Muhadhdhabuddin Abd al-Rahim bin Ali bin Hamid al-Dimashqi () known as al-Dakhwar () (1170–1230) was a leading

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

physician who served various rulers of the

Ayyubid dynasty The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egyp ...

.Ali, 1996, p.40. He was also administratively responsible for medicine in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

and

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

. Al-Dakhwar educated or influenced most of the prominent physicians of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

in the century, including writer Ibn Abi Usaibia and

Ibn al-Nafis ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Abī Ḥazm al-Qarashī (Arabic: علاء الدين أبو الحسن عليّ بن أبي حزم القرشي ), known as Ibn al-Nafīs (Arabic: ابن النفيس), was an Arab polymath whose area ...

, the discoverer of blood circulation in the human body.

Early life

Al-Dakhwar was born and brought up in Damascus, the son of an oculist. Initially, he too was an oculist at the Nuri Hospital of Damascus,Mahfuz, 1935, p.16. but afterward he studied medicine with Ibn al-Matran.Meyerhof, 1968, p.9.

Physician of the Ayyubids

In 1208,

al-Adil Al-Adil I (, in full al-Malik al-Adil Sayf ad-Din Abu-Bakr Ahmed ibn Najm ad-Din Ayyub, ,‎ "Ahmed, son of Najm ad-Din Ayyub, father of Bakr, the Just King, Sword of the Faith"; 1145 – 31 August 1218) was the fourth Sultan of Egypt, Sultan o ...

, the

Sultan of Egypt Sultan of Egypt was the status held by the rulers of Egypt after the establishment of the Ayyubid dynasty of Saladin in 1174 until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517. Though the extent of the Egyptian Sultanate ebbed and flowed, it generally ...

, told his vizier al-Sahib ibn Shukur, that he was in need of another physician with the equivalent skill of the chief of medicine at the time, Abd al-Aziz al-Sulami. Al-Adil believed that al-Sulami was busy enough serving as physician of the army. Ibn Shukur recommended al-Dakhwar for the post and offered him 30

dinar The dinar () is the name of the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, with a more widespread historical use. The English word "dinar" is the transliteration of the Arabic دينار (''dīnār''), which was bor ...

s a month. Al-Dakhwar turned him down, citing that al-Sulami receives 100 dinars a month and stating "I know my ability in this field and I will not take less!"Leiser and al-Khaledy, 2004, p.5. Al-Sulami died on June 7 and soon after al-Dakhwar himself came into contact with

, and the latter was greatly impressed by him. He not only appointed him as his personal physician, but also as one of his confidants. When al-Adil died, his son and successor in Damascus, al-Mu'azzam, made him chief superintendent of the Nasiri Hospital. There he wrote books and gave lectures on medicine to his students. Later, when al-Adil's other son al-Ashraf annexed Damascus after al-Mu'azzam died, al-Dakhwar was promoted as chief medical officer of the Ayyubid state.Ali, 1996, p.41.

Books

Medicine

*''al-Janinah'' ("The Embryo") *''Sharh Taqdimat-il-Ma'rifah'' ("Commentary on the Introduction of Knowledge") *''Mukhtasar-ul-Hawl-il-Razi'' ("Resume of al-Hawi by al-Razi")

Poetry

*''Kitab ul-Aghani'' (a summarized version of "The Book of Songs" by al-Isfahani)

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dak 1170 births 1230 deaths People from Damascus 13th-century Egyptian physicians Physicians from the Ayyubid Sultanate 13th-century Arab people