Ibn al-Baytar

Ibn al-Bayṭār
Statue of Ibn al-Bayṭār in Benalmádena Costa, Spain
Born	1197 Málaga, Andalusia, Almohad Caliphate, now Province of Málaga, Spain
Died	1248 (aged 51) Damascus, Ayyubid dynasty, now Syria
Fields	Botanist, Scientist, Pharmacist, Physician
Known for	Scientific classification Oncology
Influences	al-Ghāfiqī, Maimonides
Influenced	Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa, Amir Dowlat, Andrea Alpago

Ḍiyāʾ Al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʿAbdllāh Ibn Aḥmad al-Mālaqī, commonly known as Ibn al-Bayṭār (Arabic: ابن البيطار‎‎) "son of the veterinarian" (1197–1248 AD) was a pharmacist, botanist, physician and scientist. His main contribution was to systematically record the additions made by Islamic physicians in the Middle Ages, which added between 300 and 400 types of medicine to the one thousand previously known since antiquity.

Born in the city of Málaga in al-Andalus (Muslim-controlled Spain) at the end of the twelfth century, Ibn al-Bayṭār learned botany from the Málagan botanist Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Nabātī with whom he started collecting plants in and around Spain. Al-Nabātī was responsible for developing an early scientific method, introducing empirical and experimental techniques in the testing, description and identification of numerous materia medica, and separating unverified reports from those supported by actual tests and observations. Such an approach was thus adopted by Ibn al-Bayṭār.

In 1219, Ibn al-Bayṭār left Málaga, travelling to coast of North Africa and as far as Anatolia, to collect plants. The major stations he visited include Bugia, Constantinople, Tunis, Tripoli, Barqa and Antalya.

After 1224, he entered the service of the Ayyubid Sultan al-Kāmil and was appointed chief herbalist. In 1227 al-Kāmil extended his domination to Damascus, and Ibn al-Bayṭār accompanied him there, which provided him an opportunity to collect plants in Syria. His botanical researches extended over a vast area including Arabia and Palestine. He died in Damascus in 1248.