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Catalogue: Prophetic Medicine

Fi manāfi‘ al-aṭ‘imah bi-l-aḥādīth (MS A 88/IV): (On the Use of Foodstuffs in the Prophetic Tradition); فى منافع الاطعمه بالاحاديث; by Abū al-Qāsim al-ḥabīb al-Naysābūrī (fl. 1750/1163); ابو القاسم الحبيب النيسابورى

This is a unique copy of a treatise on Prophetic medicine as it relates to foods and spices by an author who is known by one other treatise, also on Prophetic medicine. The second treatise is preserved in a single copy now in Los Angeles (UCLA, Biomedical Library, MS Ar. 22; Iskandar, "UCLA" p. 82) that was copied in 1750.

Since the treatise now at NLM (MS A 88/IV) is preserved in a copy made in 1792, and the only known copy of his other treatise on Prophetic medicine was transcribed in 1750, we can conclude that the otherwise unknown author was active before 1750.

No other copy has been identified.

Fi manāfi‘ al-aṭ‘imah bi-l-aḥādīth (MS A 88/IV)

Illustrations

Folio 1b from Abū al-Qāsim al-ḥabīb al-Naysābūrī's Fi manāfi‘ al-aṭ‘imah bi-l-aḥādīth (On the Use of Foodstuffs in the Prophetic Tradition). The thin, ivory paper has indistinct laid lines and very fine single chain lines. The text is written in a medium-small compact naskh script with nasta‘liq characteristics and ligatures. It is written black ink with orange-red headings.

MS A 88/IV, fol. 1b

The opening page of a treatise on Prophetic Medicine as it relates to foods and spices by Abū al-Qāsim al-ḥabīb al-Naysābūrī (fl. 1750). It is the only recorded copy this treatise titled Fi manāfi‘ al-aṭ‘imah bi-l-aḥādīth. The copy was completed in the month of Jumadá I 1206 (= 27 December 1791 to 25 January 1792) by the scribe Yūsuf al-Rasanāwī ibn Ismā‘īl, who copied it for Mahmud Efendi in Constantinople.

Physical Description

Arabic. 4 leaves (fols. 1a-4a). Dimensions 21 x 15 cm (text area 16.5 x 9.2) cm; 28-33 lines per page. The title is given on title page (fol. 1a), and the author's name on fol. 1b line 4.

The manuscript was copied in Jumadá I, 1206 [= 27 Dec 1791-25 Jan 1792] by the scribe Yūsuf al-Rasanāwī ibn Ismā‘īl (fol. 4a line 20), who copied it for Maḥmūd Efendi in Constantinople. It is the same copyist as transcribed another of the treatises with which this one is bound (MS A 88/III).

The text is written in a medium-small compact naskh script with nasta‘liq characteristics and ligatures. It is written black ink with orange-red headings.

The thin, ivory paper has indistinct laid lines and very fine single chain lines; no watermarks are visible.

The volume consists of 6 leaves. Fol. 6b is blank. Fols. 4b-6a contain excerpts, written by the same scribe, of writings attributed to early religious/legal authorities such as Abū Hanifah, ‘Alī ibn Abī Talib, and Ibn Shahin.

Binding

The volume is bound in a modern library binding of pasteboard covers and envelope flap covered with tan leather. There are modern paper pastedowns and endpapers.

The manuscript is bound together with three other manuscripts: MS A 88/I, MS A 88/II, and MS A 88/III.

Provenance

The manuscript was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A.S. Yahuda (ELS 3329).

References

Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., entry A 88 item 4, p. 327.

NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-129 no. 5