Even well after his lifetime, Ibn Sina was renowned, not just in medicine or philosophy, but in other areas, especially in the Islamic world. In brief, he was an authority in the Islamic East, or an "auctoritas". However, in the west, his work was massively influential in not only the medical education curricula, but also in the important, innovative doctrines in philosophy. The most fundamental sections of his major encyclopedia, al-Shifa being translated into Latin as early as the 12th and 13th centuries and spreading throughout universities dispersed this impact rapidly. Known as "the prince of physicians", Ibn Sina is the writer of the Canon of Medicine (al-Qa-nu- n fi 'al-Tibb), which became a medical standard in the Christian west as well as the Islamic world.

Ibn Sina wrote many books on various scientific branches, many of which are on philosophy, religion, music, medicine, astronomy, physics, and natural sciences. Some sources state that the number of books he has written is over 240; 153 of these have been discovered. Among his valuable books, the two most well-known books are "al-Shifa", which deals mostly with philosophy, and the five-volume "al-Qanun Fi al-Tibb", which is a complete medical encyclopedia. The Little Qanun is the model of "al-Qanun". The idea of publishing this book struck the author's mind when he thoroughly dealt with Avicenna's views and thoughts. It is hard to imagine such discoveries were generated more than one thousand years ago.