Al-Razi: The Greatest Physician of the Islamic World

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The Renaissance Man of Ray

Born around 854 CE in the city of Ray, near modern Tehran, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi — known in the West as Rhazes — spent his early years immersed in music, philosophy, and alchemy. He did not turn seriously to medicine until his thirties, but when he did, the depth and rigour he brought from a lifetime of inquiry would make him one of the greatest physicians in history.