Sharḥ kullīyāt al-qānūn شرح كليات القانون Āmulī, Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd آملي، محمد بن محمود

Content

Commentary by Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd al-Āmulī (شمس الدين محمد بن محمود الآملي, d. 1352) on the Colliget (كتاب الكلية), the first book of the Canon of Medicine (القانون في الطب) by Ibn Sīnā (ابن سينا, d. 1037). The composition of the text was completed on Saturday 15 Muḥarram 753/3 March 1352 (see author's colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , f. 286v, line 15, transcribed below).

Below the frontispiece (f. 1r) a later hand has added the following title in red ink:

شرح كليات القانون لأكمل المتـ[ـأ]ـخرين

جالينوس الدهر وأبقراط العصر شمس الملة والدين

محمد بن محمود الآملي قدس سره

A note above this title claims that it was written by the scholar Bahā’ al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ḥusayn al-‘Āmilī (بهاء الدين محمد بن حسين العاملي; d. 1621), and this is supported by comparison with a sample of al-‘Āmilī's handwriting presented in Gacek, 2012, p. 15, fig. 9, and by Bahā’ al-Dīn Muḥammad al-‘Āmilī's calligraphic signature (different from that presented by Gacek) found on ff. 1r and 286v, along with his seal on f. 1r.

This copy was made from the author's draft copy, and was completed on Tuesday 19 Ṣafar 754/26 March 1353, at which date the scribe believed the author to be still living (see scribe's colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , f. 286v, lines 16-20, transcribed below). A patron statement at the centre of the illuminated frontispiece (f. 1r) indicates that the copy was created for a sultan given the titles 'Great Lord, Sultan of Sultans of the Arabs and Persians, Master of the Kings of the Nations' (المولى الأعظم سلطان سلاطين العرب والعجم مالك نواصي ملوك الأمم), but the identifying portions of his name have been defaced. Since the illumination and script suggest an Egyptian provenance, the sultan named in the patron statement is likely to be the Mamluk Sultan al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn Ṣāliḥ ibn Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn (الملك الصالح صلاح الدين صالح بن محمد ناصر الدين, reg. 1351-1354).

Begins (f. 1v, lines 1-2):

الحمد لله الذي دقت حكمته في خلقة الإنسان وعمت نعمته عليهم من فرط الإحسان الشاهد بكمال قدرته طبائع الأركان القال (؟) على دقائق رأفته أحوال مزجة

الأبدان منشي الأرواح ومفيض القوى على الأعضاء في مجاري العصب والوريد والشريان الذي قرن الصحة والمرض بالأسباب كالدلائل والأعراض بهما مرشدًا

Ends (f. 286v, lines 13-15):

... ونرجو الله تعالى سأرحمه (؟) أيضًا وهو العبد الضعيف محمد بن محمود الآملي لحسن الله عافيته أن يكفي ماكتبه عليه كافيًا

وبمقاصده وإقناء أن يرزقه ما تتمناه وأن ينتفع به في دنياه وأخراه وله الحمد على حسن توفيقه والصلوة على محمد خير خلقه وعلى آله وصحبه

الطيبين الطاهرين ...

Author's colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 286v, line 15):

واتفق فراغ المصنف مد الله ظلاله وحقق إحماله (؟) منه يوم السبت منتصف المحرم سنة ثلث وخمسين وسبعمائة

Scribe's colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 286v, lines 16-24):

وفرغ الكاتب من نقل المسودة إلى هذا البياض

يوم الثلثاء تاسع عشر صفر سنة أربع وخمسين وسبعمائة

حامدًا لله مصليًا على رسوله وعلى من أتبعه

من آله وصحبه وداعًا لمصنفه بدوام

أيامه وامتد له ظلاله على المستفيدين منه

والمخلصين له اللهم لحسن عافيته حال دلريه (؟)

ولغفر له ولوالديه ولجميع المؤمنين والمؤمنات

وصلى على سيد الأنبياء محمد وعلى آله

الأطهار

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. ii+287+i

Physical characteristics

Material: Eastern laid paper

Dimensions: 260 x 160 mm leaf [190 x 115 mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil

Ruling: Misṭarah ; 33 lines per page; vertical spacing 18 lines per 10 cm

Script: Nasta‘līq

Ink: Black ink, with rubricated headings and overlinings in red

Decoration: Illuminated frontispiece (f. 1r), text frame with illuminated basmallah (f. 1v)

Binding: British Museum half-leather binding

Condition: F. 1 mutilated, tide marks at head and tail, brown stain at head of f. 150 affecting surrounding folios

Marginalia: Notes by many hands

Seals: Ff. 1r, 1v and 286v

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript item

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Or 3654

History of this record

Date(s)

19 Ṣafar 754 (CE, Gregorian)

Context of creation

Cairo?

