He is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of medicine, [ 1 ] and also wrote on logic , astronomy and grammar. However, the religio-philosophical aspects of his thought, which also included a belief in five "eternal principles", are fragmentary and only reported by authors who were often hostile to him.
A comprehensive thinker, al-Razi made fundamental and enduring contributions to various fields, which he recorded in over manuscripts, and is particularly remembered for numerous advances in medicine through his observations and discoveries. Through translation, his medical works and ideas became known among medieval European practitioners and profoundly influenced medical education in the Latin West. Al-Razi was born in the city of Ray modern Rey, also the origin of his name "al-Razi" , [ 13 ] into a family of Persian stock and was a native speaker of Persian language.
It is located on the southern slopes of the Alborz mountain range situated near Tehran , Iran. In his youth, al-Razi moved to Baghdad where he studied and practiced at the local bimaristan hospital.
Later, he was invited back to Rey by Mansur ibn Ishaq , then the governor of Ray, and became a bimaristan's head. To pick the future hospital's location, al-Razi adopted what is nowadays known as an evidence-based approach suggesting having fresh meat hung in various places throughout the city and to build the hospital where meat took longest to rot.
He spent the last years of his life in his native Rey suffering from glaucoma. His eye affliction started with cataracts and ended in total blindness. One account mentioned by Ibn Juljul attributed the cause to a blow to his head by his patron, Mansur ibn Ishaq , for failing to provide proof for his alchemy theories; [ 20 ] while Abulfaraj and Casiri claimed that the cause was a diet of beans only.
