Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabari

Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabari (Persian: علی ابن سهل ربان طبری ‎‎) (c. 838 – c. 870 CE; also given as 810–855 or 808–864 also 783–858), was a PersianMuslim hakim, scholar, physician and psychologist, who produced one of the first encyclopedia of medicine. His stature, however, was eclipsed by his more famous pupil, Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi ("Rhazes").

Ali came from a Persian or Syriac family of Merv but moved to Tabaristan (hence al-Tabari – "from Tabaristan"). Hossein Nasr states that he was a convert from Zoroastrianism, however Sami K. Hamarneh states he was a convert from Christianity. His father Sahl ibn Bishr was a state official, highly educated and well respected member of the Syriac community.

The Abbassid caliph Al-Mu'tasim (833–842) took him into the service of the court, which he continued under Al-Mutawakkil (847–861). Ali ibn Sahl was fluent in Syriac and Greek, the two sources for the medical tradition of antiquity, and versed in fine calligraphy.

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