Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas al-Zahrawi better known as al-Zahrawi, was a physician and surgeon who lived in al-Andalus. He was born in the city of Azahara in the year 936 CE, only a few kilometers from Cordoba. Al-Zahrawi lived most of his life in Cordoba where he studied, taught and practiced medicine and surgery. He lived in the time of the 'islamic golden age' and was a court physician to the Andalusian caliph Al-Hakam II. He dedicated his life to the advancement of medicine as a whole and to surgery in particular.
Al-Zahrawi wrote a thirty-chapter medical treatise which he completed in the year 1000, called Kitab al-Tasrif, in it he covered a broad range of medical topics. He also emphasised the importance of positive doctor-patient relationship and treating patients irrespective of their social status.
A page from al-Tasrif
Kitab al-Tasrif was later translated into latin in the 12th century by Gerard of Cremona and was used for five centuries during the European Middle Ages as the primary source for European medical knowledge. There are many medical procedures which are described by al-Zahrawi in al-Tasrif that were later accredited to surgeons and physicians who came long after al-Zahrawi. In al-Tasrif, al-Zahrawi describes the method for treating a dislocated shoulder, which is now known as "Kocher's method", he also describes how to ligature blood vessels, almost six centuries before Ambroise Paré.
Medical Instruments in Kitab al-TasrifAl-Zahrawi wrote the book 'On Surgery and Instruments' which is an illustrated surgical guide. In it he drew diagrams of each tool used in different procedures, explaining step by step the correct use of each of these tools.
He introduced more than 200 surgical instruments, many of which were never used before. He was also the first person to use catgut for internal stitching, a practice still used by surgeons today.
Source - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Zahrawi
