al-Mughnī fī tadbīr al-amrāḍ wa-maʿrifat al-ʿilal wa-al-aʿrāḍ المغني في تدبير الأمراض ومعرفة العلل والأعراض Saʿīd ibn Hibat Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn سعيد بن هبة الله بن الحسين

Content

Concise handbook of medicine by Abū al-Ḥasan Sa‘īd ibn Hibat Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn (أبو الحسن سعيد بن هبة الله بن الحسين; d. 1101), personal physician to the Abbasid caliph al-Muqtadī (المقتدي, reg. 1056-1094) to whom this work is dedicated (f. 3v, line 9). The title of the text is often abbreviated to Kitāb al-mughnī fī al-ṭibb (كتاب المغني في الطب).

The text is arranged by illness, and each one is assigned to a table. Each table takes up a page, and all pages of the text except for ff. 4r, 3v and 105r contain tables. The tables are divided into four cells containing information about (1) the illness (مرض); (2) its cause (سبب); (3) its symptoms (عرض); and (4) the regimen (تدبير) recommended for its cure, often including a prescription (صفة).

The copy was completed at Baghdad by Mattá ibn Hibat Allāh ibn ‘Abd Allāh (متى بن هبة الله بن عبد الله) on Wednesday 19 Jumādá II 567/16 February 1172. The scribe also gives the date 24 Tammūz 1503 of the Seleucid Era, but there is a discrepancy since this equates to 12 Rajab 588/Friday 24 July 1192, while the AH transcription date of 19 Jumādá II 567 equates to 27 Shubāṭ 1483 of the Seleucid era. The scribe produced his copy from a copy produced by a student of the author, and he collated his copy with the author's own draft copy (see colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , f. 105r, lines 14-19, transcribed below).

A table of contents and other medical notes by a later hand are found on ff. 1r-2v.

F. 106r contains a computus table for reackoning the date of Easter using the Rūmī or Syro-Macedonian calendar of the Seleucid Era. An accompanying Arabic note written vertically on f. 105v describes the use of the table and is signed by Ilīyā the Metropolitan of Bājarmī (إليا مطران باجرمي), Bājarmī being the Arabic rendering of the Syriac Beth Garmai (ܒܝܬ ܓܪ̈ܡܝ), an ecclesiastical province in the Kirkuk region of Iraq. This Arabic note states that the table begins with Easter 1490 of the Seleucid era (574 AH/AD 1179), so the note can be dated to shortly before this time. At the head of f. 105v, above the Arabic text, is a table in Syriac relating to the calculation of Christian feast days. The heading of the first column mentions Easter, while Christmas, Epiphany and Good Friday are mentioned in the line of Syriac text beneath the table.

Ff. 106v-108v contain various medical notes, many by the same later hand that wrote the table of contents and medical notes on ff. 1r-2v. On f. 106v there is a prayer for the physician Abū al-Khayr ibn ‘Īsá (أبو الخير بن عيسى المتطبب), perhaps the father of personal physician to the Abbasid caliph al-Nāṣir (reg. 575-622/1180-1225; see Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿah [ed. Müller], vol. 1, p. 301 and Ullmann, 1970, p. 166).

Staining visible on ff. 21v and 22r gives evidence that the manuscript was previously bound in a binding with a flap.

Begins (f. 3v, lines 2-4):

قال الشيخ الجليل أبو الحسن سعيد بن هبة الله بن الحسن الطبيب

الفيلسوف [...]ـه اللسان وثبت برهانه في الجنان

الحمد لمدبر الأزمان الذي أوجـ[... ...]ـل الإنسان على جميـ[... ...]ـلة وجعل علمـ[...]

Ends (f. 105r, lines 13-14):

... وعالج المريض بعلاج المبرسمين وبهذا العلاج يعالج من سقى الجـ[... ...]ـذستر. وعلاج من سقى البنج القيء

وشرب طبيخ التين. والله النافع بمشيئته وقدرته.

Colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 105r, lines 14-20):

ثم الكتاب ولله الحمد على نعمه ونُسخ من نسخة

بخظ تلميذ المصنف والمقابلة بدستور الأصل

كتبه متى بن هبة الله بن عبد الله حامدًا لله تعالى

وفرغ من نسخه يوم الأربعاء تاسع عشرين من جمادى الآخرة

بمدينة السلم سنة سبع وستين وخمسمائة وأيضًا في تموز رابع عشرين يومًا مضت منه

سنة ألف وخمسمائة وثلث للإسكندر ملك اليونانيون (!)

والسلم

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. ii+108+ii

Physical characteristics

Material: Eastern laid paper

Dimensions: 250 x 190 mm leaf [205 x 145 mm text frame]

Foliation: Eastern Arabic foliation in black ink, India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Library foliation stamped in black ink

Ruling: Misṭarah ; lines per page and vertical spacing various due to tabulation

Script: Naskh ; the scribe is Mattá ibn Hibat Allāh ibn ‘Abd Allāh (متى بن هبة الله بن عبد الله, see colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , f. 105r, line 16)

Ink: Black ink, with rubricated headings and some punctuation and text frames in red

Decoration: All folios framed in red

Binding: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. half-leather binding; evidence of previous binding with a flap (see ff. 21v and 22r)

Condition: Tidemarks especially towards gutter and tail, some text lost and sometimes replaced by later hand, iron-gall ink corrosion to ff. 105 and 106; ff. 3 and 4 mutilated; tears to margins of other folios with historic repairs

Marginalia: Many short annotations by various hands

Seals: f. 2r

Written in

Arabic and Syriac in Arabic and Syriac script

Type

Manuscript

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

IO Islamic 3810

History of this record

Date(s)

19 Jumādá II 567 (AH, Hijri qamari)

Context of creation

Baghdad

Provenance

India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Library: its seal, dated 30 March 1910 (f. 2r)

Related material

Select Bibliography

Edition:

• Saʻīd ibn Hibat Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn, al-Mughnī fī tadbīr al-amrāḍ wa-maʻrifat al-ʻilal wa-al-aʻrād ̣, ed. by Muḥammad Yāsir Zakkūr (Jiddah: Dār al-Minhāj lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʻ, 2011)

Studies:

• Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿah, ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ , ed. August Müller, 2 vols (Königsberg i. Pr.: Selbstverlag, 1882-1884)
• Ullmann, Manfred, Die Medizin im Islam (Leiden: Brill, 1970), pp. 160-61

Subjects

Medicine--Early works to 1800

People & organisations

Sa'īd ibn Hibat Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn

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al-Mughnī fī tadbīr al-amrāḍ wa-maʿrifat al-ʿilal wa-al-aʿrāḍ المغني في تدبير الأمراض ومعرفة العلل والأعراض Saʿīd ibn Hibat Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn سعيد بن هبة الله بن الحسين, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, IO Islamic 3810, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100046324169.0x000001> [accessed 30 December 2024]

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