Bio-Bibliographies
A B C D F G H I J K M N O P Q R S T V Y Z
Ibn ‘Abd al-Muṭṭalib (or al-Muṭlib), Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd Allāh (fl. before 1546/953)
محمد ابن عبد الله ابن عبد المطلب
Nothing is known of this author except that he wrote a Persian treatise on magical medical procedures, extracts of which are preserved in a unique copy now at NLM (MS P 29, marginal item 31). The treatise is written in the margins of another treatise. The volume bears an owner's stamp dated 1546 (953 H), thereby providing a date before which the otherwise unknown author must have worked.
Ibn al-‘Arabi, Muhyi al-Dīn (d. 1240/638)
Ibn al-‘Arabi, also known as al-Shaykh al-Akbar, was one of the most celebrated of medieval Islamic mystics (or Sufis). Born in Spain in 1165/560, Ibn al-‘Arabi spent most of his life in Spain and North Africa, though in 1230/627 he settled in Damascus, where he died ten years later.
He composed many treatises (over 200 titles are recorded) on numerous topics. Amongst these is a tract on physiogonomy, recently translated into Spanish from the Arabic: Dos cartillas de fisiognómica, translated by M. J. Viguera (Madrid: Nacionel, 1977). He also composed material concerned with astrological and divinatory topics (though the popular treatise on the interpretation of dreams that circulated under his name is generally considered to be spurious).
For his life and writings, see A. Ates, 'Ibn al-'Arabi' in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 3, pp. 707-11; and Ullmann, Natur, pp. 340-1.
Ibn Arfa‘ Ra’s Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Abī al-Qāsim Mūsá ibn ibn Musá ibn ‘Ali ibn Mūsá ibn Muḥammad ibn Khalaf al-Anṣārī al-Jayyanī al-Andalusī (d. 1197/593)
ابو الحسن على ابن ابى الثاسم موسى ابن على ابن موسى ابن محمد ابن خلف الانصارى الاندلسى المشتهر بابن ارفع راس
Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Abī al-Qāsim Mūsá ibn ibn Musá ibn ‘Ali ibn Mūsá ibn Muḥammad ibn Khalaf al-Anṣārī al-Jayyanī al-Andalusī, known as Ibn Arfa‘ Ra’s, composed an allegorical poem on alchemy titled Shudhūr al-dhahab (Nuggets of Gold) or Dīwān al-shudhūr (Poems of the Nuggets) that consisted of 1460 verses having as rhymes the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet. It is preserved today in a large number of manuscripts, and a number of commentaries on the poem were written by later writers. An Arabic treatise concerned with magic is also preserved today. Virtually nothing is known of his life.
For his compositions and what little is known of him, see Ullmann, Natur, pp. 231-2.
Ibn Abī al-Bayan, Abū al-Fadl Dā’ūd al-Isra'ilī (d. 1240/638)
Ibn Abī al-Bayan was a Jewish physician working in Cairo who was over the age of 80 when he died. He composed a dispensory (the Dustur al-bimaristan) for use in the Nasiri hospital in Cairo and also a treatise on medical experiences.
For his life and treatises, see Ullmann, Medizin, p. 309; and J. Vernet, "Ibn Abī 'l-Bayan" in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 3, p. 683.
Ibn al-Bayṭār, Ḍiya’ al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ‘Abd Allāh ibn Aḥmad (d. 1248/646)
ضياء الدين ابو محمد عبد الله ابن احمد المعروف بابن البيطار
Ibn al-Bayṭār was probably the most influential medieval writer on botany and pharmaceutics. Born at Malaga in the kingdom of Granada, he studied at Seville and then in 1220/617 began travelling east across North Africa to Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor. Eventually he settled in Egypt, and for the Ayyubid ruler in Egypt, al-Malik al-‘Adil II (ruled 1238-1240), he composed a book on medicinal substances titled Kitāb al-Mughni fī al-adwiyah al-mufradah (The Ultimate in Materia Medica). To the next Ayyubid ruler, al-Malik Salih II, who ruled from 1240 to 1249, he dedicated an enormous dictionary of simple medicaments and foodstuffs (Kitāb al-Jāmi‘ li-mufrdat al-adwiyah wa-al-aghdhiyah). The latter was an alphabetical guide to over 1,400 medicaments in 2,324 separate entries, taken from his own observations as well as over 260 written sources which he quoted. Shortly before his death in 1248/646, Ibn al-Bayṭār left Cairo and moved to Damascus.
For his life and writings, see J. Vernet, 'Ibn al-Bayṭār' in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 3, p. 737; and Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 280-3.
Ibn Abī Ṣādiq, Abū
al-Qāsim ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn ‘Alī (d. shortly after 1068/460 H)
ابو القاسم عبد الرحمان ابن ابى صادق
Ibn Abī Ṣādiq, from Nishapur in Persia, was said by some medieval biographical sources to have been a pupil of Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna)'s. The direct association with Avicenna, has been questioned by recent historians, and it has been proposed that the association with Avicenna was due to his dependence upon him rather than personal discipleship. Because he composed a popular commentary on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates, he was known in some circles as "the second Hippocrates (Buqrāṭ al-thānī)". His commentary on the Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq's Questions on Medicine, however, may have been even more popular, judging from the large number of copies preserved today. Ibn Abī ṣādiq also wrote a commentary on the Prognostics of Hippocrates, on Galen's treatise On the Usefulness of the Parts, and on Rāzī's treatise Doubts about Galen (Shukuk ‘alá Jālīnūs). According to the medieval biographical sources, he completed the commentary on Galen's On the Usefulness of the Parts in the year 1068/460, which provides us with the one firm date in his biography (see IAU, vol. 2, p. 22).
