al-R
shid
n
(first four ‘rightly guided’ caliphs in Islam)
:
al-R
z
, Ab
Bakr Mu
ammad ibn Zakariyy
(850–925 (AH 236–313)).
Muslim philosopher, physician, and pre-eminent medical writer; in Europe he became known as Rhazes (Rasis in Chaucer). He wrote a large number of books, including
Kit
b al-Mans
r
(tr. into Lat. as
Liber Almansoris
),
Kit
b al-Mul
k
(
Liber Regius
) and a vast encyclopaedia, completed after his death by his pupils, H
w
(
Continens
, first tr. in 1279 and later one of the first books to be printed, five times between 1488 and 1542). He ended his days blind, and refused treatment, saying that he had been in the world so long that he had seen enough of it.