THE RISE 0? ISLAM 259

organized economic life. Muslim Spain played a decisive
part in the development of an, science, philosophy, a::d
poetry, and its influence reached even to the highest peaks
of the Christian thought of the thirteenth centurv-, to Thomas
Aquinas and Dante. Then, if ever, Spain was * the torch
of Europe/ ":

In the field of philosophy alone two names are famous
throughout Europe, viz. Avicenna and Averroes. The for-
mer whose real name was Abu * AlI-al-Busayn ibn Sina ;9SO-
1037 A.D.) was one of the greatest scholars of the Islamic
world. Though primarily a philosopher he made valuable
contributions to medicine and science as well. His Canon
of Medicine was an encyclopaedia dealing with general medi-
cine, simple drugs, diseases affecting all parts of the body,
special pathology and pharmacopoeia. It was greatly in
demand in its Latin translation down to the seventeenth
century. " Probably no medical work ever written has been
so much studied/* writes Dr. Max Meyerhof, "and it is
-still in current use in the Orient/'2 The name of Averroes
was Abu '1-Walid ibn Rushd (1126-98 A.D.). "Averroism
continued to be a living factor in European thought until
"the birth of modem experimental science."3

The Golden Age of Islamic science and medicine was from
.about 900 A.D. to about 1100 A.D. Th^al^awl or 4 Compre-
hensive" Book' by Rhazes (c. 865-925 A.D.) may be cited
for illustration. It is considered as perhaps the most exten-
sive work ever written by a medical man. For each disease
Rhazes first cites all the Greek, Syrian, Arabic, Persian, and
Indian authors, and at the'aid gives his own opinion and
^experiences, and he preserves many striking examples of his

1. The Legacy of Islam, p. 5

2. Ibid., p. 330.
.3 Ibid., p. 275.