Bio-Bibliographies
A B C D F G H I J K M N O P Q R S T V Y Z
Sa‘d al-Dīn ibn Zāhir al-‘Ajamī (dates uncertain)
سعد الدين ابن ظاهر العجمى
All we know of this figure is that he is named as a person who revised an Arabic translation made of an Armenian veterinary treatise after it was carried off to Egypt in 1266 by the Egyptian ruler al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars (ruled 1260-1277). The National Library of Medicine has one of the rare copies of this curious Formulary for the Horse (NLM MS A 4).
For this treatise and its translation into Arabic, see Ullmann, Medizin, p. 221.
Salāwī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad (fl. end of 18th century)
احمد ابن محمد السلاوى
An autograph copy of a therapeutic manual by a North African physician named Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Salāwī is preserved in the collections of NLM (MS A 31). In this treatise he states that he has had 48 years experience and that he finished the treatise on 14 Muhammam 1229 [= 6 January 1814].
Nothing else is known of the author.
al-Ṣanawbarī, Muḥammad al-Mahdawī ibn ‘Alī ibn Ibrāhīm (d. 1412/815)
محمد مهدى ابن على ابن ابراهيم الصنوبرى
Al-Ṣanawbarī, about whom very little is known, composed a very popular treatise on Prophetic medicine, which is preserved today in many copies and has been printed many times.
For this treatise, see NLM MS A 29, and GAL, vol. 2, p. 189 (242); GAL-S, vol. 2, p. 252; Ullmann 188).
Sayyid ‘Alī Hamdānī (fl. before 1546/953)
سيد على همدانى
Sayyid ‘Alī Hamdānī composed a brief Persian essay on physiognomy titled Risālah-i qiyāfah which is preserved in a unique copy now at NLM (MS P 29, marginal item 2). The essay must have been written before 1546/953, when the copy was made.
The author is otherwise unknown, and nothing is known of his life.
Shābūrī, Būlus ibn Qusṭanṭīn al-Malakī (? 18th cent.)
بولس ابن قسطنطين الملكى الشابورى
A treatise on fevers was apparently written by al-Shaburi in the 18th century. Nothing is known of the life of Būlus ibn Qusṭanṭīn al-Malakī al-Shābūrī other than what can be gleaned from his only known treatise, a tract on fevers. He must certainly have lived after the mid-17th century because he cites as a source a treatise written by Ibn Sallūm, who died in 1669/1080. The treatise is preserved in only two known copies, both apparently of the 18th century.
Al-Shābūrī is known only by this treatise. He is not listed in the published bibliographical literature, and no further information is available on his life.
al-Shafi‘i, al-Imam Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Idris (d. 820/204)
Born in 767/150, al-Shafi‘i became one of the most important authorities on theological and legal matters. The Shafi‘i school of jurisprudence, one of the major legal schools of Sunni Islam, was named after him, though he was not its founder. An interest in medicine as well as physiognomy was often attributed to him by later writers.
For an introduction to his life, see E. Chaumont, 'al-Shafi‘i' in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 9, pp. 181-5.
Shadhilī, Ṣadaqah ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ḥanafī al-Miṣrī (2nd half of 14th c.)
صدقه ابن ابراهيم الشذلى الحنفى المصرى
During the second half of the 14th century, the Egyptian oculist Ṣadaqah ibn Ibrāhīm al-Shadhilī composed a comprehensive ophthalmological manual which contains some interesting evidence of the level and frequency of ocular surgery in his day. One of the four known copies is at NLM (MS A 29.1).
For his life and treatise, see Ullmann, Medizin, p. 213; GAL vol. 2, p. 137 (171); Max Meyerhof, "The History of Trachoma Treatment in Antiquity and During the Arabic Middle Ages", Bulletin of the Ophthalmological Society of Egypt, XXIX, 1936, pp. 26-87; and M. Feugère, E. Künzel, and U. Weisser, "Le aiguilles à cataracte de Montbellet (Saône-et-Loire): Contribution à l'étude de l'ophtalmologie antique et islamique", Jahrbuch des römisch-germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz, XXXII, 1985, pp. 436-508, and Taf. 53-67.