For his life and writings, see the article "Ebn Abi Sadeq" by Lutz Richter-Bernburg in EncIr, vol. 7, p. 663; Ullmann, Medizin p. 160; GAL, vol. 1, p. 484 (638), GAL-S vol. 1, pp. 886-7; and Lutz Richter-Bernburg, "Iran's Contribution to Medicine and Veterinary Science in Islam AD 100-900/AD 700-1500", in The Diffusion of Greco-Roman Medicine in the Middle East and the Caucasus,, ed. J.A.C. Greppin, E. Savage-Smith, and J.L. Gueriguian (Delmar, NY: Caravan Press, 1999).
Ibn al-Akfanī, Shams al-Dīn, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Sinjarī al-Misrī (d. 1348/749)
Ibn al-Akfanī was a notable physician and scholar in Egypt who composed treatises on many topics, including ophthalmology, bloodletting, the medicinal/magical use of stones, and the buying of slaves. He has been suggested as the author of a treatise on fevers now at NLM, but there is no evidence to confirm this attribution (NLM MS A 15).
For an exhaustive study of the writings of Ibn al-Akfanī, see J. J. Witkam, De Egyptische Arts Ibn al-Akfanī (gest. 749/1348) en zijn Indelung van de Wetenschapen. Editie van het Kitab Irshad al-qasid ila asna al-maqasid met een Inleidung over het leven en werk van de auteur, Leiden: Ter Lugt Pers, 1989. See also J.J. Witkam, "Ibn al-Akfanī" in EI (2nd ed.), Supplement, p. 381; and Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 178-179.
Ibn Buṭlān, Abū
al-Ḥasan al-Mukhtār ibn ‘Abdūn (d. 1066/458)
ابو الحسن المختار ابن عبدون ابن بطلان
Ibn Buṭlān was a Christian physician of Baghdad. In 1049 he left Baghdad to travel to Aleppo, Antioch, Laodicea, Jaffa, Cairo and Constantinople. Toward the end of his life he settled in Antioch, where he became a monk and died in the monastery on 8 Shawwal 458 (2 September 1066). His treatise on medicine for monks is preserved in a copy at NLM.
His treatise on hygiene and dietetics, Taqwīm al-sihhah (The Almanac of Health) presented a guide to medical regimen in tabular form. It was probably the most well-known of his treatises, and was later influential in Europe through its Latin translation, Tacuinum sanitatis in medicina. For an edition of the text with French translation, see Hosam Elkhadem, Le "Taqwim al-sihha" (Tacuini sanitatis) d'Ibn Buṭlān: Un traité médical du XIe siècle. Histoire du texte, édition critique, traduction, commentaire (Académie royale de Belgique, Classe des lettres, Fonds René Draguet, vol. 7) (Leuven, Belgium: Aedibus Peeters, 1990).
For his life and writings, see L.I. Conrad, "Scholarship and social context: a medical case from the eleventh-century Near East" in Knowledge and the Scholarly Medical Traditions, ed. Don Bates (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp. 84-100; GAL-S, vol. 1, p. 885; Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 157-158; J. Schacht, "Ibn Butlan", EI (2nd ed.),vol. 3, pp. 740-742; and Ibn Butlan, The Physicians' Dinner Party, ed. & tr. Klein-Franke, (Wiesbaden: Olms, 1985).
Ibn Hubal, Muhadhdhab al-Dīn ‘Alī ibn Aḥmad, al-Baghdādī al-Khilati (d. 1213/610 H)
Ibn Hubal is known primarily for his medical compendium titled Kitab al-Mukhtarat fi al-tibb (also written as Kitāb al-Mukhtār fī al-ṭibb), "The Book of Selections in Medicine." It was written in 1165/560 in Mosul, south of Baghdad, where Ibn Hubal spent most of his life. The popular medical encyclopedia is highly dependent upon the Qānūn of Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna), with occasional passages transcribed verbatim.
For his life and writings, see Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 161-162, and Dietrich, Medicinalia Arabica, pp. 112-113 no. 47. The encyclopaedia has been published as Ibn Hubal, Kitāb al-Mukhtār fī al-ṭibb li-ibn Hubal al-Baghdādī,, 4 vols. (Hyderabad: Da'irat al-Ma‘arif al-‘Uthmaniyah, 1943-4/1362-3). The chapters on kidney and bladder stones has been edited and translated into French by P. de Koning, Traité sur le calcul dans les reins et dans la vessie par Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (Leiden, 1896) pp. 86-227. Other chapters have been translated by Dorothee Thies, Die Lehren der arabischen Mediziner Tabari und Ibn Hubal über Herz, Lunge, Gallenblase und Milz [Beiträge zur Sprachen und Kulturgeschichte des Orients, Heft 20] (Bonn: Verlag für Orientkunde Dr. H. Vorndran, 1968), pp. 73-133.
Ibn Ilyās, Manṣūr ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf,
see, Manṣūr ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf ibn Ilyās
Ibn Jazlah, Abū ‘Alī Yaḥyá ibn ‘Īsá (d. 1100/493)
ابو على يحيى ابن عيسى ابن جزله
Ibn Jazlah was an important 11th-century physician of Baghdad and author of an influential treatise on regimen that was translated into Latin in 1280 by the Sicilian Jewish physician Faraj ben Salem. Of Christian origin, Ibn Jazlah converted to Islam in 1074, and late in life he wrote a treatise in praise of Islam and criticising Christianity and Judaism.
