Catalogue: Medical Therapeutics

Medical Experiences & Remedies (Mujarrabat):

A third type of therapeutic manual composed in medieval Islamic lands consisted of procedures and remedies that a particular practitioner had found useful in the course of his work. The compilations are not usually well-structured treatises, and they do not cover all the recognized ailments but rather only those of special interest to the compiler. In this type of therapeutic manual the remedies are usually specified as "tested" or "tried and true" (mujarrabat, in Arabic). So common is this designation, mujarrabat, that it has been used as a label for the entire category of compiled medical experiences. In many instances such collections will include (to varying degrees) folkloric and magical practices. Of this type of therapeutic guide, NLM has a 17th-century treatise by Muḥammad ibn Thālib al-Shīrāzī and another by one Muḥammad ibn Khamrah, whose dates are unknown. Small, anonymous collections of mujarrabat recipes and procedures are often encountered in manuscript collections, and NLM has three such anonymous collections.

Fawā’id al-ḥasanīyah fī al-mujarrabāt al-ṭibbīyah   (MS A 10)

(Useful Information for al-Hasan on Tested Medical Remedies)

فوائد الحسنية فى المجربات الطبية

by Muḥammad ibn Thālib (ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Ni‘mat Allāh ibn ṣadr al-Dīn ibn al-shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn) al-Shīrāzī (17th century)

محمد ابن ثالب ابن عبد الله ابن نعمة الله ابن صدر الدين ابن الشيخ بهاء الدين الشيرازى

An extensive manual on diseases and "tested remedies" (mujarrabat) was written by Muḥammad ibn Thālib al-Shīrāzī in the 17th century for al-Ḥasan ibn Abī Yahya ibn Barakat, whose name is mentioned in the title "Useful Information for al-Ḥasan on Tested Medical Remedies".

Only one other copy is recorded, one now in Dublin (Chester Beatty Library, Arabic MS 3986, copied in 1715/1127); see Ullmann, Medizin, p. 313 note 4.

The treatise has not bee published in a modern translation or edition.

Fawā’id al-ḥasanīyah fī al-mujarrabāt al-ṭibbīyah   (MS A 10)

Illustrations

The opening of a therapeutic manual titled Fawā’id al-ḥasanīyah fī al-mujarrabāt al-ṭibbīyah (Useful Information for al-Hasan on Tested Medical Remedies) written in the 17th century by Muḥammad ibn Thālib al-Shīrāzī. It was copied by Ahmad ibn Bakr ‘Alawan, who finished it on 8 Sha‘ban 1163 [= 13 July 1750] and made it for one Muḥammad ibn Yahyá al-Mawsili al-Shafi‘i.

The colophon of a therapeutic manual titled Fawā’id al-ḥasanīyah fī al-mujarrabāt al-ṭibbīyah (Useful Information for al-Hasan on Tested Medical Remedies) written in the 17th century by Muḥammad ibn Thālib al-Shīrāzī. According to the colophon, a copyist named Ahmad ibn Bakr ‘Alawan finished the copy on 8 Sha‘ban 1163 [= 13 July 1750] and made it for one Muhammad ibn Yahyá al-Mawsili al-Shafi‘i.

Physical Description

Arabic. 303 leaves (preliminary folio [1]b and fols. 1a-303a). Dimensions 30.2 X 19.0 (text area 23.7 X 11.4) cm. The title is taken from preliminary fol. [1]b and fol. 1b; it appears, incorrectly, on the title page (prelim fol. [1]a) as Fawā’id al-ḥasanīyah fī al-mujarrabāt al-ṭibbīyah (Useful Information for al-Ḥusayn on Tested Medical Remedies), that is, with the dedicatee's name written as al-Ḥusayn instead of al-Ḥasan. Author's name is given on fol. 1a as Muḥammad ibn Thālib ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Ni‘mat Allāh ibn ṣadr al-Dīn ibn al-shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī al-tabib (the physician); on the title page (prelim fol. [1]a) it is given in the short form: Muḥammad ibn Shaykh Bahā’ al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī. The patron and dedicatee al-Ḥasan ibn Abī Yahyá ibn Barakat is named on fol. 1b.

The copy is dated in the colophon (fol. 303a) where it is said that the copyist named Aḥmad ibn Bakr ‘Alawān finished it on 8 Sha‘ban 1163 [= 13 July 1750]; it also states that the copy was made for one Muḥammad ibn Yahyá al-Mawsilī al-Shafi‘ī.

It is apparently a complete copy. The number 274 is missing in the sequence of numbered folios, though the numeral does appear on 273b. Therefore a mistake appears to have been made when the earlier foliation was made. The text is written in script in black ink with headings in red. Fols. [1]b-29b have the text written within green frames; fols. 30 and 31 have the text written within red frames, crudely drawn. There are marginal headings in black and green, and there are catchwords. There are considerable marginalia. On fol. 8a there is a crude illustration of the visual system drawn in in the margin.

The paper. The edges of the leaves have been trimmed from their original size.