Shahrazūrī, Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd (fl. late 13th cent)
شمس الدين محمد ابن محمود الشهرزورى
Al-Shahrazūrī was an important historian and scholar of the late 13th century who composed a biographical dictionary of both ancient Greek and early Muslim learned men. Although he wrote a major work on the biographies of scholars, his own life is virtually unknown, for neither his birth nor death dates are certain. It does appear that he was still alive in 1288/687.
For his life and writings, see P. Lory, "Shahrazūrī" in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 9, p. 219; Ullmann, Medizin, p. 232; GAL-S vol. 1, pp. 850-1; and Sami Hamarneh, "Arabic Historiography as Related to the Health Professions in Medieval Islam", Sudhoffs Archiv, vol. 50 (1966), pp. 2-24, esp. pp. 17-18.
Sha‘rānī, ‘Abd al-Wahhāb ibn Aḥmad (d. 1565/973)
عبد الوهاب ابن احمد الشعرانى
Primarily known for his mystical writings, the Egyptian scholar and historian al-Sha‘rānī also composed a popular epitome of a 13th-century treatise by al-Suwaydī concerned with medicinal substances. This epitome is preserved today in several copies, two of which are at NLM. ‘Abd al-Wahhāb ibn Aḥmad al-Sha‘rānī died in Egypt in 1565/973 having left a large corpus of writings.
For his life and writings, see GAL vol. 2, pp. 335-8 (441-5]); M. Winter, "Sha‘rānī" in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 9, p. 316; and for the medical treatise, Ullmann, Medicine, p. 284.
See Ḥakīm Muḥammad Sharīf Khān
Shayzarī, ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Naṣr ibn ‘Abd Allāh (fl. 1164/560)
عبد الرحمان ابن نصر الن عبد الله الشيزرى
Al-Shayzarī practiced as a physician in Aleppo in Syria during the rule of of Saladin, who died in 1193/589. Occasionally his name is written as al-Shīrāzī, but the correct form is al-Shayzarī. A number of treatises by him are preserved today, with his teatise on sexual hygiene in a copy now at NLM (MS A 89, item 2).
For his life and writings, see Ullmann Medizin, p. 196; GAL-S vol. 1, pp. 832-3.
see Muḥammad ibn Thālib al-Shīrāzī
Shirazi, Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad ‘Abd Allāh ibn Ḥakīm ‘Ayn al-Mulk Qurayshī (fl. mid 17th century)
نور الدين محمد عبد الله ابن حكيم عين الملك قريشى شيرازى
This author is best known for his large synopsis of 'Yunani' (Greco-Roman medicine as inherited by Islam) and Hindu medicine that was entitled Zakhīra-i Dara-Shukuhi and dedicated to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan's son Dara Shikuh, who ruled as emperor from 1657-9/1068-9. He also composed in 1628 a Persian pharmacological dictionary titled Alfāz al-adwiyah which he had dedicated to Shah Jahan himself, of which NLM has a copy.
For his preserved treatises, see Storey PL II,2, pp. 255-8 no. 439; Keshavarz, "Wellcome", pp. 78-80 no. 4.
Sijzī, Mas‘ūd ibn Muḥammad (fl. before 1334/734 H)
مسعود ابن محمد السجزى
Little is known of the life of Mas‘ūd ibn Muḥammad al-Sijzī, only that he must have been working sometime before 1334. His only treatise, an Arabic medical compendium with emphasis on terminology titled The Truths of the Secrets of Medicine (Ḥaqā’iq asrār al-ṭibb), was dedicated to a minor vizier in Iraq by the name of Sadr al-Dawlah Abu al-Mufakar Qasim ibn ‘Iraq ibn Ja‘far.
