#352;āmil was
initiated afterwards. Up till now, fifteen volumes were printed, and the
remaining parts of the encyclopedia are expected to appear by the year
2001.
The
author of al-Šāmil is
‘Alā’ al-Dīn ‘Aliy bin-Abīl-Haram al-Qurašiy,
known as Ibn al-Nafīs. He was born in 607 H. in Damascus. He traveled
to Egypt in his youth where he practiced medicine, studied jurisprudence
and excelled in philology, logic as well as philosophy. Eventually, he
became the head of the physicians in Egypt. He died in 687 H. His prolific
writings vary on medicine, pharmacy, syntax, philology, logic, philosophy,
jurisprudence, and prophetic traditions. However, he scientific creativity
manifested in the field of medicine, to the extent that the historians
said about him that he was, after Avicenna, second to none, though he was
greater than the latter in matters of treatment.
|