From the outset the Syrian, Greek, Sassanid and Indian influences, Arabic medicine of Bedouin origin offers only two centuries after the death of the prophet Mu-ammad, an unprecedented example of the assimilation of a huge amount of scientific writing. Due to the complexity of the sources and the late nature of some of them, it is not easy to trace their beginnings. But it must be borne in mind that Arab historians sometimes draw on old sources which they faithfully cite. It is true that many texts are the result of historical reconstructions; however, the comparative method and the philological study of the same texts also make it possible to obtain certain results, even in the case of the first doctors of Islam. Another characteristic feature of the beginnings of Arab medicine is the social and political status of Christian doctors who surrounded the first Abbassic Califes, much higher than that of Muslim doctors. These doctors are responsible for translations — mainly from Greek and Syriac to Arabic — but also for a very large number of original scientific treatments. These intense activities also gave rise to jalousies and intrigues, of which the most exemplified biography of these doctors, the doctors’ biography, is remarkable.