240 Syamsuddin Arif
tices of the Prophet and those mentioned in the Koran in preference
to the medical theories assimilated from the Greeks, thereby providing
a guide to medical therapy that was in conformity with the Islamic
principles. The therapy recommended included diet and simple drugs,
especially honey, bloodletting and cautery, but no surgery. Other top-
ics included fevers, leprosy, plague, poisonous bites, protection from
night-flying insects, protection against the evil eye, rules of coitus, the-
ories of embryology and anatomy, the proper conduct of physicians
and the treatment of minor illnesses such as headaches, nosebleeds,
cough, colic and sciatica. The use of wine and soporific as medicaments
was strictly prohibited. In addition, Ibn al-Qayyim provided numer-
ous prayers and pious invocations to be used by the devout patient,
with designs for the occasional amulet and talisman.
2.2.2. Physiognomy (al-Firāsa)This small text, which is part of the work al-Ṭuruq al-ḥukmiyya fī
al-siyāsa al-sharʿiyya (The Ways of Governance in Accordance with
the Revealed Law) was translated into Indonesian by A. H. Ba’adillah
and published as Firasat by Pustaka Azzam Jakarta in 2000. The basis
for it was the text edited by Ṣalāḥ Aḥmad al-Sāmarrāʾī and published
in 1986 by al-Maktaba al-Waṭaniyyah, Baghdad. The editor informs
us that he has collated the manuscript with the printed text edited by
Muḥammad Ḥāmid al-Fiqī. In spite of its somewhat misleading title,
the book in fact deals with intuition as one of the valid methods in
settling legal disputes – what we today call law of evidence governing
the use of testimony (oral or written) and other kinds of proof in a
judicial proceeding.
2.2.3. A Guide for the Soul to the Land of Joy
(Ḥādī al-arwāḥ ilā bilād al-afrāḥ)The abridged version of this monograph with annotations by Leila
Mabrūk was published in 1988 by Pustaka al-Kautsar, Jakarta, bear-
ing the title Tentang Roh. Perjalanan bersama Roh di Alam Lain. The
book like its complete, original version is an answer to all questions
one might pose about the eternal life in Paradise, what will be provided
for and experienced by its inhabitants.
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