For his life and works, see Ullmann, Medizin, p. 160; J. Vernet, "Ibn Djazla" in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 3, p. 754; GAL, vol. 1, p. 485 (639); and Joseph Salvatore Graziani, Arabic Medicine in the Eleventh Century as Represented in the Works of Ibn Jazlah (Karachi, Pakistan: Hamdard Foundation, 1980).
Ibn al-Jazzār, Abū Ja‘far Ahmad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Khālid (d. 979/369)
ابو جعفر احمد ابن ابراهيم ابن ابى خالد ابن الجزار
Ibn al-Jazzār, a tenth-century physician practicing in Qayrawan in North Africa, composed a number of important medical treatises. There has been confusion regarding his precise dates, but recent evidence indicates that he died in Qayrawan, his native city, in 979-980 (369 H).
The most well-known of his writings was a comprehensive general medical handbook titled Zād al-musafir wa-qut al-hadir (Provisions for the Traveler and the Nourishment of the Settled). It became very influential in Europe, where several medieval translations of it were produced. In the 11th century it was translated into Byzantine Greek, in the 12th century in Toledo the treatise was translated from Arabic into Latin by Gerard of Cremona under the title Viaticum peregrinantis, and in the next century it was translated into Hebrew. Of this important medical encyclopaedia, which consisted of seven books, the book on fevers and the book on sexual diseases have been recently edited and translated into English. See, Gerrit Bos, Ibn al-Jazzār on Sexual Diseases: A critical edition of "Zād al-musafir wa-qut al-hadir": Provisions for the Traveller and Nourishment for the Sedentary, Book 6. The original Arabic text, with an English translation, introduction and commentary [The Sir Henry Wellcome Asian Series] (London: Kegan Paul Internatonal, 1998).
Amongst his other treatises was one concerned with medical care for the poor and destitute, of which NLM has a copy. This treatise has been summarized in an article by Gerrit Bos, "Ibn al-Jazzār on Medicine for the Poor and Destitute", Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 118, 1998, pp. 365-375. Ibn al-Jazzār also wrote a treatise on the treatment of forgetfulness (Risalah fi al-nisyan wa-‘ilajihi) which has been recently edited and translated into English; see Gerrit Bos, Ibn al-Jazzār, Risāla fi l-nisyan (Treatise on Forgetfulness), London, 1995).
Ibn al-Jazzār was an important physician from Qairawan in Tunisia, and he seems to have spent his entire life in that region. His most influential treatise was titled Zād al-musafir wa-qut al-hadir (Provisions for the Traveler and Nourishment for the Sedentary), and although the title suggests that it was a specialized treatise for travellers, it was in fact a systematic medical encyclopaedia in seven books. This therapeutic guide was very influential in Europe where its Latin version was known as Viaticum peregrinantis. He also composed a 'Medicine for the Poor.'
For his life and works, see the above studies by Gerrit Bos, and GAL-S, vol. 1, p. 424; Sezgin, GAS III, p. 304; Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 148-149; H.R. Idris, EI (2nd ed.), vol. 3, p. 754. For the date of Ibn al-Jazzār's death, see Gerrit Bos, Ibn al-Jazzār on Sexual Diseases: A critical edition of "Zad al-musafir wa-qut al-hadir": Provisions for the Traveller and Nourishment for the Sedentary, Book 6. The original Arabic text, with an English translation, introduction and commentary [The Sir Henry Wellcome Asian Series] (London: Kegan Paul International, 1998), p. 6 note 4.
Ibn Jumay‘ al-Isrā’īlī [or, Ibn Jami‘], Abū al-Makārim Hibat Allāh (d. 1198/594)
ابو المكارم هبة الله ابن جميع الاسرائيلى
Abū al-Makārim Hibat Allāh ibn Zayn al-Dīn Ibn Jumay‘ was a Jewish Egyptian physician born in Fustat (old Cairo). He received honorific titles such as Ustadh zamanih (Master of His Age). He was the student of Ibn al-‘Aynzarbī (d. 1153/548) and was in the service of the Egyptian ruler Saladin, who ruled from 1169 to 1193 (564-589 H). Ibn Jumay‘ became famous for having prevented a person having a cataleptic fit from being buried alive. He was the author of a number of medical writings, including al-Irshād li-maṣāliḥ, dedicated to al-Baysanī, the vizier to Saladin, and completed by Ibn Jumay‘ al-Isrā’īlī's son Abū Tahir Ismā‘īl. Amongst others treatises, he wrote a short treatise on the city of Alexandria, and one on what to do when a physician is not available.
For his life and writings, see IAU, vol. 2, p. 112; Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 164-165; GAL, vol. 1, p. 489 (643) and GAL-S, vol. 2, pp. 892-3; and the article "Ibn Jami‘" by J. Vernet in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 3, pp. 749-750.
Ibn al-Kattānī, Abī ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan (d. 1029/420)
ابو عبد الله محمد ابن حسن المعروف بابن الكتانى
Ibn al-Kattānī was an important physician and scholar of 11th-century Spain, born in Córdoba in 951 and living to the age of 80, when he died at Zaragoza. He was in the service of a Spanish vizier about the year 1002. Yet, with the exception of the manuscript now at NLM, his medical writings are lost today and known only through citations by later physicians.
The treatise on skin diseaes, Mu‘alajat al-amrad al-khatirah al-badiyah ‘alá al-badan min kharij (The Treatment of Dangerous Diseases Appearing Superficially on the Body), preserved today in NLM MS A 91, item 1, is the only medical writing by Ibn al-Kattānī known to be extant today.
