Today is the final stop on the impressive blog tour for Aliya Aboard the Time Train. Each day has featured a letter from Aliya to her beloved Geddo. Hopefully you have managed to read each one.
Aliya Aboard the Time Train Blog Tour
Welcome to the final stop on the time travelling Silver Express on an exhilarating journey through Egyptian history and culture with Laila Rifaat, author of the Aliya series.
Letter 6: Heal like an Egyptian (Medieval healthcare)
Dear Geddo,
I’m afraid the case of the murdered sphinx professor has not been solved yet, and now there are whispers that he was poisoned… Our head of security, an Edwardian called Boffin, seems more interested in tea and scones than investigating murders. I might have some leads of my own, but don’t worry. I’m being very careful.
This morning we got a break from the train (but sadly not from our chaperone Charlotte) when we visited a medieval Islamic hospital. After a trip to the outfitting coach to get into our age-appropriate dress, Soliman, our genie guide, opened a portal to the Abbasid era. Once through the Whoosh we stepped into the morning sun of 1248s Cairo and landed on a hill right outside a grand stone building with striped arches in black and white. This, Soliman explained, was the bimaristan of Al Mansouri, one of the first of hospitals in the history of man and (Charlotte sniffed at this) a prototype for our modern hospitals.
A young doctor and fellow time-traveller called Umar met us at the gate and led the way into a large, central courtyard. Like most medieval buildings I’ve visited, it had a beautiful fountain. This one was surrounded by a rectangular basin of colourful tiles that looked like a swimming pool. The hospital had channels of fresh water drawn in from the Nile river. Umar looked very pleased when he told us that the patients had unlimited access to fresh water, so that they could bathe whenever they wanted.
As we walked through the corridors the breeze filtered through the mashrabeyya windows carrying a scent of chlorophyll and papyrus from the nearby fields and the riverbank. Umar told us that the site of the hospital, on a hill outside the city, had been chosen for the healthy atmosphere, the clean air and closeness to nature. The sound of running water from smaller fountains and channels, and pots of medicinal plants, made the place feel less like a hospital and more like a luxurious, middle eastern spa.
At the bimaristan all treatments are given for free to all patients. The place is completely funded by donations from the rich, by so called waqfs. The donations are so plentiful that they cover house calls too, and patients are even compensated for the work they miss during sick leave.
The philosophy here is that no patient should leave until they are healed. Umar told us that the doctors aren’t even paid unless their patients get well! That, he explained, was to make sure they really do their best work at all times. Should a patient die because a doctor has been careless with treatment, the family of the deceased can demand that he compensates them by paying blood-money!
Doctors here have to do a really long training, pass an examination, and be mentored by a chief physician before they are allowed to treat patients. They also work in shifts to ensure that they are rested and able to perform at their best. They don’t seem to care what religion you belong to as long as you do a good job. We saw Jewish, Christian, and Muslim doctors working side by side, and even got to follow one during his daily round. It was cool to see him chatting to the patients and make observations on their patient cards. Umar told us that Muslim hospitals were the first to create a system for patients’ records along with their appropriate treatments.
They also made some pretty groundbreaking discoveries in the field of surgery, especially of the eyes. When it came to treating mental illness, they developed things like music and light therapy, because they believed that beautiful sounds like musical instruments and running water, fresh water, conversation, and greenery could be healing to the mind, and that music could evoke different feelings, like sleepiness and calm. Their philosophy of healing did explain why the place was so beautiful, with its pouring fountains and greenery. I don’t think I was the only one in the group who almost wished I could stay there for a little longer when they tour was finished.
Before leaving, Umar showed us that the bimaristan really was more than a hospital. It contained a whole complex of buildings including a huge lecture hall, a library, a madrasa (religious school), an orphanage, a mosque for the Muslim patients, and a chapel for the Christians. It also had a pharmacy that imported medicine from places as far away as India. It even housed a ‘stork hospital’ that treated migratory birds, including storks with broken wings or legs, old senile crows, and owls that had gone blind or deaf. Isn’t that cool?
Who knew that medieval hospitals were so humane, advanced, and clean? It wasn’t exactly what I had imagined, to be honest. I only wished we could have brought the old sphinx professor there before it was too late. Perhaps they could have healed our other passengers as well and wake them from their strange sleeping sickness.
Your granddaughter,
Aliya
Useful links
- https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/islam-hospitals-bimaristan-pioneered-eye-surgery-music-therapy
- https://www.trtworld.com/life/an-ottoman-era-hospital-for-storks-in-bursa-still-cares-for-animals-38466
- https://hekint.org/2017/02/23/bimarstan-al-mansouri/
- https://www.trtworld.com/life/an-ottoman-era-hospital-for-storks-in-bursa-still-cares-for-animals-38466
About Laila Rifaat
Laila moved to Cairo, Egypt, in her twenties to explore her father’s native country. She fell in love with the country and has lived in Cairo for over 30 years now. It remains a main source of inspiration for her stories. She has an MA in English and Comparative Literature and has worked as an ESL and IGCSE teacher. Nowadays she’s a full-time writer and stay-at-home mum to her four kids. Find out more at www.lailarifaat.com
Aliya Aboard the Time Train
The spectacular sequel to Middle Eastern-inspired fantasy Aliya to the Infinite City.
When sinister magic threatens Aliya’s world once more, she is sent away on a school trip for her own safety aboard the time-travelling Silver Express. But what is supposed to be an educational journey through Egyptian history becomes a deadly race to save it from evil time-twister and master of disguise, Dorian Darke. Find out more at
My Shelves Are Full 