Ahmed ibn Sahl al-Balkhi

Infobox_Philosopher
name = Abu Zaid Ahmed ibn Sahl al-Balkhi
region = Persian scholar
era = Islamic Golden Age
color = #B0C4DE
birth = 850
death = 934
school_tradition = Persian science, Islamic science, Islamic geography, Islamic mathematics, Islamic medicine, Islamic psychological thought

main_interests = Geography, Mathematics, Medicine, Neuroscience, Psychology, Science
influences = Qur'an, Muhammad, Alkindus
influenced = Rhazes, Avicenna, Joseph Wolpe:"This article is about the scientist. For the poet, see Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi-Rumi."

Abu Zaid Ahmed ibn Sahl al-Balkhi (850-934) was a Persian Muslim polymath: a geographer, mathematician, physician, psychologist and scientist. Born in Shamistiyan, in the Persian province of Balkh (now in Afghanistan), he was a disciple of al-Kindi and may have been a member of the Imamiya sect. He was also the founder the "Balkhī school" of terrestrial mapping in Baghdad.

Works

Of the many books ascribed to him in the "al-Fihrist" by Ibn al-Nadim, one can note "the excellency of mathematics"; "on certitude in astrology". His "Figures of the Climates" ("Suwar al-aqalim") consisted chiefly of geographical maps. He also wrote the medical and psychological work, "Masalih al-Abdan wa al-Anfus" ("Sustenance for Body and Soul").

"Figures of the Climates"

His "Figures of the Climates" ("Suwar al-aqalim") consisted chiefly of geographical maps. It led to him founding the "Balkhī school" of terrestrial mapping in Baghdad. The geographers of this school also wrote extensively of the peoples, products, and customs of areas in the Muslim world, with little interest in the non-Muslim realms.E. Edson and Emilie Savage-Smith, "Medieval Views of the Cosmos", pp. 61-3, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford]

"Sustenance for Body and Soul"

Mental health and mental illness

In Islamic psychology and neuroscience, the concepts of mental health and "mental hygiene" were introduced by Abu Zayd al-Balkhi, who often related it to spiritual health. In his "Masalih al-Abdan wa al-Anfus" ("Sustenance for Body and Soul"), he was the first to successfully discuss diseases related to both the body and the soul. He used the term "al-Tibb al-Ruhani" to describe spiritual and psychological health, and the term "Tibb al-Qalb" to describe mental medicine. He criticized many medical doctors in his time for placing too much emphasis on physical illnesses and neglecting the psychological or mental illnesses of patients, and argued that "since man’s constructionis from both his soul and his body, therefore, human existence cannot be healthy without the "ishtibak" [interweaving or entangling] of soul and body." He further argued that "if the body gets sick, the"nafs" [psyche] loses much of its cognitive and comprehensive ability and fails to enjoy the desirous aspects of life" and that "if the "nafs" gets sick, the body may also find no joy in life and may eventuallydevelop a physical illness." Al-Balkhi traced back his ideas on mental health to verses of the Qur'an and hadiths attributed to Muhammad, such as:Nurdeen Deuraseh and Mansor Abu Talib (2005), "Mental health in Islamic medical tradition", "The International Medical Journal" 4 (2), p. 76-79.]

quote|"Truly, in the body there is a morsel of flesh, and when it is corrupt the body is corrupt, and when itis sound the body is sound. Truly, it is the "qalb" [heart] ." | "Sahih al-Bukhari", Kitab al-Iman

Cognitive and medical psychology and cognitive therapy

Abu Zayd al-Balkhi was the first known cognitive psychologist and medical psychologist, the first to differentiate between neurosis and psychosis, and the first to classify neurotic disorders and pioneer cognitive therapy in order to treat each of these classified disorders. He classified neurosis into four emotional disorders: fear and anxiety,
anger and aggression, sadness and depression, and obsession. He further classified three types of depression: normal depression or sadness ("huzn"), endogenous depression originating from within the body, and reactive clinical depression originating from outside the body. He also wrote that a healthy individual should always keep healthy thoughts and feelings in his mind in the case of unexpected emotional outbursts in the same way drugs and First Aid medicine are kept nearby for unexpected physical emergencies. He stated that a balance between the mind and body is required for good health and that an imbalance between the two can cause sickness. Al-Balkhi also introduced the concept of reciprocal inhibition ("al-ilaj bi al-did"), which was re-introduced over a thousand years later by Joseph Wolpe in 1969.Amber Haque (2004), "Psychology from Islamic Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists", "Journal of Religion and Health" 43 (4): 357-377 [362] ]

Psychophysiology and psychosomatic medicine

The Muslim physician Abu Zayd al-Balkhi was a pioneer of psychotherapy, psychophysiology and psychosomatic medicine. He recognized that the body and the soul can be healthy or sick, or "balanced or imbalanced", and that mental illness can have both psychological and/or physiological causes. He wrote that imbalance of the body can result in fever, headaches and other physical illnesses, while imbalance of the soul can result in anger, anxiety, sadness and other mental symptoms. He recognized two types of depression: one caused by known reasons such as loss or failure, which can be treated psychologically through both external methods (such as persuasive talking, preaching and advising) and internal methods (such as the "development of inner thoughts and cognitions which help the person get rid of his depressive condition"); and the other caused by unknown reasons such as a "sudden affliction of sorrow and distress, which persists all the time, preventing the afflicted person from any physical activity or from showing any happiness or enjoying any of the pleasures" which may be caused by physiological reasons (such as impurity of the blood) and can can be treated through physical medicine. He also wrote comparisons between physical disorders with mental disorders, and showed how psychosomatic disorders can be caused by certain interactions between them.

ee also

*List of Iranian scientists and scholars
*List of Muslim scientists
*Islamic science
**Islamic mathematics
**Islamic medicine

References

ources

*M. J. de Goeje: "Die Istakhri-Balkhi Frage" (Z. d. deutschen morgenl. Ges., vol. 25, 42-58, 1871).
*H. Suter: "Die Mathematiker und Astronomen der Araber" (211, 1900).