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By the 900s, Islamic medicine was the most
sophisticated in the world. One of the most lasting
contributions of Islam was the hospital. Funded
by donations called waqf, public hospitals treated
the sick, provided a place to convalesce and
recover, housed the mentally ill, and provided
shelter to the aged and infirm. Jewish and
Christian doctors, in addition to Muslim
physicians, worked in these institutions. Hospitals
allowed the poorest to benefit from the knowledge
of outstanding doctors: beggars in Baghdad might
be operated on by Rhazes, the great surgeon of the
city hospital.
As was increasingly the case in Christian Europe,
great cities in the Muslim world competed to
house such institutions, hoping to attract the best
teachers and books. The Ahmad ibn Tulun
Hospital, one of the first of its kind, was built in
Cairo between 872 and 874. Perhaps the best
known hospital of the Islamic world, Al-Mansuri
Hospital, was also built in Cairo, by the sultan
Qalawun in1285. Four wards, each one
specializing in different pathologies, were reputed
to house thousands of patients. The buildings
surrounded a courtyard cooled by fountains.
Fonte: National Geographic History, november/december 2016, p.72-73.
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