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Ibn Rushd
"Averroes" and Medicine by Marwan S.
Abualrub (1) Kitab al-Kulliyyat ("The Book of Generalities") Al-Kulliyyat was the major work of Ibn Rushd in medicine and it was the
most famous book he published. Colliget, the Latin translation of
Al-Kulliyyat, was made in Padua in 1255 by a Jew, Bonacosa, and the first
edition was printed in Venice in 1482, followed by many other editions.
Al-Kulliyyat book is subdivided into seven books, and those books contain
complete lessons in the making of medicine. The seven books of Al-Kulliyyat are: 1. Tashrih al-a’da ("Anatomy of Organs") 2. Al-Sihha ("Health") 3. Al-Marad ("Sickness") 4. Al-Alamat ("Symptoms") 5. Al-Adwiya wa'l aghdhiya ("Drugs and Foods") 6. Hifz al-sihha ("Hygiene") 7. Shifa al-amrad ("Therapy") Al-Kulliyyat book was of great importance in Europe for a long time. Mr. Alfred Al-Bostani, the professor of Arabic Literature in the
Moroccan Studies Institute in Taiwan, wrote the introduction of Al-Kulliyyat and put
the scientific contents. The introduction and the scientific contents were translated to
Spanish language by Cristobal Perez Vera. The title of the book in Spanish is: Publicaciones del lnstituto
General Franco para la lnvestigacion Hispano-arabe. Seccion primera: Manuscritos Arabes.
QUITAB EL CULIAT (Libro de Las generalidades) por Abu EI Ualid Mohamed Ben
Ahmed Ben Roxd, El Maliki EI Cortobi (Averroes), 1939, Artes Graficas Bosca,
Larache (Marruecos). (2) Al-Qawl fi aalat al-tanaffus ("The Saying about Respiratory
Tools") One of the chapters of Kitab Al-sihha ("The Book of Health")
in Al-Kulliyyat book is Al-Qawl fi aalat al-tanaffus. [Averroes "contra Galenum". Das Kapital
„Von der Atmung“ in Colliget des Averroes als ein Zeugnis mittelalterlicher
Kritik an Galen, eingeleitet, arabisch herausgegeben und übersetzt von J.
Christoph Bürgel, Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen I.
Philologisch - Historische Klasse, Jahrgang 1967 No.9, pp. 2263-340]. 1. Bibli. Nac. (Madrid) 132 - Gg 154, fol Iga 2. Colleccion del Sacro Monte (GraIiada) No. I 3. Gottingen al. g6. The first part of the three books begins with: wa-aalat al-tanaffus
hiya al-higab, wa-r-ri’a wa-qasabatiha, wa-l-hungurah, wa-l-luhah, i.e. The
respiratory tools are the diaphragm, the lung and its trachea, the pharynx,
and the larynx. (3) Sharh urjuzat Ibn Sina ("The Explanation of Ibn Sina's
Poem") Ibn Rushd wrote a commentary to explain Ibn Sina's urjuza fi-t-tibb
("Poem on Medicine"). Ibn Sina's Urjuza fi-t-tibb is very famous. It
consists of 1326 poetry lines and it starts like: al-tibbu hifzu sihhatin
buro maradin . .. or in Latin Canticum de medicina. .. That is, the medicine is to protect the health from disease. .. Sharh
urjuzat Ibn Sina starts with: Amma baad, hamdi-llahi bihayati-n-nafsi
wa-sihhati-l-agsami ... . That is, after thanking Allah in the self survival and the bodies’
health... There are two more copies of Sharh Urjuzat Ibn Sina in Oxford, Paris,
Algeria, Holland, Germany, Britain, ... etc. Ibn Rushd commentary, Sharh
urjuzat Ibn Sina, was translated into Hebrew prose by Moses ben Tibbon in
1260; a translation into Hebrew verse was completed at Beziers (France) in
1261 by Solomon ben Ayyub ben Joseph of Granada. Further, a Latin translation
of the same work was made by Armenguad, son of Blaise, in 1280 or 1284, and a
printed edition was published at Venice in 1484. (4) Maqala fi-t-tiryaq ("Treatise on Theriac", Tractatus de
theriaca) There are two copies of this Maqala ("Treatise") in
Escurial. A Latin translation of Ibn Rushd's Maqala fi-t-tiryaq was made by Andrea Alpago. There is
also a translation in Hebrew. Ibn Abi Usaibi'a mentioned the title of the
following letter which is perhaps, the letter mentioned by the Latin
translation in al-Kulliyyat book: Colliget, VII, 2- "in epistola
Theriace et veneni reprobavi quam ad Glauconem transmisi" (ed. de 1560,
ap. Comin.
de Trid,. Vol. IX, f. 120 V, ligne 13 a.f.) (Bouyges, Notes. p. 36, No.
