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Or 2408

Record Id:

032-003378457

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

032-003378457

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100046596924.0x000001

LARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100066119431.0x000002

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Or 2408

Title:

Kitāb al-mughnī fī al-adwiyah al-mufradah كتاب المغني في الأدوية المفردة

Ibn al-Bayṭār, ʻAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ابن البيطار، عبد الله بن أحمد

Scope & Content:

Volume One (المجلد الأول) of a medical compendium on the use of simples to cure various ailments by the Andalusian botanist Ḍiyā’ al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʻAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Mālaqī (ضياء الدين أبو محمد عبد الله بن أحمد بن محمد المالقي; d. 1248), known as Ibn al-Bayṭār (ابن البيطار), Chief Herbalist (رئيس العشابين) to the Ayyubid sultan al-Malik al-Kāmil (reg. 1218-38). The text is dedicated to al-Malik al-‘Ādil II (الملك العادل سيف الدين أبو بكر بن الملك الكامل, reg. 1238-40, see. f. 3v, lines 5-12).

The text is arranged by affected part from head to toe in twenty chapters (باب), of which this copy contains the first eight. Each chapter is then subdivided by ailment into sections (فصول). A list of all twenty chapters and their titles is found on ff. 4r-4v. The contents of the present volume are as follows:

Chapter One: Simple Drugs Beneficial for Ailments of the Head (الباب الأول في الأدوية المفردة النافعة من أمراض الرأس, ff. 5r-59r);
Chapter Two: Simple Drugs Beneficial for Ailments of the Eye (الباب الثاني في الأدوية المفردة النافعة من أمراض العين, ff. 59r-89v);
Chapter Three: Simple Drugs Beneficial for Ailments of the Ear (الباب الثالث في الأدوية المفردة النافعة من أمراض الأذن, ff. 89v-101v);
Chapter Four: Simple Drugs Beneficial for Ailments of the Nose (الباب الرابع في الأدوية المفردة النافعة من أمراض الأنف, ff. 101v-105v);
Chapter Five: Simple Drugs Beneficial for Ailments of the Mouth (الباب الخامس في الأدوية المفردة النافعة من أمراض الفم, ff. 105v-129r);
Chapter Six: Simple Drugs Beneficial for Ailments of the Throat, Organs of Respiration, the Chest and its Contents (الباب السادس في الأدوية المفردة النافعة من أمراض الحلق وآلات التنفس والصدر وما يحويه, ff. 129r-180v);
Chapter Seven: Simple Drugs Beneficial for Ailments of the Stomach, Liver and Spleen (الباب السابع في الأدوية المفردة النافعة من أمراض المعدة والكبد والطحال, ff. 180v-236v);
Chapter Eight: Simple Drugs Beneficial for Ailments of the Intestines (الباب الثامن في الأدوية المفردة النافعة من أمراض الأمعاء, ff. 236v-287r).

The title page (f. 2r) claims that the volume was owned by the Ottoman sultan Bāyezīd II (بايزيد ثاني, reg. 1481-1512). This claim is substantiated by what appears to be the defaced seal of Bāyezīd II to the left of the colophon on f. 287r (see Chester Beatty Library Islamic Seals Database no. 2 and cf. impressions of this seal in Add. MS 18866, f 292r and Add. MS 7515, ff. 1r and 132v).

The copy was completed in early Jumādá I 851/second half of July 1447 by Ways ibn ‘Awaḍ (ويس ابن عوض, see colophon, f. 287r, lines 4-7, transcribed below).

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

الحمد لله الذي أنزل لكل داء دواء فاستحق بوجود نعمائه على عباده

حمدًا وثناء وأقام لكل علم حملة جمعوا منها اشتاتًا وتحملوا

له أعباءً فإن احوا (!) من كد النصب من سلك سبيلهم اقتدا ...

Ends (f. 286v, line 13-f. 287r, line 1):

قال أبو جريح يولد الحيات في البطن من الأشياء

الفجة اللينة مثل القمح والفول واللوبيا والحمص وأكل اللحم الفتي

من لحم الخنزير وسف الدقيق وإدمان شرب اللبن وشرب العسل بالماء

بالماء (!) بعد الطعام كثيرًا ومن أكل الخبز الوسخ الحب

Colophon (f. 287r, lines 2-9):

تم المجلد الأول من الكتاب

المرسوم بمفردات ابن بيطار رحمه الله

رحمة واسعة حرر في أوائل

جمادى الآخرة أحد شهور

سنة إحدى وخمسين وثمانية

كتبه ويس ابن عوض غفر الله له

ولجميع المسلمين والمسلمات والمؤمنين والمؤمنات

برحمتك يا أرحم الراحمين

Collection Area:

Oriental Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Qatar Foundation Partnership Programme

Hierarchy Tree:

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Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-003378457

Is part of:

not applicable

Hierarchy:

032-003378457

Container:

not applicable

Record Type (Level):

Fonds

Extent:

Codex; ff. i+287+ii

Digitised Content:

https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100046596924.0x000001

Thumbnail:

Languages:

Arabic

Scripts:

Arabic

Start Date:

1447

End Date:

1447

Date Range:

Jumādá I 851

Calendar:

Hijri qamari

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Material: Eastern laid paper

Dimensions: 260 x 170 mm leaf [190 x 120 mm written]

Foliation: Eastern Arabic pagination in black ink extends only as far as p. 200 (f. 102r), British Museum foliation in pencil

Ruling: No ruling visible; 15 lines per page; vertical spacing 8 lines per 10 cm

Script: Naskh; the scribe is Ways ibn ‘Awaḍ (ويس ابن عوض, see colophon, f. 287r, lines 4-7)

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

Decoration: Calligraphic basmala in thuluth script (f. 2v)

Binding: Red leather Western binding, with blind-tooled medallions and borders

Condition: Tidemarks at tail towards front of volume and at head towards back of volume, edge corners mutilated and repaired on ff. 1-15 and 271-87 with no loss of text, minor insect damage

Marginalia: Very few

Seals: f. 287r

Custodial History:

‘Abd Allāh (عبد الله): his inscription, without date (f. 1r);
Ibrāhīm, known as Abraq (?) (إبراهيم الشهير بأبرق [؟]): his inscription, with date Jumādá I 1105/December 1693-January 1694 (f. 2r);
Bāyezīd II (بايزيد بن محمد خان مظفر دائمًا ), Ottoman sultan (reg. 1481-1512): his seal, defaced, without date (f. 287r, to left of colophon; see Chester Beatty Library Islamic Seals Database no. 2 and Suha Umar, Osmanlı Padişah Tuğraları [Istanbul: Cem Yayinevi, 1980] p. 120).

Source of Acquisition:

Purchased from Shapira, 23 July 1881

Finding Aids:

Hamarneh, Sami, Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts on Medicine and Pharmacy at the British Library (Cairo: Les Editions Universitaires d’Egypte, 1975), Item 199, pp. 171-72
Rieu, Charles, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: The British Museum, 1894), Item 800, p. 543

Publications:

Study:

Ullmann, Manfred, Die Medizin im Islam (Leiden: Brill, 1970), pp. 280-83

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Ibn al-Bayṭār, ʻAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad, Chief Herbalist, botanist, physician, 1197-1248

Subjects:

Medicine--Early works to 1800