For his life and writings, see Sezgin, GAS III, pp. 319-320; Ullmann, Medizin, p. 270; and Corpus medicorum arabico-hispanorum, compiled by Carmen Peña, Amador Diaz, Camilo Alvarez de Morales, Fernando Girón, Rosa Kuhne, Concepción Vázques, and Ana Labarta, Awraq, 1981, volume 4, pp.79-111, esp. p. 85 no. 13.
Ibn al-Khaṭīb, Lisān al-Dīn (d. 1375/776)
ليسان الدين ابو عبد الله محمد ابن الخطيب الاندلسي
Ibn al-Khaṭīb, also known as Lisān al-Dīn and Dhu al-wizaratayn, was an influential Andalusian vizier. He was born in 1313/713 in Loja, about 50 kilometers from Granada and was educated in Granada, where his father was in the service of the sultan Abū al-Walīd Ismā‘īl. After years of influential service as vizier and head of the royal chancellery, Lisān al-Dīn ibn al-Khaṭīb fell victim to intrigues and was ultimately imprisoned and executed in May-June of 1375 (the end of 776 H). In addition to writing an important history of Granada, he composed a number of medical treatises as well as treatises in almost all other branches of learning, with the number of titles exceeding 60. The medical items included a general work on therapeutics, a book on hygiene, a treatise on plague, and a didactic medical poem which is preserved in a copy at NLM (MS A 85, item 1).
For his life and writings, see Ullmann, Medizin, p. 179; J. Bosch-Vilá, "Ibn al-Khaṭīb" in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 3, pp. 835-7; GAL, vol. 2, pp. 260-264 (337-340) and GAL-S , pp. 372-373; and Corpus medicorum arabico-hispanorum, compiled by Carmen Peña, Amador Diaz, Camilo Alvarez de Morales, Fernando Girón, Rosa Kuhne, Concepción Vázques, and Ana Labarta, Awraq, 1981, volume 4, pp.79-111, esp. pp. 103-4 no. 43.
Ibn Makkī, Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad (dates unknown)
شمس الدين محمد ابن مكي
Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Makkī is given in some manuscripts as an author of short poems on various medical topics. The subjects of the poems include venesection, the evacuation of humors, and circumcision. A poem is also sometimes attributed to him which summarizes the Kitāb al-Buthūr (The Book of Pustules), also called Risālah fī al-Qaḍāyā (The Essay on the [25] Premises), that was falsely attributed to Hippocrates.
See GAL-S, vol. 2, p. 1030 no. 36(1,2); Iskandar, "Wellcome" pp. 213 and 207-8; Salah al-Din al-Munajjid, "Masadir jadidah ‘an ta'rikh al-tibb ‘inda al-‘arab," Revue de l'Institut des Manuscrits Arabes, vol. 5(2) (1959), pp. 229-348, esp. no. 508 p. 330; and Savage-Smith, "Bodleian", MS Marsh 71, item 5.
Ibn al-Mīlaq (or al-Maylaq), Abū al-‘Abbās (mid-15th century or later)
ابو العباس الشهير بابن الميلق
NLM has a copy of an untitled treatise by him on Prophetic traditions regarding health and medicine. Nothing is known about al-shaykh Abū al-‘Abbās, known as (al-shahir bi-) Ibn al-Mīlaq (or al-Maylaq). This is the only recorded treatise in his name. Since he cites al-Bistamī (d. 1454/858) as a source, Ibn al-Maylaq must have lived in the mid-15th century or later.
Ibn al-Muṭrān (or, Ibn Matrān), Muwaffaq al-Dīn Abū Naṣr As‘ad ibn Ilyās (d. 1191/587)
موفق الدين ابو نصر اسعد ابن الياس ابن المطران
Originally from Damascus, Ibn Muṭrān was a Christian scholar and son of a travelling physician. Ibn Muṭrān studied with Ibn al-Tilmīdh in Baghdad. Later he served Saladin as court physician in Egypt, where he attained great wealth and a massive library of his own. During the reign of Saladin, who treated him most generously, Ibn Muṭrān converted to Islam. Ibn Muṭrān employed three full-time copyists, and at the time of his death in 1191/587 his library was said to contain ten thousand volumes. Of his own compositions, his most famous is The Garden of the Physicians and the Meadows of the Wise (Kitāb Bustān al-aṭibbā’ wa-rawḍat al-alibbā’). It is a medical anthology containing quotations and extracts from a large number of early medical writings. For Saladin, he wrote a treatise on regimen (fī al-tadābīr al-sihhiyah) that is preserved today in a manuscript in Istanbul.
In Baghdad, Ibn al-Muṭrān worked together with Ibn al-Tilmīdh, and he later served as physician to the Ayyubid ruler Saladin (Salah al-Dīn Yūsuf), who ruled in Egypt from 1169 to 1193 and in Syria from 1186 to 1193. Ibn al-Muṭrān was famous as a great book collector and is said to have employed at one time as many as three copyists. At his death in 1191/587, his library was said to have encompassed 10,000 volumes.
His most famous composition is his Kitāb Bustān al-aṭibbā’ wa-rawḍat al-alibbā’ (The Garden of Physicians and the Meadows of the Wise), of which NLM has one of the rare copies (MS A 8).
For his life and writings, see Ullmann, Medizin, p. 165; IAU vol. 2, p. 175-181; GAL-S, vol. 1, p. 892; and Catalogue of Islamic Medical Manuscripts (in Arabic, Turkish, and Persian) in the Libraries of Turkey, ed. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu (Istanbul: Research Centre of Islamic History, Art and Culture, 1984), p. 90.
