Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn Abbas al-Zahrawi was born in the suburb of al-Zahra near Cordoba in 936 CE and served as a physician at the court of Caliph al-Hakam al-Mustansir, combining decades of clinical practice with meticulous medical writing.
He compiled his medical encyclopedia 'al-Tasrif li-man 'Ajiza 'an al-Ta'lif' in thirty volumes, devoting its final volume to surgery, describing more than two hundred surgical instruments, many of his own design, and detailing precise operations such as ligating blood vessels and removing bladder stones.
Legacy
The surgical volume of 'al-Tasrif' was translated into Latin and remained a core reference in European medical schools until the Renaissance. Al-Zahrawi is known in the West as 'Abulcasis' in recognition of his pioneering role in surgery.