Provenance

Seals and inscriptions on f. 1r, clockwise from top:

• al-Manṣūr ibn ‘Abd Allāh (المنصور بن عبد الله): his seal with date 1205/1790-1 (f. 1r);
• Manṣūr ibn Ḥasan (منصور ابن حسن): his inscription with date 1230/1814-5 (f. 1r);
• Ibn Amīr ‘Abd al-Ghaffār ‘Abd al-Bāqī al-Riḍawī (ابن أمير عبد الغفار عبد الباقي الرضوي): his inscription with date 1173/1759-60 recording his purchase of the manuscript from Amīr ‘Asaqī (?) al-Qummī (أمير عسقي [؟] القمي), and his seal date 1170/1756-7 (f. 1r, his seal appears more clearly on f. 286v);
• ‘Abd al-Razzāq al-Riḍawī (عبد الرزاق الرضوي): his inscription without date recording his purchase of the manuscript, and his seal with date 1150/1737-8 (f. 1r);
• Partially legible inscription dated 1054/1644-5 (f. 1r);
• Sulṭān al-Ḥusayn (سلطان الحسين): his inscription without date (f. 1r);
• Muḥammad Muḥsin (محمد محسن): his inscription without date, and his seal with date 1023?/1614-5? (f. 1r, his seal appears less clearly on f. 286v);
• ‘Abd al-‘Azīz al-Riḍawī (عبد العزيز الرضوي): his inscription without date, and his seal with date 1115/1703-4 (f. 1r);
• Ibn Ḥasan (ابن حسن): his seal, partially legible, with date 1231/1815-16 (f. 1r);
• Bahā’ al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ḥusayn al-‘Āmilī (بهاء الدين محمد بن حسين العاملي), mathematician, astronomer, religious scholar, 1547-1621: his calligraphic signature and his seal without date (f. 1r, the signature appears more clearly to left of colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. on f. 286v);
• Shujā‘ the physician (شجاع المتطبب): his inscription, partially legible, dated 925/1519 recording his purchase of the manuscript (f. 1r).

Other seals and inscriptions:

• Ibn (?) Ḥasan (ابن [؟] حسن): his seal, partially legible, without date (f. 1v, not identical with seal of Ibn Ḥasan on f. 1r);
• Two illegible seals to right of colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 286v);
• Partially legible inscription below scribe's colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 286v);
• Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ (محمد صالح): his inscription in Arabic and Persian, written at Tehran, dated Shawwāl 1272/1855-6 (f. 287v).

Immediate source of acquisition

Purchased from Sidney John Alexander Churchill (1862-1921), 22 February 1889

Related material

Finding aids

Rieu, Charles, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: The British Museum, 1894), Item 791, pp. 538-39

Select Bibliography

Edition of text commented upon:

• Ibn Sīnā, Abū ʻAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʻAlī, al-Qānūn fī al-ṭibb , ed. by Idwār al-Qashsh, 2nd edition, 4 vols (Bayrūt: Muʾassasat ʻIzz al-Dīn, 1993)

Translation of text commented upon:

• Gruner, Oskar Cameron, A Treatise on the Canon of Medicine of Avicenna: Incorporating a Translation of the First Book (London: Luzac, 1930)

Studies:

• Gacek, Adam, Arabic Manuscripts: A Vademecum for Readers (Brill: Leiden-Boston, 2012), p. 15, fig. 9
• Iskandar, A.Z., A Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library (London: The Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 1967), pp. 37 and 52

Subjects

Medicine--Early works to 1800

People & organisations

Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd ĀmulīBahā' al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ḥusayn 'Āmilī

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Sharḥ kullīyāt al-qānūn شرح كليات القانون Āmulī, Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd آملي، محمد بن محمود, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 3654, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100046530806.0x000001> [accessed 14 March 2025]

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