al-Qānūn fī al-ṭibb القانون في الطبّ Avicenna ابن سينا

Content

Fanns (فنون) Sixteen to Twenty-two of Book (كتاب) Three of the Canon of Medicine (القانون في الطبّ) by Abū ‘Alī al-Ḥusayn ibn ‘Abd Allāh (أبو علي الحسين بن عبد الله), known as Ibn Sīnā (ابن سينا, latinised as Avicenna, 980-1037).

Contents:

• الفن السادس عشر ... في أحوال الأمعاء والمقعدة (Fann Sixteen: Conditions of the bowels and anus, ff. 2v-71r);
• الفن السابع عشر في علل المقعدة (Fann Seventeen: Diseases of the anus, ff. 71r-81v);
• الفن الثامن عشر في أحوال الكلية (Fann Eighteen: Conditions of the kidneys, ff. 81v-103v);
• الفن التاسع عشر في أحوال المثانة والبول (Fann Nineteen: Conditions of the bladder and urine, ff. 104r-131r);
• الفن العشرون في أحوال أعضاء التناسل من الذكران (Fann Twenty: Conditions of the male sexual organs, ff. 131r-151v);
• [الفن الحادي عشرون في أحوال أعضاء التناسل من الأناث] ([Fann Twenty-one: Diseases of the female sexual organs], ff. 152r-214v);
• الفن الثاني عشرون في أمراض ظاهرة وطرفية للأعضاء (Fann Twenty-two: External diseases and those at the extremities of the limbs, ff. 214v-241r).

Some folios are missing after f. 151, so that the the copy lacks the end of Fann Twenty and the beginning of Fann Twenty-one. The copy was completed Monday 25 Jumādá II 525/25 May 1131 (see colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , f. 241r, lines 9-10, transcribed below).

Begins (f. 2v, lines 2-8):

الحمد لله رب العالمين وصلواته على أنبيائه أجمعين وخصوصًا على محمد المصطفي وآله الطاهرين

الفن السادس عشر من الكتاب الثالث

في أحوال الأمعاء والمقعدة وهو خمس مقالات

المقالة الأولى في تشريحها وفي الاستطلاق المطلق

تشريح الأمعاء الستة إن الخالق تعالى لسابق عنايته بالإنسان

وسابق علمه بمصالحه خلق أمعاءه التي هي آلات دفع الفضل اليابس

كثيرة العدد والتلافيف والاستدارات ...

Ends (f. 241r, lines 4-7):

... انتفاخ الأظفار والحكة فيها

يعالج بما البحر غسلًا دائمًا فيزول به أو بطبيخ العدس والكرسنة

أو بطبيخ الخنثى (؟) ومن أضمدته البلبوس والزفت وألين المطبوخ

مجموعة وفرادي

Colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 241r, lines 7-12):

... تم الكتاب الثالث من كتب القانون

وهو آخر الكلام في الأمراض الجزئية الواقفة في عضو عضو

ووقع الفراغ منه يوم الأثنين خامس عشرين جمدي (!) الآخر من شهور سنة

خمس وعشرين وخمس مائة

والحمد لله رب العالمين وصلواته على النبي المصطفى محمد وآله وأصحابه أجمعين

وحسبنا الله وحده وهو خير معين

Extent and format

Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. ; ff. iii+242+iii

Physical characteristics

Material: Eastern laid paper

Dimensions: 243 x 150 mm leaf [190 x 110 mm written]

Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil; quire Collection of papers folded in half and stitched together to form a gathering of folios. marks partially visible on some folios (e.g. ff. 71r, 82r and 111r)

Ruling: Misṭarah ; 20 lines per page; vertical spacing 11 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh

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

Decoration: None

Binding: British Museum binding, with previous gold- and blind-tooled leather covers and doublures pasted to outside and inside of boards respectively

Condition: Minor insect damage, some repaired (see especially ff. 2-19 in tail gutter margin, and note f. 13v where the paper used for repair bears a geometric figure in red not related to the text in this manuscript); minor tidemarks at head and tail

Marginalia: Very few by more than one hand

Seals: ff. 1r, 2r, 241r and 241v

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Or 3343

History of this record

Date(s)

25 Jumādá II 525 (AH, Hijri qamari)

Provenance

• Muḥammad Kāẓim (?) (محمد كاظم [؟]): his seal, with date 1084/1673-4 (ff. 1r, 2r, 241r and 241v);
• Muḥsin (محسن) [remainder of name illegible]: his seal, with partially legible date 11xx/1688-1785
• ‘Abd al-Wahhāb (عبد الوهاب): his signature without date (f. 1r);
• Yūsuf al-‘Umrānī (يوسف العمراني): his inscription without date (f. 2r);
• Inscription in Hebrew characters, erased (f. 2r);
• Aḥmad ibn ... (أحمد بن ...) [remainder of name illegible]: his inscription, partially erased (f. 2r);
• Inscription in Hebrew characters (f. 2r);
• Partially erased inscription with date 20 Rajab 1219/25 October 1804, with illegible seal (f. 2r);
• Sidney John Alexander Churchill (1862-1921), British representative at Tehran (1880-94): his signature without date (f. 2r);
• Mūsá Kāẓim (موسى كاظم): his seal without legible date (f. 241r);
• Abū al-Qāsim (أبو القاسم): his inscription without date, and his seal with date 1234 or 1235/1818-9 or 1819-20 (f. 241r);
• Inscription with date 1270/1853-4 (f. 242r).

Immediate source of acquisition

Purchased from Sidney John Alexander Churchill (1862-1921), 5 July 1886

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 108, pp. 103

Rieu, Charles, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: The British Museum, 1894), Item 787, p. 537

Select Bibliography

Edition:

• 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)

Subjects

Medicine--Early works to 1800

People & organisations

Avicenna

Share this record

• Share on twitter
• Share on facebook

Cite this record in your research

al-Qānūn fī al-ṭibb القانون في الطبّ Avicenna ابن سينا, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 3343, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100057761229.0x000001> [accessed 3 May 2024]

Link to this record

https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100057761229.0x000001

IIIF details

This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100057761229.0x000001/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images

Copyright: How to use this content