Qasim Khalaf Ibn al-‘Abbas Al-Zahrawi AN Andalusian physician and surgeon (936 - 1013). He is considered as the father of modern surgery, and as Islam's greatest surgeon, whose comprehensive medical texts, combining Islamic medicine and ancient influences, shaped both Islamic and European surgical procedures up until the Renaissance. His greatest contribution to history is the Kitab Al-Tasrif, a thirty-volume encyclopedia of medical practices. It included sections on surgery, medicine, orthopedics, ophthalmology, pharmacology, nutrition etc. Al-Tasrif was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona in the 12th century. For about five centuries, it was the primary source for European medical knowledge, and served as a reference for doctors and surgeons. Its influence continued in European medicine continued for at least five centuries, extending into the Renaissance. See the article Arab Surgeon Albucasis (Al-Zahrawi), and the extracts from the transcription of one of the 30 volumes of the encyclopaedia Al-Tasrif: MS G21, National Library of Morocco in Rabat.