64). p. 108. Al-Bidaya ("The beginning"): fa-qala'l-hakim
Muhammad ben Rushd ... Amma baad, hamdi-llahi fa-innahu sa’alani man wagibat
alayya ta’atihi an uthbita lahu ala tariq al-burhan al-tibbi ma
qalahu-l-atibba’ fi-l-mawadi' al-lati yustamalu fiha al-tiryaq . . . . That is, The wise man Muhammad Ibn Rushd said. .. After thanking
Allah, the person whom I had to treat with this method asked me to prove to
him why I should choose this method using the medical proof of physicians in
cases in which Tiryaq had been applied as way of treatment... (5) Gumla min-al-adwiya al-mufrada ("A Set of Single Drugs") Tradu. Hebr Vatican 357; Steinschneider, ZDMG, t. 47, p. 343;
Steinschneider, Heb. Uehers. .. p. 676. (6) Maqala fi hummiyyat al-afan ("Treatise on the Infectious
Fevers") In the Escurial book number 884/5, there is a letter for Ibn Rushd
without a specific title. In that letter he talks about al-Hummiyyat "The
Fevers", and Ibn Abi Usaibi'a mentions two letters specialize in al-Hummiyyat: 1 - Maqala fi hummiyyat al-afan. 2 - Masa'il fi nawa’ib al-humma ("Questions in the Fever
Attacks"). al-nawba huwa fi al-harara al-ghariziyya fi guz' al-khalt al-fai'l
li-l-humma ... . That is, he says. .. it might be an obligation to believe that the
time length of the attack is the result of the bazal (or instinctive)
temperature in the part of the mixture which causes the fever. ... Wa-amma al-humma al-da’ima fa-hiya athnano ufonateha fi mawadi' al-hudum
al-thalatha. That is, and the chronic fever is the concentration of its infection
in the three digestive locations. (7) Kalam fi ikhtisar al-'ilal wa al-amrad li-galinos ("On
Summarizing the Diseases and Symptoms by Galen") De morborum et symptomatum differentiis et causis. It is in Escurial, MS 884 p. 42-58 and it consists of 6 essays. (8) Maqala fi asnaf al-mizag ("Treatise on the Kinds of
Temperament") Renan thinks (Renan, Averroes, p. 78) that this Maqala is the one that
Ibn Abi Usaibi'a mentions under the name of: Talkhis Kitab al-mizag
("Summary of the book of Temperaments"), and it is different from
the Treatise of Galen which is called De temperamento. Qala al-Qadi, al-Imam, . . ., Abu'l-Walid Ibn Rushd ... al-Gharadu fi
hadha-l-qawl an yufhasu an adadi asnafi l-mizagati fi nawin min anwa'i
l-agsami l-mutashabihati'l- agsa'... That is, The Judge, The Iman, ... etc., Abu'l-Walid Ibn Rushd .., says: The purpose of this saying is to find out how many different kinds of
temperaments are to be found in one type of body with similar parts (Escurial
884/4, Derenbourg p. 95). letters written in the same hand writing summarizing some of Galen's
books and most likely these letters were written by Ibn Rushd. (9) Talkhis ustuqussat Galinos ("Summary of Galen's
Elements") This is a summary of the book De elementis secundum Hippocratem. The beginning: Qala annahu lamma kana-l-ustuquss huwa alladhi yursam bi-annahu asghar
al-agza' al-mawguda fi'l shai' ... qultu amma'l qariba minha fa-kama qala
wa-amma al-bai'da fa-min haqq-al-sinaa'h an ta'khudhaha mustaqillah min
al-i'lm al-tabi'i. (10) Talkhis Kitab al-mizaj li-Galinos ("Summary of the Book of
Temperaments by Galen") The name of the book is: De temperamentis. The summary contains three essays. Ibn Rush finished publishing this summary in April/May 1192,
and he wrote it to his sons Abul Qasim and Abu Muhammad. (11) Talkhis Kitab al-quwa al-tabi'iyya li-Galinos ("Summary of
the Book of Natural Faculties by Galen") The name of the book is: De facultatibus naturalibus Libri III.
(Escurial, Mss 881- Derenbourg p. 92 (22 pages) and 884/2 Derenbourg p. 95 (35 pages)). The beginning: Qala annahu lamma kana hahuna fi'lan khassani
bi-l-hayawan wa huma al-hiss wa'l-haraka al-iradiyya fi'l makan wa fi'lan
mushtarakan li-n-nabat wa'l-Hayawan . .. . That is, he said that since there are two activities
characteristic of animals: the senses and the voluntary movement in place,
and there are two activities characteristic of both plants and animals... (12) Talkhis Kitab al-hummiyyat ("The Summary of the Book of
Fevers”) This book is Galen’s book and its title is: De differentiis febrium.
The beginning does not exist in the book, and in the whole book there is
"He said" and then "I say" and the beginning of "He
said" starts as follows: wa gami' al-awramu tuwallidu l-hummiyyat Idha wasalat hararatuha
ila'l-qalb kama taqaddam. ... That is, all of the tumours generate the fevers if its temperature
reach to the heart as said before. . . . The summary ended on Wednesday, February 11, 1193. (13) Fi hifz al-sihha ("On Hygiene") In the same book that exists in the Escurial number 884-7, there is a
book by Ibn Rushd without a specific title, he talks in it about hygiene. Renan
(in Averroes ... p. 76) thought that this book is the sixth book of
al-Kulliyyat. Derenbourg compared both books and he found out that Renan's
thought was wrong. The beginning is: Adama llahu izzakum, ... etc. hifzu-s-sihhati yakunu amrain ahaduhuma
al-inayatu li-gawdati l-hadm wa-l-thaniya al-inayatu bi-stifraghi fudul
al-hadm . .. . That is, may Allah keep you strong, ... etc. Hygiene means doing two
things: one of them is taking care of good digestion and the second is taking
care of desiccating the wastes of digestion… |