Author
Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd al-Āmulī
Publication Date
19 Ṣafar 754 (CE, Gregorian)
Publication Place
Cairo? -
Subject
1
Type
Book
Language
Arabic
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
Yes
Pages Count
1
Physical Dimensions
260 x 160 mm
Library
Qatar Digital Library
Library Asset ID
Or 3654
Record ID
vdc_100046530806.0x000001
Library Location
British Library: Oriental Manuscripts
Date
19 Ṣafar 754 (CE, Gregorian)
Notes
Commentary by Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd al-Āmulī (Shams al-Dīn Muhammad ibn Mahmoud al-Amli, d. 1352) on the
Colliget
(College Book), the first book of the
Canon of Medicine
(The Law in Medicine) by Ibn Sīnā (Ibn Sīnā, d. 1037). The composition of the text was completed on Saturday 15 Muḥarram 753/3 March 1352 (see author's
colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
, f. 286v, line 15, transcribed below).
Below the frontispiece (f. 1r) a later hand has added the following title in red ink:
Explanation of the faculties of law for the most complete others
The Galen of the age and the Hippocrates of the age, the sun of religion and religion
Muhammad bin Mahmoud Al-Amli, may his secret be sanctified
A note above this title claims that it was written by the scholar Bahā’ al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ḥusayn al-‘Āmilī (Baha al-Din Muhammad ibn Husayn al-Amili; d. 1621), and this is supported by comparison with a sample of al-‘Āmilī’s handwriting presented in Gacek, 2012, p. 15, fig. 9, and by Bahā’ al-Dīn Muḥammad al-‘Āmilī’s calligraphic signature (different from that presented by Gacek) found on ff. 1r and 286v, along with his seal on f. 1r.
This copy was made from the author's draft copy, and was completed on Tuesday 19 Ṣafar 754/26 March 1353, at which date the scribe believed the author to be still living (see scribe's
colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
, f. 286v, lines 16-20, transcribed below). A patron statement at the center of the illuminated frontispiece (f. 1r) indicates that the copy was created for a sultan given the titles 'Great Lord, Sultan of Sultans of the Arabs and Persians, Master of the Kings of the Nations', but the identifying portions of his name have been defaced. Since the illumination and script suggest an Egyptian provenance, the sultan named in the patron statement is likely to be the Mamluk Sultan al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn Ṣāliḥ ibn Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn (The Good King Saladin Salih bin Muhammad Nasir al-Dīn, reg. 1351-1354).
Begins (f. 1v, lines 1-2):
Praise be to God, whose wisdom is precise in the creation of mankind, and whose blessings extend to them through His abundant benevolence, which bears witness to the perfection of His power.
Bodies are the originator of souls and the flow of powers to the organs through the channels of nerves, veins and arteries, who links health and illness with causes such as signs and symptoms, as a guide.
Ends (f. 286v, lines 13-15):
...And we hope that God Almighty will have mercy on him (?) as well, and he is the weak servant Muhammad bin Mahmoud. I hope that God’s good health will suffice for what He has written upon him.
And with His purposes and to ensure that He grants you what you wish for and that He benefits from it in this world and the hereafter. Praise be to Him for His good success, and blessings be upon Muhammad, the best of his creation, and upon his family and companions.
The good and pure...
Author's
colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
(f. 286v, line 15):
The emptiness of the compiler, may God extend its shadows and fulfill its gestation (?) from it, occurred on Saturday, the middle of Muharram, in the year seven hundred and fifty-third.
Scribe's
colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
(f. 286v, lines 16-24):
The writer finished transferring the draft to this blank
Tuesday, the nineteenth of Safar, in the year seven hundred and fifty-four
Praise be to God, blessings be upon His Messenger and those who follow him
From his family and companions, farewell to his eternal work
His days extended his shadow over those who benefited from him
And those who are loyal to him, O God, grant him good health in the condition of Delrayah (?)
May God forgive him, his parents, and all believing men and women
And may blessings be upon the Master of the Prophets, Muhammad, and upon his family
The pure ones
Erişim Koşulları
Unrestricted
Bulma Yardımcıları
Rieu, Charles,
Supplement to the Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the British Museum
(London: The British Museum, 1894), Item 791, pp. 538-39
Edinme Kaynağı
Purchased from Sidney John Alexander Churchill (1862-1921), 22 February 1889
Köken
Seals and inscriptions on f. 1r, clockwise from top:
al-Manṣūr ibn ‘Abd Allāh (المنصور بن عبد الله): his seal with date 1205/1790-1 (f. 1r);
Manṣūr ibn Ḥasan (منصور ابن حسن): his inscription with date 1230/1814-5 (f. 1r);
Ibn Amīr ‘Abd al-Ghaffār ‘Abd al-Bāqī al-Riḍawī (ابن أمير عبد الغفار عبد الباقي الرضوي): his inscription with date 1173/1759-60 recording his purchase of the manuscript from Amīr ‘Asaqī (?) al-Qummī (أمير عسقي [؟] القمي), and his seal date 1170/1756-7 (f. 1r, his seal appears more clearly on f. 286v);
‘Abd al-Razzāq al-Riḍawī (عبد الرزاق الرضوي): his inscription without date recording his purchase of the manuscript, and his seal with date 1150/1737-8 (f. 1r);
Partially legible inscription dated 1054/1644-5 (f. 1r);
Sulṭān al-Ḥusayn (سلطان الحسين): his inscription without date (f. 1r);
Muḥammad Muḥsin (محمد محسن): his inscription without date, and his seal with date 1023?/1614-5? (f. 1r, his seal appears less clearly on f. 286v);
‘Abd al-‘Azīz al-Riḍawī (عبد العزيز الرضوي): his inscription without date, and his seal with date 1115/1703-4 (f. 1r);
Ibn Ḥasan (ابن حسن): his seal, partially legible, with date 1231/1815-16 (f. 1r);
Bahā’ al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ḥusayn al-‘Āmilī (بهاء الدين محمد بن حسين العاملي), mathematician, astronomer, religious scholar, 1547-1621: his calligraphic signature and his seal without date (f. 1r, the signature appears more clearly to left of
colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
on f. 286v);
Shujā‘ the physician (شجاع المتطبب): his inscription, partially legible, dated 925/1519 recording his purchase of the manuscript (f. 1r).
Other seals and inscriptions:
Ibn (?) Ḥasan (ابن [؟] حسن): his seal, partially legible, without date (f. 1v, not identical with seal of Ibn Ḥasan on f. 1r);
Two illegible seals to right of
colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
(f. 286v);
Partially legible inscription below scribe's
colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
(f. 286v);
Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ (محمد صالح): his inscription in Arabic and Persian, written at Tehran, dated Shawwāl 1272/1855-6 (f. 287v).
Seçilmiş kaynakça
Edition of text commented upon:
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)
Translation of text commented upon:
Gruner, Oskar Cameron,
A Treatise on the Canon of Medicine of Avicenna: Incorporating a Translation of the First Book
(London: Luzac, 1930)
Studies:
Gacek, Adam,
Arabic Manuscripts: A Vademecum for Readers
(Brill: Leiden-Boston, 2012), p. 15, fig. 9
Iskandar, A.Z.,
A Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library
(London: The Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 1967), pp. 37 and 52
