RESUMO
The early medieval era is also called the Islamic Golden Age because of the significant rise in sciences, including medicine. Abu Bakr Rabi' ibn Ahmad Akhawayni Bukhari (better known as Akhawayni) was one of the notable medical practitioners in his lifetime. His fame was in neuroscience and he became known as Pezeshk-e-Divanegan (Physician to the Insane). His only surviving book, Hidayat al-Muta'allimin fi al-Tibb (The Students' Handbook of Medicine), is the first medical textbook in Persian, after Islam. Akhawayni gathered and categorized available knowledge on neuropsychiatry and added his own. He was the first to describe sleep paralysis and to suggest pragmatic rather than supernatural treatment. He was also the first to present fever cure and his descriptions of meningitis (Lisarghos in Hidayat), mania, psychosis (Malikhulia), dementia (Ghotrab), etc., are close to current concepts.