Al-Tamimi (physician)

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Al-Tamimi, the physician
)
This article is about the physician. For the alchemist, see
Muhammed ibn Umail al-Tamimi
.
Muhammad Al-Tamimi
Bornearly 10th century CE
Ibn al-Baitar, Al-Nuwayri, Daniel Le Clerc

Muhammad ibn Sa'id al-Tamimi (

Fatimids.[2] He specialized in compounding simple drugs and medicines, but is especially known for his having concocted a theriac reputed as a proven antidote in snakebite and other poisons, which he named tiryaq al-fārūq (the antidote of salvation)[3] because of its exceptional qualities.[4]

Biography

Little is known of al-Tamimi's personal life. Among al-Tamimi's contemporaries was the famed Arab geographer,

Al-Muqaddasi, also from Jerusalem. Like Al-Muqaddasi, he brings down in his writings curious anecdotes about the geography of southernSyria and the agronomic practices of its inhabitants, as well as its mineral resources.[5]

Medical works

Al-Tamimi's most-prized medical work is The Guidebook to Basics in Food Nutrition and the Properties of non-compounded Medicines (

Arabic: كتاب المرشد الى جواهر الأغذيه وقوت المفردات من الأدويه), known also under its abbreviated name, Al-Murshid,[6][7] of which only portions have survived. This work which treats on the properties of certain plants (antidotes) and minerals has laid the foundation for subsequent works written on medicine by other authors, particularly that composed by Ibn al-Baytar in Cairo (d. 1248/646 H), in which he treats on various antidotes used to remedy poisons inflicted by snakebite and scorpion stings, and an important Arabic treatise on antidotes for poisons written by `Ali ibn `Abd al-`Aẓim al-Anṣāri in Syria in 1270 (669 H), entitled Dhikr al-tiryaq al-faruq (Memoir on Antidotes for Poisons), where he quotes from al-Tamimi's works,[8] some of which are no longer extant. Maimonides (1138–1204), the Jewish rabbi and physician, also made use of his works, and is quoted as saying of him: "This man who was in Jerusalem, and whose name was al-Tamimi, composed a book, calling it 'al-Murshid,' that is to say, 'Guide' ['that which leads aright']. They say that he was [a man] of a great learning experience. Now although most of his words were accounts drawn from others, and occasionally he would err by bringing down the words of others, nevertheless he has generally mentioned many peculiar remedies in the nature of foods, what are seen as affecting many cures [for ailments]. I have therefore deemed it fitting to speak of them, what seemed to me of them to be right in foods and in medicines."[9]

Although only portions of al-Tamimi's seminal work have survived, a section of the book (chapters 12, 13 and 14) which treats on rocks and minerals, including

U.S. National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland.[11] Spanish-born pharmacologist, Ibn al-Baytar, cites al-Tamimi some seventy times. Abstracts of these manuscripts have been published in Hebrew by Yaron Serri and Zohar Amar of Bar-Ilan University, in the book, "The Land of Israel and Syria as Described by al-Tamimi."[12]

Al-Tamimi's works on

electuaries
, as also the proper season for gathering such plants. His other important medical works include:

References

  1. ^ Amar, Z. & Serri, Y. (2004), p. 13; Hitti, P. (2002), p. 627
  2. ^ Amar, Z. (1996), p. 24
  3. Lane, E.W.
    (1968), VI, 2386
  4. Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa
    (1965), p. 546
  5. ^ a b Amar, Z. (1996), p. 23
  6. ^ Shortened name for: "Al-Murshid ilā Jawāhir-il-Aghdhiyah".
  7. ^ Chipman, L.N. & Lev, E. (2006), p. 156[dead link]
  8. ^ On Anṣāri's works, see: Greenberg, S.J. (1996), p. 14 (item # 16).
  9. ^ Amar, Z. (1996), p. 24, citing Suessmann Muntner, Moshe ben Maimon (Medical) Aphorisms of Moses – [In Twenty Five Treatises], Jerusalem 1961, p. 240.
  10. ^ De Slane, M. (1883); Vajda, G. (1953).
  11. ^ Dhikr al-tiryāq al-fārūq, Maryland MS. A-64. See Greenberg, S.J. (1996), p. 14 [item # 16]).
  12. ^ The book can be accessed online. See "The Land of Israel and Syria as Described by al-Tamimi" (Hebrew).
  13. ^ Fishman, P. & Goell, Y. (1996), p. 183
  14. ^ Conrad, L. (1982), p. 281
  15. ^ Ali, A. (1996), p, 20, citing Al-A'lām, vol. V, p. 313
  16. ^ Amar, Z. (2004), p. 14
  17. ^ Amar, Z. (2004), p. 15

Bibliography

  • OCLC 61993659
    .
  • Ali, Abdul (1996). Islamic Dynasties of the Arab East: State and Civilization During the Later Medieval Times. New Delhi.
    ISBN 81-7533-008-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  • JSTOR 23403696
    .
  • OCLC 607157392
    )
  • Chipman, Leigh N.; Lev, Efraim (Spring 2006). "Syrups from the Apothecary's Shop: A Geniza Fragment Containing One of the Earliest Manuscripts of Minhāj al-Dukkān". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2 November 2016. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  • JSTOR 3632188
    .
  • De Slane, M., ed. (1883), Catalogue des manuscrits arabes de la Bibliothèque nationale, vol. 2, Paris{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Fishman, Priscilla; Goell, Yohai (1996). "Book Review". Cathedra: For the History of Eretz Israel and Its Yishuv (in Hebrew). 81. Jerusalem:
    Ben-Zvi Institute
    .
  • Greenberg, S.J. (1996). A Shelflist of Islamic Medical Manuscripts at the National Library of Medicine, Maryland
  • ISBN 978-0-333-63141-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  • Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa (1965). ʿUyūn ul-Anbāʾ fī Ṭabaqāt ul-Aṭibbāʾ (عيون الأنباء في طبقات الأطباء) (in Arabic). Beirut.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  • An Arabic-English Lexicon (1–8), vol. 6, Beirut{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  • Said, H.M.; Elahie, R.E. (1973). Al-Biruni's Book on Pharmacy and Materia Medica. Vol. 1. Karachi.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Vajda, G., ed. (1953), Index général des manuscrits arabes musulmans de La bibliothèque nationale de Paris, Paris{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Further reading

  • Lucien Leclerc, Histoire de la médicine arabe, vol. 1, Paris 1876, pp. 388–391 (Al-Tamimi) (French)
  • Fuat Sezgin, Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums, vol. iii: Medizin, Pharmazie, Zoologie, Tierheilkunde, Leiden: E.J. Brill 1970, pp. 317–318 (German)

External links

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