Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Bukhara

Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Sina was born in 980 in the village of Afshona, near Bukhara. Bukhara was then the capital of the Samanid dynasty, a Persian-speaking state that encouraged learning and the arts; its rulers built the beautiful Samanid mausoleum, which still stands.

According to his autobiography, Ibn Sina knew the Quran by heart by the age of ten, then studied logic, mathematics, philosophy and medicine. By sixteen he was treating patients; at seventeen or eighteen he cured the Samanid ruler Nuh ibn Mansur, who in gratitude gave him access to the royal library, one of the greatest of its time.

Around 999, the Samanid state collapsed, and Ibn Sina left Bukhara. He spent years travelling and working for different rulers, as a physician, adviser and even vizier. He stayed for a time in Gurganj, the capital of Khorezm, at the court of the Khwarazmshahs, where scholars such as al-Biruni also worked. He later lived in Persia, in cities such as Rayy, Hamadan and Isfahan, often in difficult political circumstances, sometimes in hiding or in prison, while continuing to write.

He died in 1037 in Hamadan, in present-day Iran, where his mausoleum stands.

Ibn Sina’s most famous work is al-Qanun fi al-Tibb, the Canon of Medicine, a huge encyclopaedia in five books. It brought together Greek medicine (especially Galen), Persian and Indian knowledge and his own observations: anatomy, diseases and their symptoms, hygiene, diet, and hundreds of medicines. It emphasised observation, experiment and the contagious nature of some diseases.

Translated into Latin in the 12th century, the Canon became the standard medical textbook in European universities until the 17th century, and it remained important in the Islamic world for even longer.

Ibn Sina was also one of the greatest philosophers of the Islamic world. His Kitab al-Shifa (The Book of Healing), despite its title, is an encyclopaedia of philosophy and science, covering logic, physics, mathematics, music and metaphysics. He developed the ideas of Aristotle and the Neoplatonists, and influenced later thinkers both in the Islamic world and in Europe, including Thomas Aquinas. He also wrote poetry and works on astronomy, chemistry and psychology. Some 200–450 works are attributed to him, though not all survive.

In Afshona, about 25 km north-east of Bukhara, a museum dedicated to Ibn Sina presents his life and work, with copies of manuscripts, medical instruments, displays on traditional medicine and herbs, and a statue in the garden. It is a short drive from Bukhara and can be combined with a visit to the countryside around the city. Check opening hours locally.

Ibn Sina is honoured across Uzbekistan as one of the great sons of the land: medical institutes, hospitals and streets bear his name, and his statue stands in Bukhara. Traditional medicine, based partly on his ideas of balance and diet, is still practised, and herbal remedies are sold in bazaars. In Bukhara, a small museum of the history of medicine has been housed in a historic building in the old town; ask your guide whether it is open.

Bukhara was the city where Ibn Sina grew up and studied. See the Samanid mausoleum, the Ark, the Lyabi-Hauz and the old madrasahs, and imagine the libraries that once stood here. See things to do in Bukhara, our Bukhara itinerary, and the story of another great scholar of the region, al-Khwarizmi.