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Abu Zaid Hunayn ibn Ishaq al-Ibadi

Abu Zaid Hunayn ibn Ishaq al-Ibadi was a profound physician, philosopher, author and leading translator in the House of Wisdom. He was born at Hira (Iraq) in 809 A.D. and spent most of his youth in Basra where he learned Arabic and Syriac. He was affiliated with the Syrian Nestorian Christian Church, and was brought up as a Nestorian Christian long before the rise of Islam. Hunayn was eager to continue his education, so he followed his in father’s footsteps and moved to Baghdad to study medicine. Hunayn was an important figure in the evolution of Arabic Medicine and was best known for his translations of famous Greek and Middle Eastern authors. He had a complete mastery of Greek, which was the science language of the time. Hunayn’s knowledge of Persian, Syriac, and Arabic exceeded that of previous prevalent translators, which enabled him to revise their erroneous renditions. Galen, Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Dioscorides, and Ptolemy were just a few of many writers that Hunayn used for his translated publications of medical and philosophical expositions .These translated treatises, in turn, became the backbone of Arabic Science.

As he began his path into medicine in Baghdad, he had the privilege to study under one of the most renowned physicians in the city, Yūhannā ibn Māssawayh. Yūhannā and his colleagues dedicated their lives to the field of medicine. They showed little to no respect to the people of Hira where Hunayn was from because Hira was known to be a city flourished by commerce and banking rather than science and medicine. Due to this, he did not take Hunayn seriously as a student. Hunayn was a highly intelligent person who paid very close attention to detail and found many mistakes in his assigned medical textbooks, so would often ask difficult questions no one at his school had the answer to. Eventually, Yūhannā became so frustrated that he gave up his rights as his teacher and blatantly told Hunayn that he does not have the ability to pursue this career.

Hunayn had a strong mindset, and refused to let Yūhannā get in his way. He left Baghdad for several years, and during his absence he studied the history and language of Greek. When he returned, he displayed his newly acquired skills by being able to recite and translate the works of Homer and Galen Everyone was astonished at his amazing talent especially Yūhannā, so the two reconciled and would later collaborate on several occasions Hunayn, his son Ishaq, his nephew Hubaysh, and fellow colleague Isa ibn Uahya became very involved in translating science texts. This led to the beginning of Hunayn’s success into the translation movement, where he interpreted the works of famous Greek and Arabic figures: Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Galen, and Diosorides. He was also constantly fixing defective manuscripts translated by other writers and strove to make the text as clear as possible for readers. Because his translation methods were impeccable, it was not long until Hunayn became famous.