Ibn Sina (Avicenna) & The Canon of Medicine (Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb): The 500-Year Standard European Medical Textbook

The Prince of Physicians in the Islamic Golden Age

Born in Afshana near Bukhara in 980 CE, Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Sina (known to the Latin West as Avicenna) is universally recognized as one of the greatest polymaths in human history. His magnum opus, Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine), written in Arabic and translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona in the 12th century, served as the primary medical textbook at the Universities of Montpellier, Bologna, Padua, and Leuven until the mid-17th century.

1. The Seven Rules of Clinical Drug Testing

Astonishingly predicting modern evidence-based pharmacology by nearly a millennium, Ibn Sina laid down seven strict scientific requirements for evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of drugs:

1. The medicine must be free from any accidental external property (e.g. storage degradation).


2. The drug must be tested on an uncomplicated disease state, not a mixed co-morbidity.


3. The drug must be tested against two contrary types of diseases to ensure specificity.


4. The potency of the drug must match the strength of the disease.


5. The time of action must be observed (immediate vs. delayed effect).


6. The effect must be seen to occur constantly or in the majority of cases (statistical reproducibility).


7. The experimentation must be carried out on human bodies, as effects in animals may not directly translate.

2. Comprehensive Synthesis

The Canon organized medicine into 5 massive books: General Principles (Anatomy/Physiology), Simple Drugs (800+ Materia Medica entries), Localized Diseases from head to toe, Systemic Diseases (Fevers, Toxicology), and Compound Medicines (Pharmacopeia).

3. References & Historical Citations

• Ibn Sina (Avicenna). Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine). Translated by Cameron Gruner, AMS Press.
• Siraisi, N. G. (1987). Avicenna in Renaissance Italy: The Canon and Medical Teaching in Italian Universities after 1500. Princeton University Press.

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