Ibn al-Nafīs, ‘Alā’ al-Dīn ‘Alī
ibn Abī al-ḥazm al-Qurashī
(d. 1288/678H)
علاء الدين على ابن ابى الحزم القرشى المروف بابن النفيس
The Syrian physician Ibn al-Nafīs, better known in the Arabic literature by his nisbah al-Qurashī, was an authority on religious law, logic, and theology, as well as a prolific writer of medical tracts. Originally from Damascus, he spent much of his life in Cairo, where he became "Chief of Physicians". When he died in 1288, he bequeathed his house and library to the recently constructed Mansurī hospital in Cairo.
For life and writings, see M. Meyerhof and J. Schacht, "Ibn al-Nafīs" in EI (2nd ed.), volume 3, pp. 897-898; and A.Z. Iskandar, "Ibn al-Nafīs", DSB, volume 9, pp. 600-604; Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 172-174. See also, Max Meyerhof and Joseph Schacht, The Theologus Autodidactus of Ibn al-Nafīs, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968) and Nicholas Heer, "Thalathat mujalladat min Kitāb al-Shamil li-Ibn al-Nafīs," Revue de I'Institut des Manuscrits Arabes, 1960, pp. 203-210; and Emilie Savage-Smith, "Ibn al-Nafīis' Perfected Book on Ophthalmology and His Treatment of Trachoma and Its Sequelae," Journal for the History of Arabic Science, vol. 4 (1980) pp. 147-206.
Ibn al-Qifṭī, ‘Alī ibn Yūsuf (d. 1248/646)
على ابن يوسف ابن القفطى
The historian and scholar Ibn al-Qifṭī was born in Upper Egypt and educated in Cairo. About 1187 he went to Jerusalem, where he continued his studies, and then in 1201 moved to Aleppo in Syria. He is known to have written 26 treatises, including a history of Cairo, but of these 26 writings only two are preserved today. His history of learned men, usually referred to as Ta’rīkh al-ḥukamā’ is preserved today only in an epitome made in 1249/647 by al-Zawzanī, of which NLM has a copy (MS A 72).
For his life and compositions, see A. Dietrich "Ibn al-Kifṭī" in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 3, p. 840; Ullmann, Medizin,p. 231; GAL-S, vol. 1, p. 559; and Françoise Micheau, "Great Figures in Arabic Medicine According to Ibn al-Qifṭī", pp. 169-183 in Health, Disease and Healing in Medieval Culture, ed. by Sheila Campbell, Bert Hall, and David Klausner (New York: St Martin's Press, 1992).
Ibn al-Quff, Abū al-Faraj ibn Muwaffaq al-Dīn Ya‘qub ibn Isḥāq (d. 1286/685)
Ibn al-Quff was born in 1233/630 in Karak (Syria), where his father was a learned court official. When still young, he moved with his family first to Sarkhad, in southeastern Syria, and then to Damascus. He studied medicine with Ibn al-Nafīs and with Ibn Abī Usaybi‘ah (another prominent Damascene physician as well as compiler of biographical sketches of physicians). Though a Malekite Christian, he became one of the leading 13th-century physicians in Syria and enjoyed the patronage of the rulers in Syria. He composed a number of treatises, including an important treatise on surgery and a popular commentary on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates. He died in Damascus in 1286/685.
See Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 176-178; the article "Ibn al-Kuff" by S.K. Hamarneh in EI (2nd ed.), Supplement, p. 391; and S.K. Hamarneh, The Physician, Therapist, and Surgeon Ibn al-Quff (Cairo, 1974).
Ibn Rushd, Abū al-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad (Averroes)
(d. 595/1198)
ابو الوليد محمد ابن احمد ابن محمد ابن رشد
Born in Cordoba in 1126/520 H, Ibn Rushd belonged to an important Spanish family of scholars. Ibn Rushd himself, known to Europeans as Averroes, was famous as a commentator on Aristotle, a religious scholar writing on the Qur'an,and as a writer on philosophy, medicine, biology, and physics. Only a few of his numerous writings survive today in Arabic (the language in which they were composed), but rather most are preserved only in Latin or Hebrew translations. Among the works that have survived in Arabic are his commentary on the major medical poem of Ibn Sīnā. Though he criticized the philosophy of Ibn Sīnā, Ibn Rushd did follow the latter's medical thinking. Ibn Rushd had an enormous impact upon European thinking (through translation), probably considerably more than he had within the Arabic-speaking world.
For life and works, see R. Arnaldez, "Ibn Rushd" in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 3, pp. 909-920; Ullmann, Medizin, p. 166-7; and Corpus medicorum arabico-hispanorum, compiled by Carmen Peña, Amador Diaz, Camilo Alvarez de Morales, Fernando Girón, Rosa Kuhne, Concepción Vázques, and Ana Labarta, Awraq, 1981, volume 4, pp.79-111, esp. p. 93.
Ibn Sallūm, Ṣāliḥ ibn Naṣr (d. 1669/1080)
Ibn Sallūmwas born in Aleppo, Syria, and became court physician in Istanbul to the Ottoman ruler Mehmet IV, who ruled from 1648 to 1687. He was greatly influenced by early modern European medical theory, particularly the thought and practices of the Paracelsians, followers of Paracelsus (d. 1541), whose "chemical medicine" employed mineral acids, inorganic salts, and alchemical procedures in the production of compound remedies.
