Science and Religion in Mamluk Egypt ― Ibn Al-nafis, Pulmonary Transit and Bodily Resurrection

A ground-breaking discovery in the history of the life sciences,the discovery of the pulmonary transit of blood, was a prerequisite for William Harvey’s fully developed theory of blood circulation three centuries later. This book is the first attempt at understanding the thirteenth century physician-jurist, Ibn al-Nafis’s discovery of the pulmonary transit of blood from within his own medical and philosophical compendium, and his broader social, religious and intellectual contexts.

Although Ibn al-Nafis did not posit a theory of blood circulation, he nevertheless challenged the reigning Galenic and Avicennian physiological theories, and the reigning anatomical understandings of the heart. Far from being a happy guess, Ibn al-Nafis’s anatomical result is rooted in an extensive re-evaluation of the reigning medical theories. Moreover, this book shows that Ibn al-Nafis’s re-evaluation is itself a result of his engagement with post-Avicennian debates on the relationship between reason and revelation, and the rationality of traditionalist beliefs, such as bodily resurrection.

Uncovering new ground by showing how medicine, philosophy and theology were intertwined in the intellectual fabric of pre-modern Islamic societies, Science and Religion in Mamluk Egypt will be of interest to students and scholars of the History of Science, the History of Medicine and Islamic Studies amongst others.

Nahyan Fancy is an Associate Professor of History at DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, USA. His research interests are in the history of science and medicine in post-1200 Islamic societies, particularly the intersections of medicine, religion and philosophy.