Hunayn ibn Ishaq (also Hunain or Hunein) (Syriac: Hunein Bit Ishak, Arabic: أبو زيد حنين بن إسحاق العبادي‎, ’Abū Zayd Ḥunayn ibn ’Isḥāq al-‘Ibādī; known in Latin as Johannitius (809-873) was a famous and influential Middle Eastern Nestorian Christian scholar, physician, and scientist, known for his work in translating scientific and medical works in Greek into Arabic and Syriac during the glory years of the Abbasid Caliphate. ^[1] Ḥunayn ibn Isḥaq was the most productive translator of Greek medical and scientific treatises. He was originally from southern Iraq but he spent his working life in Baghdad, the center of the great ninth-century Greek-into-Arabic/Syriac translation movement. Impressively, Hunayn's translations did not require corrections at all. This perfection possibly came about because he mastered four languages: Arabic, Syriac, Greek and Persian. He studied Greek and became known among the Arabs as the "Sheikh of the translators." Hunayn’s method was widely followed by later translators. ^[2]

Contents 1 Overview 2 Early Life 3 Works 4 Physician 4.1 Ophthalmology 5 See also 6 References 7 External Links

[edit] Overview

In the Abbasid era, the Arabs became highly interested in extending the studies of Greek science. In fact, there was a vast amount of information in Greek language pertaining to philosophy, mathematics, science, and medicine.^[3][4] However, the Arabs did not have a way to interpret this valuable information, so a need for translation existed. Within time, Hunayn ibn Ishaq became arguably the best translator in the era and eventually built the foundations in Islamic medicine.^[3] In his lifetime, Ishaq translated 116 writings, a few of which were Plato’s “Timmaeus,” Aristotle’s “Metaphysics,” and the “Old Testament,” into Syriac and Arabic.^[5][4] Additionally, Ishaq produced 36 of his own books, in which 21 covered the fields of medicine.^[5] His son Ishaq ibn Hunayn and nephew Hubaysh (also Hubaish) worked together with him at times to help translate some of his works. Hunayn ibn Ishaq is known mostly for his translation and his method and also his contributions to medicine.^[4]

[edit] Early Life

Hunayn ibn Ishaq was born in 809 in Al-Hira in the Abbasid period as a Nestorian Christian.^[6][7] As a child, he learned the languages Syriac and Arabic. When he was older, Hunayn set out to Baghdad to study medicine, despite that Al-Hira was known for commerce and banking and that his father was a pharmacist. In Baghdad, Hunayn had the privilege to study from renowned physician Yuhanna ibn Masawayh; however, Hunayn’s countless questions irritated Yuhanna, causing him to scold at Hunayn and forcing him to leave. As a result, ibn Ishaq promised himself to return to Baghdad when he becomes a physician, and in the mean time, he traveled to Alexandria and/or Byzantium to master Greek language. In his return to Baghdad, Hunayn displayed his newly-acquired skills by reciting the works of Homer and Galen. In awe, ibn Masawayh reconciled with Hunayn, and the two started to work cooperatively.^[7]

Also, Hunayn was extremely motivated into his work that he decided to master his Greek study, enabling him to translate Greek texts into Syriac and Arabic. In fact, one of the Abbasid Caliphs, Al-Ma’mun, noticed the talents of Hunayn ibn Ishaq. In a time when knowledge of science and medicine from the Greeks was desperately wanted, Al-Ma’mun placed Hunayn in charge of the House of Wisdom, “Bayt al Hikmah.” The House of Wisdom was an institution in which writings from Greek were translated and made available to the Arabs to read and to study for a larger audience.^[6] Al-Ma’mun also gave Hunayn the opportunities to go on trips to Byzantium to search for additional manuscripts in order to translate the writings of Aristotle and other prominent authors.^[7]

Afterwards, Hunayn ibn Ishaq became an effective physician. His reputation as a scholar and translator and his close bond to Caliph al-Mutawakil caught his attention. Consequently, the Caliph ended the long list of personal physicians from the Bukhtishu family and named Hunayn as his doctor.^[7] Despite the relationship, al-Mutawakil became concerned about Hunayn’s trust; at the time, many people feared death from poisoning, and physicians were well aware of its synthesis procedure. As a result, the Caliph tested Hunayn’s ethics as a physician by asking him to formulate a poison to destroy a foe in exchange for a large sum of treasures. Hunayn ibn Ishaq repeatedly rejected the Caliph’s generous offers stating that he would need time to research and to develop a drug, and quite disappointed, al-Mutawakil forced his physician to prison for a year. When asked why he would rather be killed than make the drug, Hunayn proclaimed that a physician’s oath includes not to offer lethal drugs but only to help their patients. Hunayn’s act of bravery declares his decency to not just his Caliph but also to his objective in improving medicine.^[6]

