Bio-Bibliographies
A B C D F G H I J K M N O P Q R S T V Y Z
Maḥbūb (dates uncertain)
محبوب
All we know of this figure is that he is named as a translator from Armenian into Arabic of a veterinary treatise carried off to Egypt in 1266 by the Egyptian ruler al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Dīn 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.
Maḥmūd ibn Ilyās Shīrāzī (before 1700)
All that is known of this figure is that he is cited as an authority by ‘Alī ibn Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān who composed a versified Persian medical compendium titled Jawāhir al-maqāl (a copy of which is preserved in NLM MS P 25, item 2). Since ‘Alī ibn Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān died possibly in 1700, then we can conclude that Maḥmūd ibn Ilyās Shīrāzī lived sometime before that date. See E. Sachau and H. Ethé, Catalogue of the Persian, Turkish, Hindustani, and Pushtu Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889), col. 969 entry 1609.
Maimonides, Abū ‘Imrān Mūusá ibn ‘Ubayd Allāh ibn Maymūn al-Qurṭūbī (d. 1204/601)
ابو عمران موسى عبيد الله ابن ميمون القرطوبى
The physician and philosopher Maimonides, born and educated in Córdoba in Spain, was one of the physicians in the service Saladin, the Ayyubid ruler of Egypt at the time of the Crusades. Maimonides composed several medical writings, all in Arabic but sometimes preserved in manuscripts where the Arabic is written in Hebrew script. His short essay on the treatment of hemorrhoids is preserved in a copy at NLM.
A project is ongoing to publish new editions and translations of all of his medical writings, to be published by Brigham Young University, Utah, in the monograph series "The Graeco-Arabic Sciences". For his life and medical writings, see G. Vajda, "Ibn Mayman" in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 3, pp. 876-878; Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 167-169; 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. 96-100 no. 37.
Majūsī, ‘Alī ibn al-‘Abbās (fl. 949-982/338-372)
على ابن العباس المجوسى
‘Alī ibn al-‘Abbās al-Majūsī, known to Europeans as Haly Abbās, was from a Persian family with Zoroastrian forebears, though he himself was a Muslim. He dedicated his Complete Book of the Medical Art (Kitāb Kāmil al-ṣinā‘ah al-ṭibbīyah) to ‘Adud al-Dawlah Fana-Khusraw, the ruler of Persia and Iraq from 949 to 983 and founder of hospitals in both Baghdad and Shirāz. There is no firm evidence that al-Majūsī himself ever left Persia to work elsewhere. The Complete Book of the Medical Art is the only treatise known to have been written by him.
For evidence regarding his life, see Lutz Richter-Bernburg, "‘Alī b. ‘Abbās Majūsī", in EncIr, vol. 1, pp. 837-8; Ullmann, Medizin, pp. 140-146; Sezgin, GAS III, pp. 320-322; and Manfred Ullmann, Islamic Medicine (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1978, reprinted 1997), pp. 55-85.
see, Manṣūr ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf ibn Ilyās
Manṣūr ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf ibn Ilyās (fl. ca. 1380-90/782-793 H)
منصور ابن محمد ابن احمد ابن يوسف ابن الياس
From a family of scholars and physicians active for several generations in the city of Shiraz, Manṣūr ibn Ilyās dedicated both of his major medical writings, a general medical encyclopaedia and a study of anatomy, to rulers of the Persian province of Fars. For his anatomical treatise Tashrīḥ-i badan-i insān (The Anatomy of the Human Body), often referred to as "Mansur's Anatomy" (Tashrīḥ-i Manṣūr-i).
Also, the article "Ebn Elyas" by Gul Russell in EncIr, vol. 8,pp. 16-20; and Andrew J. Newman, "Tashrīḥ-i Manṣūr-i: Human Anatomy between the Galen and Prophetical Medical Traditions" in La science dans le monde iranien à l'époque islamique, ed. by Z. Vesel, H. Beikbaghban, and B. Thierry de Crussol des Epesse (Tehran: Institut Français de Recherche en Iran, 1998), pp. 253-271.
For his life and writings, see Storey PL II,2, Richter-Bernburg, "UCLA", Keshavarz, "Wellcome", pp. 123-129 and 340-342.
al-Maqdisī, Nūr al-Dīn ‘Alī ibn Ghānim al-Ḥanafī (d. 1596/1004)
نور الدين على ابن غانم المقدسى الحنفى
Born in 1514/920, ‘Alī ibn Ghānim al-Ḥanafī al-Maqdisī became an Egyptian authority on jurisprudence in the Hanafi school. A number of his writings are preserved today, and a fragment of one is now at NLM (MS A 50, item 2).
