Islamic Medicine - Hospitals

One of the unique features of Muslim medicine was the use and development of hospitals (bimarsitan s or dar al-shifa s). Hospitals were founded in most major Muslim cities, starting in Baghdad, the capital of the Muslim empire, in the ninth century, and reached an especially high standard during Mamluk and Ottoman periods (from the thirteenth century). Muslim hospitals were urban charitable institutions funded by endowments (waqf s) that offered free treatment to the sick by an expert medical staff. In contrast to their European counterparts, Muslim hospitals were "true" hospitals in that they were designed to offer the sick expert medical treatment by professionals, whereas many premodern European hospitals (mainly in the medieval Latin West) usually restricted themselves to spiritual aid and substance to exhausted and convalescent people.