whether he could have observed the transit from his location at that time; he may have mistaken a sunspot for Venus. He used his transit observation to help establish that Venus was, at least sometimes, below the Sun in the [[geocentric model]],<ref name="Ragep">{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Ibn_Sina_BEA.htm |title=Ibn Sīnā: Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn Sīnā |last=Sally P. Ragep |encyclopedia=The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media]] |year=2007 |editor-last=Thomas Hockey |pages=570–572 |access-date=15 October 2011 |archive-date=21 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921050851/https://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Ibn_Sina_BEA.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> i.e. the sphere of Venus comes before the sphere of the Sun when moving out from the Earth.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Goldstein|first=Bernard R. |year=1969 |title=Some Medieval Reports of Venus and Mercury Transits |journal=Centaurus |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=49–59 |bibcode=1969Cent...14...49G |doi=10.1111/j.1600-0498.1969.tb00135.x }}</ref><ref name="Goldstein">{{Cite journal |last=Goldstein |first=Bernard R. |date=March 1972 |title=Theory and Observation in Medieval Astronomy |journal=[[Isis (journal)|Isis]] |volume=63 |issue=1 |pages=39–47 [44] |doi=10.1086/350839|bibcode=1972Isis...63...39G |s2cid=120700705 }}</ref>

He also wrote the ''Summary of the Almagest'' based on Ptolemy's ''[[Almagest]]'' with an appended treatise "to bring that which is stated in the Almagest and what is understood from Natural Science into conformity". For example, ibn Sina considers the motion of the solar [[apsis]], which Ptolemy had taken to be fixed.<ref name=Ragep />

=== Chemistry ===
Avicenna was first to derive the attar of flowers from distillation<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WMvVBi5EbhMC&q=attar+perfume+muslim&pg=PA70|title=Studies in Islamic Civilization: The Muslim Contribution to the Renaissance|last1=Essa|first1=Ahmed|last2=Ali|first2=Othman|date=2010|publisher=International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)|isbn=978-1-56564-350-5|language=en|page=70}}</ref> and used [[steam distillation]] to produce essential oils such as rose essence, which he used as [[aromatherapeutic]] treatments for heart conditions.<ref name="Marlene">Marlene Ericksen (2000). ''Healing with Aromatherapy'', p. 9. McGraw-Hill Professional. {{ISBN|0-658-00382-8}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Traditional Healer's Handbook: A Classic Guide to the Medicine of Avicenna |last=Ghulam Moinuddin Chishti |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-89281-438-1 |page=239|publisher=Inner Traditions / Bear & Co }}</ref>

Unlike al-Razi, Avicenna explicitly disputed the theory of the [[Philosopher's stone|transmutation of substances]] commonly believed by [[alchemy|alchemists]]:

{{blockquote|Those of the chemical craft know well that no change can be effected in the different species of substances, though they can produce the appearance of such change.<ref>[[Robert Briffault]] (1938). ''The Making of Humanity'', p.&nbsp;196–197.</ref>}}

Four works on alchemy attributed to Avicenna were translated into [[Latin]] as:<ref name="Anawati">Georges C. Anawati (1996), "Arabic alchemy", in Roshdi Rashed, ed., ''[[Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science]]'', Vol. 3, pp.&nbsp;853–885 [875]. [[Routledge]], London and New York.</ref>
* {{lang|la|Liber Aboali Abincine de Anima in arte Alchemiae}}
* {{lang|la|Declaratio Lapis physici Avicennae filio sui Aboali}}
* {{lang|la|Avicennae de congelatione et conglutinatione lapidum}}
* {{lang|la|Avicennae ad Hasan Regem epistola de Re recta}}

{{lang|la|Liber Aboali Abincine de Anima in arte Alchemiae}} was the most influential, having influenced later [[medieval]] chemists and alchemists such as [[Vincent of Beauvais]]. However, Anawati argues (following Ruska) that the de Anima is a fake by a Spanish author. Similarly the Declaratio is believed not to be actually by Avicenna. The third work (''The Book of Minerals'') is agreed to be Avicenna's writing, adapted from the ''Kitab al-Shifa'' (''Book of the Remedy'').<ref name=Anawati /> Avicenna classified minerals into stones, fusible substances, sulfurs and salts, building on the ideas of Aristotle and Jabir.<ref>{{Citation |last=Leicester |first=Henry Marshall |title=The Historical Background of Chemistry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aJZVQnqcwv4C&pg=PA70 |page=70 |year=1971 |publisher=Courier Dover Publications |isbn=978-0-486-61053-5 |quote=There was one famous Arab physician who doubted even the reality of transmutation. This was 'Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina (980–1037), called Avicenna in the West, the greatest physician of Islam.&nbsp;... Many of his observations on chemistry are included in the ''Kitab al-Shifa'', the "Book of the Remedy". In the physical section of this work he discusses the formation of minerals, which he classifies into stones, fusible substances, sulfurs, and salts. Mercury is classified with the fusible substances, metals}}</ref> The ''epistola de Re recta'' is somewhat less sceptical of alchemy; Anawati argues that it is by Avicenna, but written earlier in his career when he had not yet firmly decided that transmutation was impossible.<ref name=Anawati />

=== Poetry ===
Almost half of Avicenna's works are versified.<ref>[[Edward Granville Browne|E.G. Browne]], ''Islamic Medicine'' (sometimes also printed under the title ''Arabian medicine''), 2002, Goodword Pub., {{ISBN|81-87570-19-9}}, p61</ref> His poems appear in both Arabic and Persian. As an example, [[Edward Granville Browne]] claims that the following Persian verses are incorrectly attributed to [[Omar Khayyám]], and were originally written by Ibn Sīnā:<ref>E.G. Browne, ''Islamic Medicine'' (sometimes also printed under the title ''Arabian medicine''), 2002, Goodword Pub., {{ISBN|81-87570-19-9}}, pp.&nbsp;60–61)</ref>

{{Verse translation|italicsoff=y|rtl1=y|
{{lang|fa|rtl=yes|از قعر گل سیاه تا اوج زحل
کردم همه مشکلات گیتی را حل
بیرون جستم زقید هر مکر و حیل
هر بند گشاده شد مگر بند اجل}}
|
From the depth of the black earth up to Saturn's apogee,
All the problems of the universe have been solved by me.
I have escaped from the coils of snares and deceits;
I have unraveled all knots except the knot of Death.<ref>Gabrieli, F. (1950). Avicenna's Millenary. East and West, 1(2), 87–92.</ref>{{rp|91}}
}}