Ibn Zuhr

Abu Marwan 'Abd al-Malik ibn Zuhr — known in medieval Latin Europe as Avenzoar — was a physician of al-Andalus (Muslim-ruled Iberia) and the most celebrated member of the Banu Zuhr, a Sevillian family that, sources report, produced roughly six generations of physicians along with jurists and courtiers. He is most associated with Seville, where he is generally said to have been born and where he died. His birth year is uncertain: it is given variously as around 1091 or 1094 CE (c. 484–487 AH), and these are traditional estimates rather than firmly documented dates. His death in 1162 CE (557 AH) is better attested.

He learned medicine within his own family; biographers report that his father, Abu'l-'Ala Zuhr (died 1131), trained him in the works of Galen and Hippocrates, the classical Greek medical authorities. Ibn Zuhr served as a court physician under the Almoravids (a Berber Muslim dynasty), reportedly fell from favour, and — according to the tradition — was imprisoned for a time in Marrakesh; he later served the Almohads, the dynasty that succeeded the Almoravids in the region.

His best-known book, Kitab al-Taysir ("The Facilitation [of Therapeutics and Diet]"), was prized for careful, case-based clinical observation; it was translated into Hebrew and Latin and circulated in Europe, often paired with the medical encyclopedia of his contemporary Ibn Rushd (Averroes). Later writers also credit him with early descriptions in surgery and pharmacology, though some specific claims are difficult to verify.