For his life and writings, see GAL, vol. 2, p. 312 (404-5) and GAL-S, vol. 2, p. 429 no. 6
Maqṣūd ‘Alī Tabrīzī (fl. 1602-5/1011-4)
مقصود على تبريزى
Maqṣūd ‘Alī Tabrīzī was a translator who worked at the request of the Mughal emperor Jahangir (ruled 1605-27/ 1014-37). He translated Arabic treatises into Persian, including the Arabic treatise on the lives and sayings of 34 pre-Islamic and 77 post-Islamic scholars (including physicians) composed by al-Shahrazūrī in 1282/680. NLM has a copy of Maqṣūd ‘Alī Tabrīzī's Persian translation of this biographical dictionary which states that he began translating al-Shahrazūrī's treatise in 1602/1011, though other sources states that he undertook the translation in 1605/1014 at the request of Jahangir (NLM MS P 17). According to some biographical sources, Maqṣūd ‘Alī Tabrīzī was a Sufi scholar who nonetheless became an influential figure at the court of the governor of Gujarat, whom he served many years before enemies intrigued against him and he was imprisoned in the fortress of Gwalior.
See Storey, PL I,2, p. 1108; Keshavarz, "Wellcome", pp. 542-3 no. 368
Marianos the Monk (7th century ?)
Marianos was a Byzantine monk living in Damascus said to have had correspondence with the Umayyad prince Khālid ibn Yazīd in the 7th century AD. Much has been written and disputed about the sources and authenticity of this treatise, one copy of which is now at NLM. The treatise was subsequently translated into Latin, possibly by Robert of Chester in the 12th century; see Lee Stavenhagen, A Testament of Alchemy, Being the Revelations of Morienus, Ancient Adept and Hermit of Jerusalem to Khālid ibn Yazīd ibn Mu‘āwiyya, King of the Arabs, of the Divine Secrets of the Magisterium and Accomplishment of the Alchemical Art (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England for Brandeis University, 1974).
For the alchemical correspondence purported to have been exchanged between Khālid ibn Yazīd and the Byzantine monk Marianos, see Ullmann, Natur, pp. 191-2. See also M. Ullmann, ‘Halid ibn Yazid und der Alchemie: Eine Legende', Der Islam, 1978, vol. 55, pp. 181-218.
al-Māridīnī, Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn al-Musharraf (fl. 1442/846)
ابو الحسن على ابن المشرف الماردينى
Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn al-Musharraf al-Māridīnī was a poet active in Iraq and upper Mesopotamia in the first half of the 15th century. Little is known of his life, but several collections of his poems are preserved. NLM has a rather rare copy of his set of poems concerned with botanical topics, titled al-Jawhar al-fard fī mufākharat al-narjis wa-al-ward (The Unique Gem in the Rivalry of the Narcissus and the Rose).
For his writings, see GAL, vol. 2, p. 161 (270); and GAL-S, vol. 2, p. 200.
Mariyanus the Monk
See, Marianos the Monk
Marrākushī, Abū ‘Alī al-Ḥasan ibn ‘Alī (fl. 1281/680)
ابو على الحسن ابن على المراكشي
In Cairo about 1281/680 al-Marrākushī compiled a comprehensive and detailed encyclopedia on spherical astronomy, time-keeping, and astronomical instruments -- perhaps the most important source we have today on medieval Islamic instrumentation. Little is known of his life, however. Despite his name (al-Marrākushī) suggesting a North African association, it is certain that he worked in Cairo. His only known medical writing, a medical poem, is preserved in a unique copy at NLM (MS A 85, item 3).
For his life and writings (other than his medical one), see D.A. King, "Marrākushī", EI (2nd ed.), vol. 6, p. 598; and D.A. King, World-Maps for Finding the Direction and Distance to Mecca: Innovation and Tradition in Islamic Science (Leiden: Brill, 1999), p. 22 note 41.
Maydan ibn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Qawṣūnī (d. after 1639/1044)
ميدن ابن عبد الرحمان القوصونى
In the year 1628/1038 H, Maydan ibn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Qawṣūnī composed in Egypt a comprehensive Arabic book on materia medica titled Qamus al-atibba' wa-namus al-alibba'. The material is arranged in alphabetical order, and his interest was more philological and linguistic than practical.