Ibn Sallūm incorporated into his book titled Ghāyat al-itqān fī tadbīr badan al-insān (The Culmination of Perfection in the Treatment of the Human Body) Arabic translations of several Latin Paracelsian treatises, such as those by Oswald Croll (d. 1609), professor of medicine at the University of Marburg, and Daniel Sennert (d. 1637), professor of medicine at Wittenberg. The treatise not only reflects the new chemical medicine of the European Paracelsians, but also described for the first time in Arabic a number of "new" diseases, such as scurvy, chlorosis, anemia, and the English sweat (a type of influenza). NLM has four manuscripts containing Ibn Sallūm's writings.
For his life and writings, see Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 182-184; and E.Savage-Smith, "Drug Therapy of Eye Diseases in Seventeenth-Century Islamic Medicine: The Influence of the 'New Chemistry' of the Paracelsians", Pharmacy in History, vol. 29 (1987), pp. 3-28.
Ibn Sallūm, Ṣāliḥ ibn Naṣr Allāh al-Ḥalabī (d. 1670/1081 H)
صالح ابن نصر الله ابن سلوم الحلبى
The Ottoman court physician Ṣāliḥ ibn Naṣr Allāh al-ḥalabī was generally known as Ibn Sallūm. Of his life, we know only the bare outline of events. He was born, raised, and presumably educated in Aleppo, Syria, where he became chief of physicians. At an unknown date he emigrated to Istanbul, the capitol of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman ruler Sultan Mehmet IV (reigned 1648-1687) made him chief physician in Istanbul and one of his entourage. The biographical souces for the most part agree that he died in 1670/1081 H.
Ibn Sallūm knew Latin and had direct access to 17th-century European printed texts. His major work was a medical encyclopedia on chemical medicine entitled Ghāyat al-itqān fī tadbīr badan al-insān (The Culmination of Perfection in the Treatment of the Human Body). A section of this encyclopedia that often circulated separately was subtitled "The New Chemical Medicine Invented by Paracelsus" a reference to Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, better known as Paracelsus (1493-1541), whose German treatises on chemical medicine were known only second-hand to Ibn Sallūm. Paracelsus had developed a chemical philosophy which he applied to therapeutics, employing mineral acids, inorganic salts, and chemical procedures including distillation in the production of remedies. Ibn Sallūm's chapter included extracts, translated into Arabic, from Latin treatises published by followers of Paracelsus, in particular those of Daniel Sennert (d. 1637) and Oswald Croll (d. 1609). As a result, Ibn Sallūm's treatise included the earliest descriptions in Arabic of scurvy, anemia, the "English sweat" (a type of influenza), and plica polonica (an epidemic of matted and crusted hair caused by infestation with lice). It also included remedies made with New World medicaments such as sarsparilla and guaiacum.
For his life and writings, see Ullmann, Medizin, p. 182; Emilie Savage-Smith, "Drug Therapy of Eye Diseases in Seventeenth-Century Islamic Medicine", Pharmacy in History, vol. 29 (1987), pp. 3-28; and Hamarneh, "British Library", pp. 238-241.
Ibn Samajūn, Abū Bakr Ḥāmid (fl. 1002/392)
ابو بكر حامد ابن سمجون
Ibn Samajūn was a physician particularly interested in medicinal substances who worked in Spain, at Cordoba, in the second half of the 10th century. Very few details are known of his life. His large compendium on medicinal substances titled al-Jami‘ li-aqwal al-qudama’ wa-al-muhdathin min al-aṭibba’ wa-al-mutafalsifin fī l-adwiyah al-mufradāh (The Compendium on Simple Drugs with Statements of Ancient and Modern Physicians and Philosophers) is preserved today and is notable for the large number of authorities quoted by the author.
Only one other composition is attributed to Ibn Samajūn - a formulary titled Kitāb al-Aqrābādhīn (The Book of Compound Remedies). This formulary was thought to be lost until a manuscript at NLM (MS A 3/II, item2) was found to contain extracts from it.
For his life and writings, see Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 267-8; GAS III, 316-7; and Corpus medicorum arabico-hispanorum, compiled by Carmen Peña, Amador Diaz, Camilo Alvarez de Morales, Fernando Girón, Rosa Kuhne, Concepción Vázques, and Ana Labarta (Awr1q, vol. 4, 1981, pp. 79-111), p. 83 no. 11. See also J. Vernet, 'Ibn Samadjun', EI (2nd ed.), vol. 3, p. 928; and Paul Kahle, ‘Ibn Samajun und sein Drogenbuch. Ein Kapitel aus den Anfungen der arabischen Medizin', pp. 25-44 in Documenta Islamica Inedita (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1952).
Ibn Shahin al-Zahiri, Ghars al-Dīn Khalil (fl. 1453/857)
Born in Cairo in 1410/813, where he was also educated, Ibn Shahin had an outstanding career as an administrator in Mamluk Egypt. In 1453/857 he composed his major treatise in which he described Egypt under Mamluk rule. He also wrote a treatise on dream interpretation (Kitāb al-Isharat fī ‘ilm al-‘ibarat) which is cited by title in some notes appended by a copyist to a manuscript now at NLM (MS A 88/IV) concerned with Prophetic medicine.
For his life and writings, see J. Gaulmier and T. Fahd, 'Ibn Shahin al-Zahiri' in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 3, p. 935.
see Avicenna
Ibn al-Suri, Rashid al-Dīn Manṣūr (d. 1243/640)
The Syrian scholar Rashid al-Dīn Manṣūr ibn al-Suri is known to have prepared an illustrated herbal with figures drawn from the plants he had observed in his travels through Iraq, Armenian, Anatolia, Cyprus, Rhodes, and Sicily. The treatise, as well as all his other writings, are now lost, though extensive quotations are preserved in NLM MS A 64.