[edit] Works

In Hunayn ibn Ishaq’s lifetime, he devoted himself to working on a multitude of writings whether translating material from Greek to Syriac or Arabic or making his own books. He wrote on a variety of subjects that included philosophy: he translated some of Plato’s and Aristotle’s works and the commentaries of ancient Greeks. He also translated writings on agriculture, stones, and religion and worked on Arabic grammar and lexicography. Additionally, Hunayn translated many medicinal texts and summaries, mainly those of Galen’s, and also authored his own books about religion and medicine. For instance, in “How to Grasp Religion,” Hunayn explains the truths of religion that include miracles not possibly made by humans and humans’ incapacity to explain facts about some phenomena, and also false notions of religion that include depression and an inclination for glory.^[7]

In his strive for translating as many Greek materials as possible, Hunayn ibn Ishaq was accompanied by his son Ishaq ibn Hunayn and his nephew Hubaysh. In fact, the collaborative efforts speeded the process up: It was quite normal at times for Hunayn to translate a Greek material into Syriac, and have his nephew finish by translating the text from Syriac to Arabic. Moreover, Ishaq corrected his partners’ errors while translating writings in Greek and Syriac into Arabic.^[4]

Another crucial component in Hunayn’s goal was his procedure. Unlike other translators of the past and in the Abbasid period, Hunayn greatly opposed translating texts word for word. Instead, he would attempt to attain the meaning of the subject and the sentences, and then in a new manuscript, rewrite the piece of knowledge in Syriac or Arabic.^[4] He also corrected texts by collecting different set of books revolving around a subject and by finalizing the meaning of the subject.^[7] The method helped Arabs gather in just 100 years nearly all the knowledge from Greek medicine.^[4]

[edit] Physician

As great of a translator Hunayn ibn Ishaq was, he was also a terrific physician. In fact, there were 56 physicians, who were also associated with the Caliph, that were known as “wicked physicians.” Whenever Hunayn visited and treated patients, he was ridiculed and was claimed to be a blacksmith rather than a physician. However, Hunayn was the bridge between the works of Galen who discovered a tremendous amount about medicine and the human body, and Arabic-reading physicians as well as Christians, Muslims, book collectors, and patrons. In fact, he translated a countless number of Galen’s works including “On Sects” and “On Anatomy of the Veins and Arteries.”^[7] Some of his most notable works were his “Ten Treatises On Ophthalmology,” his translation of "De material Medica," which was technically a pharmaceutical handbook, and his most popular selection, “Questions on Medicine.”^[4] “Questions on Medicine” was extremely beneficial to medical students because it was a good guide for beginners to become familiar with the fundamental aspects of medicine in order to understand the more difficult materials. Information was presented in the form of question and answer. The questions were taken from Galen’s “Art of Physic,” and the answers were based on “Summaria Alexandrinorum.” For instance, Hunayn answers what the four elements and four humors are and also explains that medicine is divided into therapy and practice. He goes on later to define health, disease, neutrality, and also natural and contranatural, which associates with the six necessary causes to live healthy.^[7]

[edit] Ophthalmology

One field of medicine Hunayn ibn Ishaq enriched and contributed to was ophthalmology. His monumental developments on the eye can be traced back to his innovative book, “Ten Treatises on Ophthalmology.” In fact, this textbook is the first systematic book in this field known to people and was most likely used in medical schools back then. Throughout the book, Hunayn explained in minute details about the eye, its diseases and their symptoms and treatments, and its anatomy – all possible by his extensive research and observations. For example, ibn Ishaq taught what cysts and tumors are and the swelling they cause, how to treat various corneal ulcers through surgery, and the therapy involved in repairing cataracts. “Ten Treatises on Ophthalmology” truly shows the skills Hunayn ibn Ishaq had not just as a translator and a physician, but also as a surgeon.^[5]

[edit] See also

• List of Arab scientists and scholars

[edit] References

• A brief introduction to Hunayn bin Ishaq
• O'Leary, De Lacy (1948) How Greek science passed to the Arabs Routledge and K. Paul, London;
• Hunain ibn Ishaq, My Syriac and Arabic translations of Galen, ed. G. Bergstrasser with German translation, Leipzig (1925) (in German and Arabic)
• East, Bruce."The Elements Of Vision: The Micro-Cosmology of Galenic Visual Theory"[1]

[edit] External Links

• Hunain ibn Ishaq, On How to Discern the Truth of Religion - English translation
• Aprim, Fred "Hunein Ibn Ishak - (809-873 or 877)"
• "How Greek Science Passed to the Arabs" by De Lacy O'Leary