Ibn Sina (980-1037AD), popularly known by the name Avicenna in the West, ranks as one of the most accomplished scholars in history. Considering his extraordinary achievements in several fields of knowledge, most people probably ascribe his success to having a degree of superior intelligence. While possibly true, Ibn Sina's intellectual distinction did not likely result from having an off-the-chart IQ. Rather, it seems to have been largely due to possessing a quality far more vital to a person who seeks and attains erudition - passionate curiosity..
Born in the Bukhara, the capital of the Persian Samanid Empire (modern-day Uzbekistan), in 980AD, Ibn Sina became one of the most learned men of his age by the end of the first millennium.
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During his formative years, he undertook a self-directed program of study in a variety of subjects. By age ten, he had a thorough command of the Qur'an, Arabic grammar and Arabic literature. That was only the beginning.
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Ibn Sina read Isagoge, a book that introduced the thinking of Aristotle (384-322BC) to him, by the neo-Platonist philosopher Porphyry (234-305AD). Then, he went on to devour the geometry of Euclid (323-283BC) and the astronomy of Ptolemy (90-168AD) before immersing himself in texts of medicine and the law.
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Reflecting on his eighteen-month course of reading on logic and philosophy some years later, he recalled,
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"I did not sleep one night through. At night, I would return home, set the lamp before me and busy myself with reading and writing; whenever sleep overcame me or I was conscious of some weakness, I turned aside to drink a glass of wine until my strength returned to me, then I went back to my reading."
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When Ibn Sina picked up a copy of Aristotle's Metaphysics, his mental acuity was sorely challenged. After reading the text over and over again - more than forty times, he declared, "This is a book which there is no way of understanding." The young prodigy from Bukhara had been stopped dead in his tracks and utterly baffled by one of the greatest thinkers of the ancient world and of all-time. Clearly, Ibn Sina was both discouraged and frustrated. Yet, he refused to give up.
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While roaming around the booksellers quarter, he was persuaded to purchase On the Objects of the Metaphysics by Abu Nasr al-Farabi. This proved to be a pivotal moment in his intellectual journey. Al-Farabi's book, which outlined the concepts used by Aristotle in Metaphysics, allowed Ibn Sina to finally comprehend its contents. Problem solved.
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The Curiosity of Ibn Sina
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At age eighteen, Ibn Sina was already a polymath who possessed considerable knowledge in literature, religion, law, philosophy, mathematics and the sciences among other subjects. In becoming an expert in medicine, he used his learning to tend to the sick and published two major works, Shifa (The Book of Healing) and Al Qanun fi Tibb (The Canon of Medicine), which were used as standard reference texts throughout the Middle East and Europe until the eighteenth century.
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Rather than 'genius,' the intellectual powers of Ibn Sina were sparked by a relentless desire for knowledge and developed by a temperament of mature, unyielding persistence. Albert Einstein (1879-1955), who is often regarded as the smartest person to have ever lived, once exclaimed, "I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious." If being passionately curious about nature and humankind is the most significant difference between the likes of Ibn Sina, Einstein and the 'average person,' how can parents and teachers instill a passionate curiosity into the hearts and minds of children for the world of knowledge instead of one for the world of material goods?
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That is a question we must have the passionate curiosity to ask and answer - time and time again.
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(Image: Ibn Sina devoting himself to the pursuit of knowledge)
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Key Source
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Arthur J. Arberry, Avicenna On Theology (London: John Murray, 1951)
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J Roquen