He was originally from al-Hirah, previously capital of the Lakhmid kingdom, but he spent his working life in Baghdad, the center of the Translation movement.

At that time, there was a vast amount of untranslated ancient Greek literature pertaining to philosophy, mathematics, natural science, and medicine.

[5][6] This valuable information was only accessible to a very small minority of Middle Eastern scholars who knew the Greek language; the need for an organized translation movement was urgent.

In time, Hunayn ibn Ishaq became arguably the chief translator of the era, and laid the foundations of Islamic medicine.

[5] In his lifetime, ibn Ishaq translated 116 works, including Plato's Timaeus, Aristotle's Metaphysics, and the Old Testament, into Syriac and Arabic.

[6] He has also been suggested by François Viré to be the true identity of the Arabic falconer Moamyn, author of De Scientia Venandi per Aves.

The Abbasid Caliph al-Mamun noticed Hunayn's talents and placed him in charge of the House of Wisdom, the Bayt al Hikmah.

[25]) The caliph also gave Hunayn the opportunity to travel to Byzantium in search of additional manuscripts, such as those of Aristotle and other prominent authors.

The caliph tested Hunayn's ethics as a physician by asking him to formulate a poison, to be used against a foe, in exchange for a large sum.

When asked why he would rather be killed than make the drug, Hunayn explained the physician's oath required him to help, and not harm, his patients.

[24] He completed many different medical works that pushed the idea of treating medicine with the practice and art of physic treatments.

[28] With the construction of the House of Wisdom, the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun wanted to have a place to gather world knowledge from Muslim and non-Muslim educators.

[30][31] Some of Hunayn's most notable translations were his rendering of "De Materia Medica", a pharmaceutical handbook, and his most popular selection, "Questions on Medicine",[6] a guide for novice physicians.

For instance, Hunayn explains what the four elements and the four humors are and that medicine divides into therapy and practice and also defines health, disease, neutrality, and as well as the natural and the contranatural, and the six necessary conditions of living healthily.

[32] Also in Chemistry a book titled ['An Al-Asma'] meaning "About the Names", did not reach researchers but was used in "Dictionary of Ibn Bahlool" of the 10th century.

[6][34] Some scholars argue Hunayn's approach differed from previous translators through his commentaries on the subject and was influenced by Galen's ideas along the way.