Great Lives of Avicenna

Great Lives of Avicenna

by Dewi Erita

Hero is someone who is respected for doing something that has an effect for many people. Each person have their hero or heroin. However, there are agreement and disagreement about definition of real hero. For me, The Sheikh al-Ra’is Sharaf al-Mulk Abu ‘Ali al-Husayn ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali Ibn Sina is a hero. His life-story remains ill-documented. Yet, we can learn through his works.

Firstly, Ibn Sina or Avicenna (980-1037) was Persian Philosopher and Scientist. His most famous works are on philosophy and medicine. He is as the inventor of a medical encyclopedia, The Canon of Medicine, which became a reference source for medical studies in the universities in Europe until the end of the seventeenth century.

Secondly, Ibn Sina was educator. He taught on a practical level. Problems that faced is about truth, goodness, the nature of the world, the meaning of knowledge and human nature, and  so on. He wrote educational theory that practiced himself. For instance, there is chapter upbringing infants in his book.

Thirdly, he was a poet. His book, which is entitled Al Urjuzah Fi Al Tibb, is considered as a poetic summary of “The Book of Healing”. Structure and rhythm of poem aid transmitting and memorizing scientific and medical knowledge. Fourthly, UNESCO commemorated his birthday in 1980 for the 1000^th birth anniversary. This agency established Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science in 2002.

In conclusion, scientist are supposed to learn knowledge comprehensively. Learning medicine and society is one package. Doing practical thing and writing new knowledge is good for many people. So that, we can invent something that can be long-lasting.

                                                           

Depok, March 13^th, 2017

Reference:

http://www.muslimheritage.com/article/ibn-sinas-canon-medicine

accessed March 13^th, 2017 22.00