For biographical sources and his treatise, see MS A 16, item 1 and MS A 84, item 1 and also Ullmann, Medizin, p. 237; Iskandar, "Wellcome", p. 104; GAL-S, vol. 2, p. 299; and Hamarneh, "British Library", p. 204.
al-Sīmāwī, Abū al-Qāsim Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-‘Iraqī (fl. mid-13th century)
ابو القاسم احمد ابن محمد العراقى السيماوى
Virtually nothing is known of the life of Abū al-Qāsim al-‘Iraqī, known as al-Sīmāwī, except that he was an alchemical writer that worked in the middle of the 13th century. His major treatise was titled Kitāb al-‘Ilm al-muktasab fi zirā‘at al-dhahab (The Book of Acquired Knowledge concerning the Cultivation of Gold), and several commentaries were written on it, including that by ‘Izz al-Dīn Aydamir al-Jaldakī (MS P 27, item 1).
For the contents of his major alchemical composition, as well as his other writings on the subject, see Ullmann, Natur, pp. 235-7. An English translation of al-Sīmāwī's treatise was published as: Kitab al-‘Ilm al-maktasab fi zira‘at adh-dhahab: Book of knowledge acquired concerning the cultivation of gold by Abū 'l-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-'Iraqī, ed. and trans. Erik John Holmyard (Paris, 1923). See also, E. J. Holmyard, 'Abū ‘l-Qāsim al-‘Iraqī', Isis, vol. 8 (1926), pp. 403-426.
al-Simillāwī, ‘Abd al-Mu‘ṭī ibn Sālim ibn ‘Umar al-Shiblī (fl. 1698/1110)
عبد المعطى ابن سالم ابن عمر الشبلى السملاوي
A late-seventeenth century Egyptian-Syrian writer on religious law (fiqh). A number of treatises by al-Simillāwī are preserved. The copy at NLM of his treatise on Prophetic traditions regarding circumcision appears to be unique.
For his life and writings, see GAL, vol. 2, p. 322 (420) no. 19b; and GAL-S, vol. 2, p. 444, no. 19a.
Sulaymān ibn Sulaymān Muḥammad Karīm ibn Muḥammad Walī ibn Ḥājjī Himmat ibn ‘Īsá ibnḤasan (fl. before 1709/1121)
حاجى سليمان ابن سليمان ابن محمد كريم ابن محمد ولى ابن حاجى همت ابن عيسى ابن حسن
Virtually nothing is known of this author except that he composed a Persian treatise on simple and compound remedies that was written sometime before 1709 when one copy preserved today was made. Only two copies are recorded, one of them at NLM.
For this treatise, see Storey PL II,2, p.316, no. 47, and NLM MS P 8.
Suwaydī, ‘Izz al-Dīn Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Ṭarkhān (d. 1292/690)
عز الدين ابو اسحق ابراهيم ابن محمد ابن طرخان السويدى
Born in 1204/600, al-Suwaydī spent most of his life in Damascus and Cairo, where he died nearly ninety years of ago. He was a pupil of Ibn al-Bayṭār and a friend of Ibn Abī Usaybi‘ah. He number of medical writings are preserved today, most concerned with various drug remedies and therapeutic procedures.
Al-Suwaydī was a physician and philosopher active in Cairo and in Damascus. He was a pupil of Ibn al-Bayṭār and a friend of the medical historian Ibn Abī Usaybi‘ah. Al-Suwaydī died in Damascus in 1292/690 nearly ninety years of age, having composed a treatise on synonyms for plant names, a treatise on the medical uses of stones, and a memorandum book (Tadhkirah) in which he recorded recipes and procedures using various medicaments extracted from a large number of Islamic, Greek, and other sources. The recipes are arranged according to the location of the complaint to be treated, that is, from head to foot. His Tadhkirah was epitomized by al-Sha‘rānī, and NLM has two copies of the latter.
For al-Suwaydī's life and writings, see GAL I, p. 493 [650] no. 38; GAL-S vol. 1, p. 900 no. 38; and Ullmann, Medizin, p. 284.
Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn (d. 1505/911)
جلال الدين السيوطى
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī was an Egyptian scholar, encyclopedist, historian, and biographer and probably one of the most prolific of all Islamic writers. There are an enormous number of his essays and treatises preserved today. A number of his writings concerned scientific topics or issues related to natural science and food and regimen, amongst other things.
For his life and writings, see GAL-S vol. 1, pp. 178-198; Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 188-189; and E. Geoffroy, "Suyūṭī", EI (2nd ed.), vol. 9.
