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

Content

Concise handbook of medicine by Abū al-Ḥasan Saʿīd 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. 4v, line 7). The title of the text is often abbreviated to Kitāb al-mughnī fī al-ṭibb (كتاب المغني في الطبّ).

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 4v, 5r and 104r 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).

Folios 1r-3v contain medical notes in Persian and Arabic.

The completion date in the colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. of this manuscript is barely legible (f. 104r, lines 9-10), but appears to read Jumādá I 307/September-October 919. This can hardly be the true transcription date since the author was not born until 436 AH/AD 1101. The reading of the date in this colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. has been the subject of controversy, and two Persian notes below the colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. discuss the date. The first reads the date in the colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. as 309 AH/AD 921-22 and notes that this does not conincide with the regnal dates of caliph al-Muqtadī; the second correctly dates the end of al-Muqtadī's reign to 487 AH/AD 1094. The two printed catalogues in which this manuscript appears read the date in the colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. as 534 AH/AD 1139, just 38 years after the death of the author.

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

[...] الخبير أبو الحسن سعيد بن هبة الله بن الحسن الفيلسوف إنّ أولى ما نطق به اللسان وثبت برهانه في الجنان (؟)

[...] الأزمان التي أوجد المخلوقات بقدرته وفضل الإنسان على جميعها بحكمته وجعله عالمًا متوسطًا ...

End and colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 104) are mutilated and mostly illegible.

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. i+104+i

Physical characteristics

Material: Paper

Dimensions: 225 x 170 mm leaf [200 x 145 mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil; eastyern Arabic foliation in black ink

Ruling: No ruling visible; average of 20 lines per page; vertical spacing 10 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh

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

Binding: British Museum binding

Condition: Badly water damaged; many leaves mutilated and repaired especially towards front and back of volume

Marginalia: Infrequent, by more than one hand

Seals: Ff. 4r, 104v

Written in

Arabic, Farsi and Persian in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Or 3645

History of this record

Date(s)

12th century (CE, Gregorian)

Provenance

• Partial seal, illegible (f. 4r);
• Anonymous inscription, dated 759 AH/1357-58 (f. 4r);
• ‘Alī-Riḍā ... (عليرضا ...): his inscription, dated 1247 AH/AD 1831-32 at Qom (f. 104v);
• Seal, erased (f. 104v).

Immediate source of acquisition

Purchased from Sidney Churchill, 28 December 1888

Related material

Finding aids

• Hamarneh, Sami, Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts on Medicine and Pharmacy at the British Library (Cairo: Les Editions Universitaires d’Egypte, 1975), Item 135, pp. 119
• Rieu, Charles, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts (London: The British Museum, 1894), Item 794, pp. 540

Select Bibliography

Study:

• Ullmann, Manfred, Die Medizin im Islam (Leiden: Brill, 1970), pp. 160-61

Subjects

Medicine, ArabMedicine, MedievalMedicine--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 والعراض Saʿīd ibn Hibat Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn سعيد بن هبة الله بن الحسين, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 3645, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/mirador/81055/vdc_100023431928.0x000001> [accessed 19 April 2024]

Link to this record

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