Four medical works Najīb al-Dīn al-Samarqandī, Muḥammad ibn ʻAlī نجيب الدين السمرقندي، محمد بن علي

Content

Four treatises on pharmacy and dietetics by Najīb al-Dīn Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn ‘Alī ibn ‘Umar al-Samarqandī (نجيب الدين أبو حامد محمد بن علي بن عمر السمرقندي, d. 1222).

Contents:

• (1) Uṣūl al-tarākīb (أصول التراكيب, ff. 2r-36r);
• (2) Kitāb aghdhiyat al-marḍ á (كتاب أغذية المرضى, ff. 36v-55v);
• (3) Kitāb al-aghdhiyah wa-al-ashribah (كتاب الأغذية والأشربة, ff. 56r-123r);
• (4) al-Qarābādhīn ʿalá tartīb al-ʿilal (القراباذين على ترتيب العلل, ff. 124r-192r).

The manuscript was transcribed at Tabrīz during the last ten days of Ramaḍān 703/late-April or early-May 1304 by ‘Umar ibn Muḥammad ibn Sallām ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Irbīlī (عمر بن محمد بن سلام بن عبد الله الإربيلي), who produced the copy for his own use (ff. 123r, lines 18-20 and 192r, lines 6-10). Ellis and Edwards ( A Descriptive List of the Arabic Manuscripts Acquired by the Trustees of the British Museum since 1894 [1912], p. 46) take this colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. information to have been copied from the exemplar and date the manuscript to the 15th century. Hamarneh ( Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts on Medicine and Pharmacy at the British Library [1975], Item 178, p. 157) gives a transciption date of 15 Jumādá I 874/20 November 1469, but gives no indication of where this information is found in the manuscript.

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. i+192+i

It is grouped into

Uṣūl al-tarākīb أصول التراكيب Najīb al-Dīn al-Samarqandī, Muḥammad ibn ʻAlī نجيب الدين السمرقندي، محمد بن علي

69 images

Ref: Or 5619, ff 2r-36r

Kitāb aghdhiyat al-marḍá كتاب أغذية المرضى Najīb al-Dīn al-Samarqandī, Muḥammad ibn ʻAlī نجيب الدين السمرقندي، محمد بن علي

39 images

Ref: Or 5619, ff 36v-55v

Kitāb al-aghdhiyah wa-al-ashribah كتاب الأغذية والأشربة Najīb al-Dīn al-Samarqandī, Muḥammad ibn ʻAlī نجيب الدين السمرقندي، محمد بن علي

135 images

Ref: Or 5619, ff 56r-123r

al-Qarābādhīn ʿalá tartīb al-ʿilal القراباذين على ترتيب العلل Najīb al-Dīn al-Samarqandī, Muḥammad ibn ʻAlī نجيب الدين السمرقندي، محمد بن علي

137 images

Ref: Or 5619, ff 124r-192r

Physical characteristics

Material: Eastern laid paper

Dimensions: 215 x 115 mm leaf [158 x 78 mm text frame]

Foliation: Eastern Arabic foliation in black ink, quire marks Notation written as an instruction to the binder indicating a quire’s central bifolium. in red and black (quinions), British Museum foliation in pencil

Ruling: Misṭarah ; 20 lines per page; vertical spacing 13 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh ; the scribe is ‘Umar ibn Muḥammad ibn Sallām ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Irbīlī (عمر بن محمد بن سلام بن عبد الله الإربيلي, ff. 123r, lines 18-20 and 192r, lines 6-10)

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

Decoration: Text frames in red on all original folios, titles of each text in kufic script

Binding: British Museum binding with marbled paper on boards

Condition: Corners and edge margins of some folios mutilated and repaired especially towards beginning and end of volume, some folios replaced (ff. 7, 36-44 and 111-114)

Marginalia: Very few

Seals: ff. 1r, 2r, 2v, 36v, 56v and 124v

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Or 5619

History of this record

Date(s)

Ramaḍān 703 (AH, Hijri qamari)

Context of creation

Tabriz

Provenance

• Muḥammad Badī‘ ibn Muḥammad Amīn Bey al-Mawṣilī (محمد بديع ابن محمد بيك الموصلي): His inscription written at Aleppo recording his acquisition of the manuscript after a pilgrimage to Makkah, with date mid-Rabī‘ I 1221/early-June 1806, and his three seals: one (below) with date 1221/1806-7, another (above right, also appears on ff. 2v, 36v, 56v and 124v) with date 1222/1807-8, and another (above left) with date 1223/1808-9 (f. 2r);
• Muḥammad Sa‘īd ibn Muḥammad Badī‘ Bey (محمد سعيد بن محمد بديع بيك): His inscription recording his inheritance of the manuscript presumably from his father Muḥammad Badī‘ Bey, whom he calls 'the late' (المرحوم), without date, and his seal, without legible date (ff. 1r and 2r);
• Muḥammad Yūsuf (محمد يوسف): His seal, with date 1270/1853-4 (f. 2r);
• Large, circular waqf seal, mostly illegible (f. 2r).

Immediate source of acquisition

Purchased from J.J. Naaman, 11 July 1899

Related material

Finding aids

• Ellis, A.G. and Edward Edwards, A Descriptive List of the Arabic Manuscripts Acquired by the Trustees of the British Museum since 1894 (London: British Museum, 1912), p. 46
• Hamarneh, Sami, Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts on Medicine and Pharmacy at the British Library (Cairo: Les Editions Universitaires d’Egypte, 1975), Items 175, 178-9 and 187, pp. 156-8 and 160-1

Select Bibliography

Studies:

• Cherif, Tarabein, Contribution à l’histoire de la pharmacie arabe. Étude particulière du manuscrit intitulé: "Al-Nadjibiate al-Samarkandiate" (Strasbourg: Faculté de Pharmacie, 1952)
• Ullmann, Manfred, Die Medizin im Islam (Leiden: Brill, 1970), pp. 170 and 339

Subjects

Medicine--Early works to 1800

People & organisations

Muḥammad ibn ‘Alī Najīb al-Dīn al-Samarqandī

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Four medical works Najīb al-Dīn al-Samarqandī, Muḥammad ibn ʻAlī نجيب الدين السمرقندي، محمد بن علي, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 5619, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100061383153.0x000001> [accessed 14 June 2026]

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