For his life and his treatise, see Ullmann, Medizin, p. 287; and GAL vol. II, p. 364 (478) and GAL-S vol. II, p. 492.
Mīrzā ‘Alī (fl. 1659/1070)
ميرزا على
Nothing is known about Mīrzā ‘Alī other than what can be gleaned from the unique copy of his therapeutic treatise that is preserved in the NLM collections (MS A 5). His Arabic-language general therapeutic manual was, according to a statement in it, completed in the year 1070 H [= 1659-60]. Where it was composed is not known. His name suggests that he worked in either Persia or western India, and the copy of the treatise that is preserved was made in India.
Muḥammad Arzānī, Muḥammad Akbar ibn Mīr ḥajjī Muḥammad Muqīm
(d. 1722/1134 H)
محمد اكبر ابن مير حاجى محمد مقيم عرف بمحمد ارزانى
Muḥammad Akbar Arzānī was a celebrated Sufi physician of the late 17th and early 18th century. He composed many medical treatises, including the Qarābādīn-i Qādirī, a pharmacopoeia written as a tribute to Sayyid ‘Abd al-Qadir of Gilan (d. 1165/561) who was the founder of the Sufi order of which Arzānī was a member. Arzānī also wrote a handbook of medicine for beginners (Mizan al-ṭibb), a commentary on the Qānūnchah by al-Jaghmīnī (a greatly abbreviated version of the Canon on Medicine by Avicenna); Ṭibb-i Akbarī, composed in 1700/1112, which was an expanded version of the Arabic treatise Sharḥ al-asbāb wa-al-‘alāmāt by Nafīs ibn ‘Iwāḍ al-Kirmānī; a Persian treatise on the illnesses occurring during pregnancy and breast-feeding and the diseases of infants; and Mujarrabāt-i Akbari, a formulary of compound remedies.
For his life, see Storey PL II,2, p. 268 no. 465; Keshavarz, "Wellcome", pp. 57-58; and Richter-Bernberg, "UCLA", pp. 151-155.
Muḥammad Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad Hādī al-‘Aqīlī al-‘Alavī al-Khurasānī al-Shīrāzī (fl. 1771/1185)
محمد حسين ابن محمد هادي العقيلى العلوى الخراسانى الشيرازى الشهير بحكيم محمد هاديكان
Muḥammad Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad Hādī, known as Hakīm Muḥammad Hādīkhān, is mostly known for two Persian compendia on simple and compound remedies: Majma‘ al-javāmi‘ va-zakhā’ir al-tarākīb, which he composed in 1771/1185 and based largely upon a treatise titled Jami‘ al-javāmi‘ by his great-uncle ‘Alavī Khān, and the Makhzan al-adviyah which is a verbatim reproduction of the alphabetical pharmacopeia in the Jami‘ al-javāmi‘ of his great uncle (see the discussion NLM MS P 12). Muḥammad Hādīkhān also composed a number of smaller medical treatises, among them a treatise on smallpox.
For his life and writings, see Storey PL II,2, pp. 280-3 no. 492; and Keshavarz, "Wellcome", pp. 281-2 no. 136 and 262-3 no. 125.
Muḥammad ibn al-Khalīfah Ya‘qūb (dates uncertain)
محمد ابن الخليفه يعقوب
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-Dīn 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.
Muḥammad ibn Khamrah (dates unknown)
محمد ابن خمرة
Muḥammad ibn Khamrah is known only from an untitled treatise on medical procedures and remedies (mujarrabāt) in the collections of NLM (MS A 91, item 4). The author is otherwise unknown.
Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd (fl. 1758/1171)
محمد ابن محمود
Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd is known only by a Turkish essay on cupping and bloodletting that is preserved today in a unique copy now at NLM (MS A 88/II). It is stated in the preface to have been completed by the author in the month of Rajab 1171 [= March-April 1758]. Nothing else is known of this figure.
Muḥammad ibn
Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥaṭṭāb al-Malikī al-Ru‘aynī, Abū ‘Abd Allāh (d. 1547/954)
محمد ابن محمد ابن الحطاب الملكى الرعينى
Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥaṭṭāb was an authority on jurisprudence of the Malikīte school. A number of his writings are preserved today. NLM has the only recorded copy of his treatise on Prophetic medicine, made during the author's lifetime and possibly in his own hand (MS A 80).