The volume consists of 9 preliminary leaves and 304 fols (numbered 1-305, with number 274 missing). Fol. 305 is blank; fols. 303b-304b have miscellaneous notes in later hands. The first 8 unnumbered (preliminary) leaves are of smaller paper and contain an index compiled in 1890/1308, keyed to folio numbers prepared by a later reader.

Provenance

The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A. S. Yahuda (ELS No. 3897).

References

Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun & MSS, entry A10, p. 300.

NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-113 no. 3

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[therapeutic manual on mujarrabat]   (MS A 91, item 4)

by Muḥammad ibn Khamrah (dates unknown)

محمد ابن خمرة

Muḥammad ibn Khamrah is known only from this untitled treatise on medical procedures and remedies (mujarrabat) preserved in a unique copy in the collections of NLM. The author is otherwise unknown.

No other copy has been identified.

The text has not been translated or published in a modern edition.

[therapeutic manual on mujarrabat]   (MS A 91 item 4)

Illustrations

The opening of an untitled therapeutic manual on remedies and medical experiences written by Muḥammad ibn Khamrah. This is the only recorded copy of this treatise, and nothing is known about the author. The copy, made by one Salīm, is undated, probably 18th-century.

Physical Description

Arabic. 46 pages (pp. 46-91 [old 60-105]). Dimensions 21.5 x 15.7 (text area 16.5 x 10.5) cm; 21 lines per page. The author's name is given as Muḥammad ibn Khamrah on p. 46 [old 60] line 9. There is no title given.

The copy is undated and unsigned. It appears to have been made by the same copyist who wrote item 5 in the volume and who signed that item (p. 96 bottom left corner) with the name Salīm. The appearance of the paper, script, and ink suggests a date of the 18th century.

The text is written in a medium-small naskh script, with black ink and headings in red. There are catchwords. The same hand transcribed all or most of the items in the volume.

The volume has been paginated rather than foliated. The volume has been recently repaginated in Western numerals. There is an early pagination in Arabic numerals which places the numeral 15 on the first page of the present volume, with some mistakes and omissions. Therefore, it is evident that the first 14 pages of the manuscript are now missing. According to this earlier pagination, there are also leaves missing after pp. 44 (old 58), 182 (old 186), 188 (old 194), and 220 (old 227). There are also section numbers (nos. 40-694) in the margins, and this marginal numbering is continuous, unbroken by missing leaves, except at the beginning, indicating that it was written after the missing leaves, except opening leaves, had disappeared. The page references are to the Western pagination, followed by the old pagination.

The same paper has been used throughout the volume. It is a thick, glossy, light-beige (darkened near the edges) paper with laid lines, single chain lines. The paper is greatly soiled by thumbing and with grime, and is waterstained near the edges. The edges have been repaired on several leaves.

The volume consists of 268 leaves. Item 1 (pp. 1-44) is the Mu‘alajat al-amrāḍ al-khaṭirah al-bādiyah ‘alá al-badan min khārij by Ibn al-Kattānī (MS A 91, item 1). Item 2 (p. 44) untitled and anonymous writing on foodstuffs (MS A 91, item 2); item 3 (p. 45) an untitled and anonymous collection of compound remedies (MS A 91, item 3); item 4 (pp. 46-91) is here catalogued; item 5 (pp. 91-96) an anonymous treatise titled Risālah fī khawāṣṣ al-panzahr (MS A 91, item 5); item 6 (pp. 97-103) contains recipes (MS A 91, item 6); item 7 (pp. 103-106) is an anonymous discourse titled al-Qawl fī faḍl al-fatīḥah (MS A 91, item 7); item 8 (pp. 106-109) an anonymous essay titled Ṣifat ma‘jūn nāfi‘ lil-ma‘idah (MS A 91, item 8); item 9 (pp. 110-119) in an essay on Prophetic traditions by al-Shaykh Abū al-‘Abbās known as Ibn al-Mīlaq, or Ibn Maylaq (MS A 91, item 9); item 10 (pp. 120-182) an anonymous treatise Kitāb al-Khawāṣṣ (MS A 91, item 10); item 11 (pp. 183-188) on medicinal plants, untitled and anonymous (MS A 91, item 11); item 12 (pp. 189-253) on compound remedies (MS A 91, item 12); item 13 (pp. 254-262) is al-Jawhar al-fard fī mufākharat al-narjis wa-al-ward possibly by Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn al-Musharraf al-Māridīnī (MS A 91, item 13); and the final item (pp. 262-268) are anonymous recipes (MS A 91, item 14).

Binding

The volume is bound in a dark-brown leather modern library binding. There are modern paper pastedowns and endpapers.

Provenance

The volume was purchased in 1941 by the Army Medical Library from A. S. Yahuda who acquired it from a dealer in Damascus, Syria (ELS 1700 Med. 31).

References

Schullian/Sommer, Cat. of incun. & MSS., entry A91, p. 329.

NLM Microfilm Reel: FILM 48-130, no. 1