The Convergence of Judaism and Islam. Religious, Scientific, and Cultural Dimensions

(nextflipdebug2) #1

206 r Leigh N. Chipman



  1. This definition of medicine is that of Ibn Sina. See al-Qanun fi ’l-tibb (Beirut,
    1420/1999), 1:13.

  2. Minhaj al-dukkan, 9–10.

  3. See, e.g., ̔Ali b. al- ̔Abbas al-Majusi, Kamil al-sina ̔a al-tibbiyya (Bulaq, 1870),
    1:3–6: criticisms of previous books by Hippocrates, Galen, Oribasius, Paul of Aegina,
    Ahrun, Ibn Serapion, and Muhammad b. Zakariyya’ al-Razi (al-Hawi). Contradiction
    of one’s predecessors was a favourite topos; see Freimark, Vorwort, 40.

  4. This corroborates al-Biruni’s etymology of saydalani originally referring to per-
    fumers, particularly traders of sandalwood. Hakim Mohammed Said, ed. and trans., Al-
    Biruni’s Book on Pharmacy and Materia Medica (Karachi, 1973), 1:4–5; cf. Max Meyerhof,
    “Das Vorwort zur Drogenkinde des Beruni,” Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der
    Naturwissenschaften und der Medizin 3 (Berlin, 1932): 4–5 (Arabic text).

  5. Minhaj al-dukkan, 10.

  6. Al-Dustur al-bimaristani, 17.

  7. Royal College of Physicians of London, MS Tritton 38; Arthur Tritton, “Catalogue
    of Oriental Manuscripts in the Library of the Royal College of Physicians,” Journal of the
    Royal Asiatic Society (October 1951): 182–92.

  8. To say nothing of the direct reference to him and his book in the preface to Min-
    haj al-dukkan, see above.

  9. For Ibn Abi Usaybi ̔a’s criteria for inclusion, see Franak Hilloowala, “An Analysis
    of Ibn Abi Usaybi ̔ah’s Uyun al-anba fi tabaqat al-atibba” (PhD diss., University of Ari-
    zona, 2000), 145–63.

  10. For a detailed comparison of al-Kuhin al- ̔Attar’s sources and the use he makes of
    them, see Chipman, The World of Pharmacy, 18–45.

  11. Minhaj al-dukkan, 97.

  12. Minhaj al-dukkan, 197, and al-Dustur al-bimaristani, 52; another example is the
    recipe for habb muntin (“stinking pill”), in which Ibn Abi ’l-Bayan uses two-thirds of
    a dirham of hiera picra while al-Kuhin al- ̔Attar uses three dirhams (al-Dustur al-bi-
    maristani, 31; Minhaj al-dukkan, 115).

  13. Minhaj al-dukkan, 193, and al-Dustur al-bimaristani, 65.

  14. Max Meyerhof, ed. and trans., Šarh asma’ al- ̔uqqar (L’explication des noms des
    drogues), un glossaire de matière médical composé par Maïmonide (Cairo, 1940).

  15. Minhaj al-dukkan, 249.

  16. According to Edward W. Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon (London, 1863–93), s.v., this
    is “a well-known kind of sugar, in which is somewhat of bitterness,” or else “this is a kind
    of red sugar, which falls like dew upon this tree.” See also Minhaj al-dukkan, 239, under
    sukkar al- ̔ushar, and 224, under taranjabin misri.

  17. Rosa Kuhne Brabant, “Le sucre et le doux dans l’alimentation d’al-Andalus,”
    Médiévales 33 (1997): 59: “Le terme sukkar... ne s’appliquait pas exclusivement au sucre
    de canne maus aussi aux sucres extraits d’autres plantes comme... ̔ušar.” ̔Ushar is not
    mentioned in Robert B. Serjeant, Islamic Textiles: Materials for a History up to the Mongol
    Conquest (Beirut, 1972), but see now Z. Amar and T. Friedman, “Milkweed—Fibers to
    Fabric,” Shuttle, Spindle, and Dyepot 28 (1997): 43–45.

Free download pdf