Author
the Persian physician ʿAlī ibn Sahl ibn Rabban al-Ṭabarī
Publication Date
13th century (CE, Gregorian)
Publication Place
North Africa? -
Subject
1
Type
Book
Language
Arabic
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
Yes
Pages Count
1
Physical Dimensions
240 x 170 mm
Library
Qatar Digital Library
Library Asset ID
Arundel Or 41
Record ID
vdc_100023062750.0x000001
Library Location
British Library: Oriental Manuscripts
Date
13th century (CE, Gregorian)
Notes
Encyclopedia of medicine by the Persian physician ʿAlī ibn Sahl ibn Rabban al-Ṭabarī (810- c 855). This undated copy was produced by a
maghribī
scribe, probably in the late 13th century as suggested by Hebrew and Arabic ownership inscriptions (f. 2r) dateable to early fourteenth-century Georgia (see Custodial History).
The text is divided into seven books (types), each subdivided into chapters (articles) and further into sections (sections). This copy is defective at the end and is missing the end of Book Seven.
Folio 8r contains a short poem 'in praise of this book' (In praise of this book) composed by ‘Abd al-Wāḥid al-Arīḥāwī (Abdul Wahid al-Arīhawi), one of the book's owners, whose inscription can be found on f. 2r.
Contents:
Begins (table of contents, f. 2v, lines 2-4):
This is an index of the chapters of Ali bin Raban’s book called Firdaus al-Hikma
Al-Kanash said that the entire book is based on six types of knowledge, and these types have thirty articles and their articles
All three hundred and sixty chapters...
The rest of the table of contents (ff. 2v-7v) can be found transcribed in Cureton and Rieu,
Catalog codicum manuscriptorum orientalium qui in Museo Britannico asservantur
(London: The British Museum, 1846-71), pp. 218-20
Beginning of text proper (f. 8v, lines 3-5)
This is a comprehensive book by Ali bin Raban. He began by praising God and said that praising goodness, generosity, and preference
Their family is a matter upon which all nations agree, and whoever seeks the benefits of people is better and whoever seeks the benefits of people is better
He is serious about what he has, he is generous...
Ends (f. 276, lines 19-21):
...And crush it until it is hard, and crush the musk separately well, and combine it and crush it with brown oil
It is good and can be used, and if you make it contain some musk masjouk sifted with harira, it will be better masjouk
For men, it is good to take a piece of thick red sandal, decide on an inch or more, and drill four holes in it
Erişim Koşulları
Unrestricted
Bulma Yardımcıları
Cureton, William and Charles Rieu,
Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum orientalium qui in Museo Britannico asservantur. Pars secunda, codices arabicos amplectens
(London: The British Museum, 1846-71), Item 445, pp. 217-21
Hamarneh, Sami,
Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts on Medicine and Pharmacy at the British Library
(Cairo: Les Editions Universitaires d’Egypte, 1975), Item 42, pp. 32-34
Edinme Kaynağı
Purchased by the British Museum from the Royal Society together with 549 other Arundel manuscripts in 1831.
Köken
Rabbi Yosef al-Tiflīsī (late 13th- early 14th century), son of the Exilarch (יוסף ב[?]ראש עלגאלות, يوسف بن رأس الجالوت), head of the Jewish community of Gagra on the Black Sea coast of western Georgia and father of Rabbi Isaiah of Tabriz (fl. first half of 14th century), son of Rabbi Yosef al-Tiflīsī, and author of several cabbalistic treatises, his inscriptions in Hebrew and Arabic undated (f. 2r, upper right vertically, and centre);
Emmanuel (in the Hebrew) or ‘Imād al-Dīn (in the Arabic) the Dayān (early 14th century), son of Rabbi Yosef al-Tiflīsī (עמנואל בר הרב רבנו יוסף אל[-]בליסי,عماد الدين الديان الإسريلي ابن ربي يوسف التفليسي), his inscriptions in Hebrew and Arabic undated (f. 2r, lower centre and left);
‘Abd al-Wāḥid ibn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn ‘Uthmān ibn Muḥammad ibn ‘Alī ibn Sulaymān ibn ‘Abd al-Wāḥid al-Arīḥāwī al-Shafi‘ī al-Jasharī (?) (عبد الواحد بن عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن عثمان بن محمد بن علي بن سليمان بن عبد الواحد [الأ]ريحاوي الشافعي الجشري [؟]), author of the poem on f. 8r, his inscription undated (f. 2r, centre right);
Deed of sale dated Shawwāl 1003/June-July 1595 with name ‘Abd al-Wāḥid (عبد الواحد), perhaps the same whose inscription is found on f. 2r and whose poem is found on f. 8r (f. 1r);
? Thomas Howard (b. 1585, d. 1646), 2nd earl of Arundel, 4th earl of Surrey, and 1st earl of Norfolk, art collector and politician;
Henry Howard (b. 1628, d. 1684), 6th duke of Norfolk, presented to the Royal Society in 1667;
The Royal Society, London: its ink stamp 'Soc. Reg. Lond / ex dono HENR. HOWARD / Norfolciensis.' (f. 1r)
Seçilmiş kaynakça
Editions:
Ṭabarī, Ali ibn Sahl Rabban,
Firdaus al-Ḥikma f
ī
al-Ṭibb
, ed. by Muḥammad Zubayr Siddiqi, (Berlin-Charlottenburg: Buch- und Kunstdruckerei 'Sonne', 1928) [Reprint: Publications of the Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Medicine, vol. 29, ed. by Fuat Sezgin (Frankfurt am Main : Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, 1996)]
Ṭabarī, ʿAlī ibn Sahl Rabban,
Firdaws al-ḥikmah fī al-ṭibb
, ed. by ʿAbd al-Karīm Sāmī al-Jundī (Bayrūt: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyah, 2002)
Study:
Ullmann, Manfred,
Die Medizin im Islam
(Leiden: Brill, 1970), pp. 119-22
Family of Rabbi Yosef al-Tiflīsī:
Ben-Oren, Gershon, 'The History of the Jews in Georgia Until the Communist Regime', in
In the Land of the Golden Fleece: The Jews of Georgia - History and Culture
, ed. by Rachel Arbel and Lily Magal, (Tel Aviv: Beth Hatefutsoth and Ministry of Defence Publishing House, 1989) pp. 37-70, on p. 45
Fischel, Walter, ‘Azarbaijan in Jewish History’,
Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research
22, 1953, pp. 1-21, on p. 9
Marx, Alexander, ‘Hebrew MSS. in Vienna’,
The Jewish Quarterly Review
(new series) 16.3, 1926, pp. 337-342, on pp. 340-41
Scholem, Gershom,
Kitve-yad be-Ḳabalah ha-nimtsaʾim be-Vet ha-sefarim ha- leʾumi ṿeha-universiṭaʾi bi-Yerushala[y]im
, (Yerushala[y]im: Ḥevrah le-hotsaʾat sefarim ʿal-yad ha- Universiṭah ha-ʿIvrit, 1930) pp. 41-42
Encyclopaedia Judaica
(2nd ed.), vol. 7, ed. by C. Roth et al., (Jerusalem: Keter, 1971) s.v. Georgia, on p. 497
