ADVANCEMENT OF MEDICINE

Sanskrit. In the past this disease gripped many countries in the form of dangerous epidemics. Thousands of people fell prey to it. As far back as BC 1156, this disease was taking its toll on human life, there being visible evidence in the pock-marked face of the mummy of the Egyptian Pharaoh, Ramesses V, who died in that year. His embalmed body was found inside a pyramid. Even then, it took thousands of years for this dreaded disease to be investigated scientifically. Now we know that smallpox is a contagious disease resulting from virus infection, and such remedies have been discovered as can ward off attacks, provided suitable precautions are taken in advance. But it was not until the end of the 9th century, subsequent to the emergence of Islam, that this medical fact was unearthed for the first time. The first name which became prominent in history in this connection was that of the well-known Arab physician, Muhammad Ibn Zakariya al-Razi (CE 854-932) who was born in Ray in Iran. In search of a remedy for the disease, he investigated it from the purely medical standpoint and wrote the first book on the subject, called, al-Judari wa al-Hasbah. This was translated into Latin, the academic language of ancient Europe, in 1565 in Venice. It was later translated into Greek and other European languages, and thus spread all over Europe. Its English translation, published in London in 1848, was entitled, A Treatise on Smallpox and Measles. Researchers have accepted that this is the first medical book on smallpox in the whole of recorded history. Prior to this, no one had ever done research on this topic. Al-Razi’s book was read by Edward Jenner (1749-1823), the English physician who later pioneered the smallpox vaccine. It was this which led to his thinking of making a clinical investigation of the disease. He carried on his research over a twenty-year period, ultimately establishing the connection between cowpox and smallpox. In 1796, he carried out his first practical experiment in inoculation. This was a success, and the practice spread rapidly, in spite of violent opposition from certain quarters, until, in 1977, it was announced by the UNO that for the first time in history, smallpox had been eradicated. Now the question arises as to why such a long time had elapsed between the initial discovery of the disease and the first attempts to investigate it medically with a view to finding a remedy. The reason was the prevalence of shirk, that is, the holding of something to be sacred when it is not, or the attribution of divinity to the non-divine.