For his writing, see GAL, vol. 2, p. 387 (508) no. 2, and GAL-S, vol. 2, p. 526 no. 2.
Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Qawṣūnī
see, Qawṣūnī, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad
Muḥammad ibn Thālib al-Shīrāzī, Muḥammad ibn Thalib ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Ni‘mat Allāh ibn ṣadr al-Dīn ibn Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn (? 17th century)
محمد ابن ثالب ابن عبد الله ابن نعمة الله ابن صدر الدين ابن الشيخ بهاء الدين الشيرازى
Muḥammad ibn Thālib al-Shīrāzī is known only by his extensive Arabic manual on diseases and "tested remedies" (mujarrabat). He composed it for an otherwise unknown person named al-Ḥasan ibn Abī Yahya ibn Barakat, whose name is mentioned in the title, which translates as "Useful Information for Ḥasan on Tested Medical Remedies". Only two copies are known, one at NLM and one in Dublin; the latter was copied in 1715/1127, and therefore the author must has lived prior to that time.
For this author and what little is known of him, see Ullmann, Medizin, p. 313. Sommer (Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun & MSS, entry A10, p. 300) states that Muḥammad ibn Thālib al-Shīrāzī died in 1467; on what basis this statement was made is unknown.
Muḥammad Mahdī ibn ‘Alī Naqī (fl. 1728/1141)
محمد مهدى ابن على نقى
Muḥammad Mahdī ibn ‘Alī Naqī composed a Persian treatise on hygiene and preservation of health addressed to travelers, titled Zād al-musāfarīn, which he wrote in Persia, at Isfahan, during the Afghan invasion. He completed it on 15 September 1728 [10 Safar 1141 H]. This treatise is preserved today in numerous copies. The copy at NLM, however, is one of only two copies that contains the postscript stating when and where he composed the manual (MS P 23, item 1).
For his life and his treatise, see Storey PL II,2, pp. 272-273 no. 471; Richter-Bernburg, "UCLA", p. 155.
Mūsá ibn Ibrāhīm (ibn Mūsá ibn Muḥammad) al-Baghdādī (d. 1463/867)
موسى ابن ابراهيم ابن موسى ابن محمد البغدادى
Little is known of the life of Mūsá ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Mūsá ibn Muḥammad al-Baghdādī except that he died in 1463 (867 H) and may have worked in or originated from Baghdād (judging from his name). His only medical treatise preserved today is a commentary on the popular medical poem by Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna).
For his life and writings, see GAL vol. I, p. 457 (597) no. 81-Cmt.b-f; GAL-S vol. I, p. 823 no. 18-comm.c; and Catalogue of the Arabic and Persian Manuscripts in the Oriental Public Library at Bankipore. Vol. IV: Arabic Medical Works, prepared by Maulavî ‘Azîmu'd-dîn Ahmad (Calcutta: The Bengal Secretariat Book Depôt, 1910) pp. 113-4 no. 75.
Muṣṭafá Behçet Efendi (d. 1833/1249 H)
مصطفى بهجت الرئيس الاطباء السلطانى
He was Royal Chief of Physicians (al-ra'īs al-aṭibbā’ al-sulṭānī) in Istanbul and the translator (mutarjim) into Turkish of the Canon on Medicine by Avicenna. One of the manuscripts in the NLM collection (MS A 74) was owned by him.
For this physician, see "Some Tombstones of Ottoman Physicians" in Tip Tarihi Arastirmalari [History of Medicine Studies, Istanbul], vol. 4 (1990), p. 114, where it says that Mustafá Behçet Efendi, head physician of Ottoman Empire, died in 1833/1249 H. For his medical writings, see Catalogue of Islamic Medical Manuscripts (in Arabic, Turkish, and Persian) in the Libraries of Turkey, ed. by Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu (Istanbul: Research Centre of Islamic History, Art and Culture, 1984). pp. 361-366, under Mustafa Behcet, where it says he died in 1832/1248.
Muṣṭafá Mesud Efendi (d. 1820/1236 H.)
The tombstone of the Turkish physician Muṣṭafá Mesud Efendi, dated 1236 H [1820 AD] is preserved in Istanbul. It is likely that he is the same as the owner of MS A 74 in which there is a signature dated 1213 H [1798-9 AD] and signed Muṣṭafá Mas‘ud al-ṭabib (the physician). See "Some Tombstones of Ottoman Physicians" in Tip Tarihi Arastirmalari [History of Medicine Studies, Istanbul], vol. 2, (1988), p. 120.
