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Primary sourceBookc. 900 (this edition: 1529)

The Comprehensive Book on Medicine

Abu Bakr al-Razi · c. 900 (this edition: 1529)

Al-Razi's vast medical encyclopedia, compiled from his notebooks after his death, shown here in a 1529 printed Latin edition.

This is al-Razi's own medical encyclopedia, compiled from his notebooks, the foundation of his reputation as a physician.

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Title page of the 1529 printed edition of Continens Rasis, with red and black lettering, a woodcut of a seated physician writing at a desk in a study, decorative borders with classical figures, and a red printer's device with the letters OS and M, dated MDXXIX.
Continens Rasis (Latin translation of al-Hawi by al-Razi), printed Venice, 1529.

About this source

What it is

Al-Hawi ("The Comprehensive Book") is a huge medical encyclopedia attributed to Abu Bakr al-Razi, put together from his working notebooks after his death. It gathers Greek, Syrian, Indian and Arabic medical knowledge together with al-Razi's own case notes. The edition shown here is a 1529 printed Latin version called Continens Rasis, produced in Venice, based on a 13th-century Latin translation by Faraj ben Salim.

Why it matters

The book shaped medieval medicine in the Islamic world and, through its Latin translation, in Europe too. It shows al-Razi's habit of testing inherited theory against what he actually observed in patients, which is why historians see him as an early clinical thinker.

Look closer

  • Why would a translator working for a European prince want this Arabic text in Latin?
  • What does the printed title page, with its illustration of a physician at work, tell you about how doctors were pictured?
  • Why might a book compiled after someone's death still be considered their own work?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Al-Razi on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Arabic Manuscript on Alchemy by Razes

Abu Bakr al-Razi

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Liber Elhavy (Latin Translation of al-Hawi)

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