Universal Encyclopedia
Who was Al-Zahrawi?
Al-Zahrawi (936–1013), known in Europe as Albucasis, was an Andalusian court physician whose 30-volume medical encyclopedia, the Kitab al-Tasrif, made surgery a serious science: its final volume illustrated some 200 surgical instruments and described catgut sutures, cauterization and the ligation of arteries.
Last updated: October 2026
Serving the caliph Abd al-Rahman III in Córdoba, he insisted that a surgeon must first master anatomy and practice — a radical standard in an age when surgery was left to barbers. Translated into Latin in the 12th century, his work became the standard surgical textbook of Europe for some five hundred years.