Eastern Physicians’ Perspectives on the Principal Vital Organs (Azayeh Raʾīsa) in Islamic Medicine (3rd-6th Centuries AH/9th-12th CE)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of History, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

2 Associate Professor of Department of History, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

10.30476/rhm.2025.50699

Abstract

In Persian medicine, the concepts of patient and disease, medicine, and treatment are based on the Iranian-Islamic worldview. In this kind of philosophy, they believed that in the human body, the three members (the heart, the brain, and the liver) are the chief due to the vital actions they perform for the body, and they are called the board members (Major vital organs or Azayeh Reiseh). The remaining bodily organs operate as subordinates to these principal members.
Each of the Physicians examined in this study has different opinions about the priority of the board members. The main purpose of the research is to review and compare the Physicians’ opinions about the priority of the board members, relying on historical sources and citations and using the library method. The findings of this research show that the sages of Eastern Islamic civilization do not agree with the members of the body board.

Keywords

References

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Journal of Research on History of Medicine
Volume 14, Issue 2
May 2025
Pages 155-164

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