For Ibn al-Suri, see Ullmann, Medizin, p. 280.
see Suwaydī
Ibn Tilmīdh, Abū al-Ḥasan Hibat Allāh (d. 1165/560)
امين الدوله ابو الحسن هبة الله ابن التلميذ
Ibn Tilmīdh, usually known by the honorific titles Amīn al-Dawlah and Muwaffaq al-Mulk, was a Christian Arab of Baghdad, the son of an eminent physician. He knew both Syriac and Persian as well as Arabic, and while studying he made extended journeys into Persia. He was well-versed in many fields, including theology, calligraphy, and poetry. He enjoyed the favor of caliphs and was director of the most famous hospital in Baghdad. Amongst his many students were Ibn Muṭrān, and he composed a considerable number of medical texts, the most influential being his pharmocopeia. A man of great learning, when he died at the age of 95 lunar years, he left a fortune and a substantial collection of books to his son, who subsequently converted to Islam.
For his life and writings, see A.Z. Iskandar, "An Autograph of Ibn al-Tilmīdh's Marginal Commentary on Ibn Sīnā's Canon of Medicine", Le Muséon, vol. 90 (1977), pp. 177-236, esp. pp. 177-181; Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 163-4; and the article "Ibn al-Tilmīdh" by M. Meyerhof in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 2, pp. 956-7.
Ibn Tumart al-Maghribī, Abū ‘Alī Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad, al-Audalusī al-Malikī (d. 1001/391)
Ibn Tumart was an Andalusian writer on magical medicine. Little is known of his life, except what can be gleaned from his only preserved treatise on magical and astrological medicine titled Kitāb al-Kanz al-‘ulum wa-al-durr al-manzum fī haqa’iq ‘ilm al-shara‘ah wa-daqa'iq ‘ilm al-tabi‘ah (Treasure of Knowledge and Orderly Pearls on the True Meaning of Revealed Knowledge and the Intricacies of Natural Science). Judging from the number of copies preserved today, this work was quite popular.
This author named Ibn Tumart should not be confused with another by the name of Ibn Tumart, an authority on theology and jurisprudence who died in 1130/524. For the latter, see GAL, vol. 1, pp. 400-401 (506-7).
For this Andalusian writer on magical medicine named Ibn Tumart, see GAL-S, vol. 1, p. 424, no. 21.
Ibn Wāfid al-Lakhmī, ‘Abd al-Karīm (d. 1075/467)
عبد الكريم ابن وافد اللخمى
Ibn Wāfid al-Lakhmī was an important Spanish physician and vizier in Toledo. He composed an influential book on materia medica that was translated into Catalan and Hebrew as well as into Latin. His treatise on fevers is lost in the Arabic original but is preserved through a Latin translation. His important treatise on the causes and treatment of visual difficiencies was cited by later writers, particularly ophthalmological writers of the 13th century, but was thought not to be preserved today. However, a recently discovered fragment of a treatise of the same title and subject matter (NLM MS A 3/II, item 3) is likely to be a unique fragment of the treatise.
For his life and writigs, see Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 210, 273, and 306; GAL, vol. 1, p. 485 (638); Corpus medicorum arabico-hispanorum, compiled by Carmen Peña, Amador Diaz, Camilo Alvarez de Morales, Fernando Girón, Rosa Kuhne, Concepción Vázques, and Ana Labarta, Awraq, 1981, volume 4, pp.79-111, esp. pp. 85-86 no. 15; and J.F.P. Hopkins, "Ibn Wafid" in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 3, pp. 962-3.
Ibn Zur‘ah, Abū ‘Alī ‘Īsá ibn Isḥāq (d. 1008/398 H)
A Jacobite Christian philosopher and translator born in Baghdad in 943/331. Though a learned scholar, he earned a living through commercial activities, particularly with Byzantinum. He was eventually accused of intrigue with the Byzantine authorities, and following his arrest and conviction, his possessions were confiscated. These events are said to have ruined his health and hastened his death. Ibn Zur‘ah translated a number of treatises, particularly Aristotelian writings but also some Galenic ones, probably working from Syriac versions rather than original Greek ones. A number of essays by Ibn Zur‘ah (some possibly spurious) are preserved today.
See the article "Ibn Zur‘a" in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 3, pp. 979-980.
Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Ṭālib ibn ‘Alī al-ḥanafī (? 17th century)
ابراهيم ابن ابى طالب ابن على الحنفى المتطبب
The only known copy of an ophthalmological manual by Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Ṭālib ibn ‘Alī al-ḥanafī is in the collections of NLM (MS A 23). The author is given the designation al-mutaṭabbib which implies that he was a medical practitioner. The unique copy of the treatise was completed in 1698 (1110 H), which supplies a date before which he must have been active.
Nothing else is known of the author, and he is not known by any other work.
The name Idris is probably to be identified with the Biblical Enoch, though some writers suggest Hermes Trimegistus. Idris was a common name to which to attribute authority in occult and divinatory subjects. See the article "Idris" by Vajda in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 3, 1030-1031; and Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah, trans. F. Rosenthal (2nd ed., Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967), vol. I, p. 229 n.345.
