The Medieval Islamic Hospital

Ahmed Ragab is the Richard T. Watson Assistant Professor of Science and Religion at Harvard Divinity School, where he also directs the Science, Religion, and Culture Program. He is a member of the Commission on History of Science and Technology in Islamic Societies and the International Society for Science and Religion.

• Introduction; Prologue: a tale of two bīmāristāns; Part I. Building a Bīmāristān: 1. From Jerusalem to Damascus: the monumental bīmāristāns of the Levant; 2. Reclaiming the past: the (new) bīmāristāns of Egypt; 3. 'The best of deeds': medical patronage in Mamluk Egypt; Part II. Physicians and Patients: 4. Theory and practice: the reign of the bīmāristān physicians; 5. 'A house for king and slave': the patients of the bīmāristān; Conclusion; Annex: who built the first Islamic hospital?

'… specialist and non-specialist alike will be enthralled by much of what the author has to tell them, as he unveils a medieval hospital world far too little known even to Islamicists, let alone historians of medieval Europe.' History Today