Muhadhdhabuddin Abd al-Rahim bin Ali bin Hamid al-Dimashqi known as al-Dakhwar (1170–1230) was a leading Arab

Arab

Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

 physician in the 13th century where he served various rulers of the Ayyubid dynasty

Ayyubid dynasty

The Ayyubid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Kurdish origin, founded by Saladin and centered in Egypt. The dynasty ruled much of the Middle East during the 12th and 13th centuries CE. The Ayyubid family, under the brothers Ayyub and Shirkuh, originally served as soldiers for the Zengids until they...

. He was also administratively responsible for medicine in Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

 and Damascus

Damascus

Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...

. Al-Dakhwar educated or influenced most of the prominent physicians of Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 and Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

 in the century, including writer Ibn Abi Usaibia and Ibn al-Nafis, the discoverer of blood circulation in the human body.

Early life

Al-Dakhwar was born and brought up in Damascus, the son of an oculist. Initially, he too was an oculist at the Nuri Hospital of Damascus, but afterward he studied medicine with Ibn al-Matran.

Physician of the Ayyubids

In 1208, al-Adil, the Sultan of Egypt

Sultan of Egypt

Sultan of Egypt was the status held by the rulers of Egypt after the establishment of the Ayyubid Dynasty of Saladin in 1174 until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517. Though the extent of the Egyptian Sultanate ebbed and flowed, it generally included Sham and Hejaz, with the consequence that the...

, told his vizier al-Sahib ibn Shukur, that he was in need of another physician with the equivalent skill of the chief of medicine at the time, Abd al-Aziz al-Sulami. Al-Adil believed that al-Sulami was busy enough serving as physician of the army. Ibn Shukur recommended al-Dakhwar for the post and offered him 30 dinar

Dinar

The dinar is the official currency of several countries.The history of the dinar dates to the gold dinar, an early Islamic coin corresponding to the Byzantine denarius auri...

s a month. Al-Dakhwar turned him down, citing that al-Sulami receives 100 dinars a month and stating "I know my ability in this field and I will not take less!" Al-Sulami died on June 7 and soon after al-Dakhwar himself came into contact with al-Adil, and the latter was greatly impressed by him. He not only appointed him as his personal physician, but also as one of his confidants.

When al-Adil died, his son and successor in Damascus, al-Mu'azzam

Al-Mu'azzam

Al-Mu'azzam 'Isa Sharaf ad-Din was an Ayyubid Sultan who ruled Damascus from 1218 to 1227. The son of Sultan Al-Adil I and nephew of Saladin, founder of the dynasty, Al-Mu'azzam was installed by his father as governor of Damascus in 1201. After his father's death in 1218, Al-Mu'azzam ruled the...

, made him chief superintendent of the Nasiri Hospital. There he wrote books and gave lectures on medicine to his students. Later, when al-Adil's other son al-Ashraf

Al-Ashraf

Al-Ashraf Musa Abu'l-Fath al-Muzaffar ad-Din, called Al-Ashraf was a ruler of the Ayyubid dynasty. The son of Sultan Al-Adil I, Al-Ashraf was installed by his father in Harran in 1201 as Governor of the Jezireh...

annexed Damascus after al-Mu'azzam died, al-Dakhwar was promoted as chief medical officer of the Ayyubid state.

Medicine

• al-Janinah ("The Embryo")
• Sharh Taqdimat-il-Ma'rifah ("Commentary on the Introduction of Knowledge")
• Mukhtasar-ul-Hawl-il-Razi ("Resume of al-Hawi by al-Razi")