Early Life:

The well-known Muslim scientist Abū al-Qāsim al-Zahrāwī, also spelled Abul Kasim, in full Abū al-Qāsim Khalaf ibn ʿAbbās al-Zahrāwī, Latin Albucasis, was born in 936, near Córdoba Spain. He had his origin from the Medinan tribe of Al-Ansar. He lived most of his life in Cordoba. It is also where he studied, taught, and practiced medicine and surgery. He was a medieval surgeon of Andalusian Spain, whose comprehensive medical text, combining Middle Eastern and Greco-Roman classical teachings, shaped European surgical procedures until the Renaissance.

The Surgical Man        

Al-Zahrawi remained the greatest surgical man. He specialized in curing disease by cauterization. And invented several devices used during surgery, for purposes such as inspection of the interior of the urethra. He also used surgical devices in applying and removing foreign bodies from the throat, the ear, and other body organs. The man of cure is ranked as the first to illustrate the various cannulae and the first to treat a wart with an iron tube and caustic metal as a boring instrument. He had performed laryngotomy on a slave girl without any experience but became successful and called it not dangerous.

Moreover, Al-Zahrawi is also considered to be pioneered neurosurgery and neurological diagnosis. He is known to have performed surgical treatments of head injuries, skull fractures, spinal injuries, hydrocephalus, subdural effusions, and headache. Al-Zahrawi had given the first clinical description of an operative procedure for hydrocephalus. And clearly described the evacuation of superficial intracranial fluid in hydrocephalic children. Other than this he had written a complete code of surgical conduct that is used by modern surgeons. He had made many surgical tools that became the base for the development of advanced tools.

His Book Kitab al-Tasrif

 Al-Zahrawi’s Kitab al-Tasrif is a medical encyclopedia comprised of thirty volumes that he completed in the year 1000. It covered a broad range of medical topics, including surgery, medicine, orthopedics, ophthalmology, pharmacology, nutrition, dentistry, childbirth, and pathology. The first volume in the encyclopedia is concerned with general principles of medicine, the second with pathology, while much of the rest discuss topics regarding pharmacology and drugs. The last treatise and the most celebrated one is about surgery. Al-Zahrawi stated that he chose to discuss the surgery in the last volume because surgery is the highest form of medicine, and one must not practice it until he becomes well-acquainted with all other branches of medicine.

The work contained data that had accumulated during a career that spanned almost 50 years of training, teaching, and practice. In it, he also wrote of the importance of a positive doctor-patient relationship and wrote affectionately of his students, whom he referred to as “my children”. He also emphasized the importance of treating patients irrespective of their social status. He encouraged the close observation of individual cases in order to make the most accurate diagnosis and the best possible treatment.

The wise surgeon once said about anatomy: “Before practicing surgery one should gain knowledge of anatomy and the function of organs so that he will understand their shape, connections, and borders. He should become thoroughly familiar with nerves muscles bones arteries and veins. If one does not comprehend anatomy and physiology one can commit a mistake that will result in the death of the patient. I have seen someone incise into a swelling in the neck thinking it was an abscess when it was an aneurysm and the patient dying on the spot.”

In short, he had given complete documentation and procedure along with a description. He has made the world of surgery.

There is a standard of everything and it has the power of attraction and fascination. Most of the time people associate the word standard with life “standard life” and each of them define it according to their approaches. Standard life might be the name of having a good job, a well-furnished house, an accelerating car, servants, meet-ups at expensive points, wearing and eating brands, and walking with human brands. Such standard life is the game of money. The other standard can be of education.

The standard of education is a bit different from the standard of life. But it is the key to have a standard lifestyle. We cannot confine the definition of standard education in one line, or paragraph even on a page. I would like to give my opinion about standard education. For me, standard education is to have well-trained facilitators, good infrastructure, equipped labs, learning environment with advanced technology. There should be a facilitator in learning institutes instead of teachers. And for better learning students should be the center, not the teaching. If the learning would be student-centered then they can learn more and with enjoyment. This sort of education system can help us to educate the nation in true sense and can change the mindset and system as well.

The traditional education system cannot work in this era and we cannot compete with the world. In Pakistan, we have an education system but it needs reforms. The private education system meets with the standard whereas the actual education system is far beyond. Every individual cannot effort private education hence it is necessary and urgent to provide one standard system of education. The government aims to bring reforms to the system and it is really good news for the whole nation. Because education is the only solution to all the problems. The education department of Pakistan is working on the curriculum and will implement the One Nation One Curriculum for the nation (Aik Qaum) . It is good to hear that the Balochistan government announces the establishment of 100 middle schools. And I would like to request Balochistan Govt not to just establish schools but with the standard education system.   If you have a standard education system then you have everything.

The children who are in the playgroup today are going to be the leaders of tomorrow. And it is well said that today’s readers are tomorrow’s leaders. So, train the readers to make them the leaders. Follow one curriculum, maintain one standard and be one nation (Aik Qaum).

The 63rd death anniversary of Maulvi Abdul Haq famously known as Baba-e-Urdu was observed on Friday. 

He was born in 1870. He was educated first in Punjab and then at the M.A.O. college, Aligarh. 

He went to Hyderabad in 1895 and became head of Dar-ut-Tarjuma.

In 1912 he was made the General Secretary of the Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu.

He dedicated his entire life for the promotion of Urdu language.

After his migration to Pakistan, he re-organized the Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Urdu in Karachi.

From his lot of contributions to Urdu, his work include the Standard English-Urdu Dictionary, the Urdu Sarf-o-Nahw, Maktoobat, Afkar e Haali, and Qawaid-e-Urdu.

He died on this day in 1961.