Īlāqī, Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf (either fl. 1068/460 H or died 1141/536 H)
محمد بم يوسف الايلاقي
Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf al-Īlāqī was reportedly a student of Ibn Sina (Avicenna). His name, al-Īlāqī, suggests that he or his family were from Īlāq, a town near Nishapur. He made an epitome of the first book of the Canon of Medicine by Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna) which was known by various names: Kitāb al-Fuṣūl al-Īlāqīyah (The Aphorisms of al-Īlāqī) and Kitāb al-asbāb wa-al-‘alāmāt (The Book of Causes and Symptoms). Al-Īlāqī's greatly abbreviated version of the first book of the Canon was very popular, and many copies have survived.
There has been disagreement amongst scholars as to when precisely al-Īlāqī lived. Most often it has been said that he flourished c. 1068/450 H, since the medieval biographical sources expressly state that he was pupil of Avicenna (see, for example, IAU, vol. 2, p. 20).). Others, however, have convincingly argued that he was killed in 1141/536 in the battle on the Qatwan steppe in which the Seljuq ruler Sanjar ibn Malikshah (ruled 1118-1157) suffered a severe defeat at the hands of Buddhist invaders from northern China, usually known as the Qara Khitay.
For those arguing for a later date, see GAL, vol. 1, p. 485 (638) and GAL-S, vol. 1, p. 887; Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS, p. 325); Lutz Richter-Bernburg, "Iran's Contribution to Medicine and Veterinary Science in Islam AD 100-900/AD 700-1500", in The Diffusion of Greco-Roman Medicine in the Middle East and the Caucasus, ed. J.A.C. Greppin, E. Savage-Smith, and J.L. Gueriguian (New York: Caravan Press, 1999); and Dimitri Gutas, "Notes & Texts for Cairo MSS, II", Manuscripts of the Middle East, vol. 2 (1987), p. 15 note 13. For those giving the earlier date, see Iskandar, "Wellcome", pp. 51-2; Hamarneh, "NLM", p. 91; and Iskandar, "UCLA" p. 42. For the Qara Kitay, see the article "Kara Khitay" by C. E. Bosworth in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 4, pp. 580-583.
‘Imād al-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn Mas‘ūd Shīrāzī (mid-16th century)
عماد الدين محمود ابن مسعود شيرازى
‘Imād al-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn Mas‘ūd Shīrāzī studied medicine with his father in Shīrāz and taught a number of students himself. Early in his career he was in the service of the governor of Shirvan, during which time he incurred the governor's wrath, for which he received the punishment of spending one night outdoors in the cold and snow. ‘Imād al-Dīn Maḥmūd Shīrāzī resorted to opium during that night, and, although he recovered from the immediate effects of the cold, he had a tremor for the rest of his life. He became an opium-eater (afyūni), convinced of the therapeutic value of opium.
Reflecting his own experience, ‘Imād al-Dīn Maḥmūd Shīrāzī wrote a treatise in Persian on the medical and addictive properties of opium and its use in compound remedies. The National Library of Medicine has a copy of this treatise that was made in Kirman in the month of Rajab 999 [= April-May 1591], possibly during the author's lifetime or shortly thereafter; it appears to be the earliest recorded copy.
‘Imād al-Dīn Maḥmūd Shīrāzī also composed the first Persian-language monograph on syphilis and an important treatise on China root (chub-i chini), the rhizome of an Old World species of smilax found in eastern Asia and advocated for the treatment of syphilis. In Arabic, he wrote a treatise on compound remedies and a monograph on anatomy. Early modern Eurpean influence can be seen in many of these medical writings.
For his life and writings, see Storey PL II,2, p. 241-4 no. 411; Cyril Elgood, A Medical History of Persia and the Eastern Caliphate (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951; reprinted Amsterdam: APA-Academic Publishers, 1979), pp. 379-82; Cyril Elgood, Safavid Medical Practice, or The Practice of Medicine, Surgery and Gynaecology n Persia between 1500 AD and 1750 AD (London: Luzac, 1970), pp. 21-24; and Emilie Savage-Smith, ''Emad-al-Din Mahmud Sirazi' in EncIr, vol. 8, pp. 381-2.
al-‘Irāqī known as Sīmāwī, Abū al-Qāsim Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad
see, al-Sīmāwī
‘Izz al-Dīn Aydamir al-Jaldakī
see, al-Jaldakī
Isḥāq ibn Ḥunayn (d. 910/298)
اسحق ابن حنين
The son of the famous Greek-to-Arabic translator and physician Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq, Isḥāq ibn Ḥunayn assisted his father in the translation of a number of texts, particularly mathematical and philosophical ones. Ishaq himself composed a number of medical teatises as well as a short history of physicians that is an important document for understanding the view that 9th-century physicians had of their predecessors in Antiquity. A treatise on cures for forgetfulness is attributed to Ishaq ibn Hunayn, and NLM has one of the two recorded copies of this Arabic tract (MS A 3/II, item 1).
For his life and works, see Ullmann, Medizin, p. 119, Sezgin, GAS III, pp. 267-8; Franz Rosenthal, "Ishaq b. Hunayn's Ta'rih al-atibba'", Oriens, vol. 7 (1954) pp 55-80; and F.W. Zimmermann, "The Chronology of Isḥāq ibn Ḥunayn's Ta'rih al-atibba'", Arabica, vol. 21 (1974) pp. 325-330.
Isidore of Seville (d. 636)
Isidore was born and educated in Seville, and subsequently became archbishop there. His major writing was a Latin encyclopedia titled Etymologiae, in which he organized all available secular and religious knowledge into twenty books. The Etymologiae was a popular and enduring textbook of medieval knowledge. Isidore also wrote monographs on other subjects, including medicine.
See, William D. Sharpe, Isidore of Seville: The Medical Writings [Transactions of the Americal Philosophical Society 54, pt. 2] (Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1964).
