Ibn Zuhr , known in the West as Avenzoar, was one of the greatest physicians and clinicians of the Muslim golden era and has rather been held by some historians of science as the greatest of them. Contrary to the general practice of the Muslim scholars of that era, he confined his work to only one field medicine. This enabled him to produce works of everlasting fame. Some of his contemporaries called him as the greatest physician since Galen

       Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik Ibn Zuhr was born at Seville in 1091/c. 1094 C.E. After completing his education and specializing in medicine, he entered the service of Almoravides (Al-Murabatun), but after their defeat by the Al-Mohades (Al-Muwahadun), he served under 'Abd al-Mu'min, the first Muwahid ruler. He died in Seville in 1161/c. 1162 C.E. As confirmed by George Sarton, he was not a Jew, but an orthodox Muslim.

 Ibn Zuhr one of medieval Islam's foremost thinkers and the greatest medical clinician of the western caliphate. An intensely practical man, Ibn Zuhr disliked medical speculation; for that reason, he opposed the teachings of the Persian master physician Avicenna.

 As a physician, he made several discoveries and breakthroughs:

1.    He described correctly, for the first time, scabies, the itch mite and may thus be regarded as the first parasitologist.

2.     Likewise, he prescribed tracheotomy and direct feeding through the gullet and rectum in the cases where normal feeding was not possible.

3.     He also gave clinical descriptions of mediastinal tumors

4.    As a clinician, he provided clinical descriptions of intestinal phthisis, inflammation of the middle ear, peri carditis.

5.    He was the first to test different medicines on animals before administering them to humans

6.    Zuhr insisted on a well supervised and structured training program for the surgeon-to-be, before allowing him to operate independently.

7.    He also drew the red lines at which a physician should stop, during his general management of a surgical condition; a step forward in the evolution of general surgery as a specialty of its own.

8.    He believed in prophylaxis against urinary stone disease and reported the importance of dietary management for that purpose.

9.    Ibn Zuhr enriched surgical and medical knowledge by describing many diseases and treatment innovations not ever described before him.

His contribution was chiefly contained in the monumental works written by him; out of these, however, only three are extant:

1.    Kitab al-Taisir fi al-Mudawat wa al-Tadbir (Book of Simplification concerning Therapeutics and Diet), written at the request of Ibn Rushd (Averroes), is the most important work of Ibn Zuhr. It describes several of Ibn Zuhr's original contributions. The book gives in detail pathological conditions, followed by therapy.

2.    His Kitab al-Iqtisad fi Islah al-Anfus wa al-Ajsad (Book of the Middle Course concerning the Reformation of Souls and the Bodies) gives a summary of diseases, therapeutics and hygiene written specially for the benefit of the layman. Its initial part is a valuable discourse on psychology.

3.    Kitab al-Aghthiya (Book on Foodstuffs) describes different types of food and drugs and their effects on health.

 Ibn Zuhr in his works lays stress on observation and experiment and his contribution greatly influenced the development of medical science for several centuries both in the East and the West. His books were translated into Latin and Hebrew and remained popular in Europe as late as the advent of the 18th century.