Features of the organization and achievements of military medicine in the Arabic World during the Middle Ages

Abstract

During the European Middle Ages, the Arab world experienced a "Golden Age" of rational and empirical medical development, which sharply contrasted with the outdated, dogmatic practices prevalent in Europe. Arab military medicine was a highly organized system rooted in religious imperatives to seek cures, professional licensing for physicians, and a synergistic synthesis of global medical traditions. The system featured specialized, autonomous bimaristans (multi-specialty hospitals) and technologically advanced mobile field hospitals (precursors to MASH units), which ensured superior care for soldiers. This institutional structure, combined with innovations like the use of anesthetic sponges and the surgical techniques of figures like Al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis), made Arab medicine significantly more advanced than its European counterpart, directly influencing the European medical renaissance through the Crusades.