AL-SAMARQAND?, NAJ?B AL-D?N AB? ?H?MID MU?HAMMAD IBN ‘AL? IBN ‘UMAR

(d. Herat, afghanistan, 1222)

medicine, materia medica.

A1-Samarqand?, who flourished at the time of the philosopher Fakhr al-D?n al-R?-Räzï (d. 1210), died during the pillage of Herat by the Mongols. Ibn Ab? U?saybi‘a states that al-Samarqandi was a famous physician and gives his name as Naj?b al-D?n Ab? ?H?mid Mu?hammad ibn ‘Al? ibn ‘Umar al-Samarquand?. Nothing more is known of his life.

The most important of his medical works is al-Asb?b wa’l-‘‘al?m?t (“Etiology and Symptoms [of Diseases]”). It is described in the work of Nafis ibn ‘Iwa?d al-wad al-Kirm?n? (d. 1449), who wrote Shar?h al-asb?b wa’ l’-‘al?m?t (“Commentary on Etiology and Symptoms”). According to Ibn Abi Usaybi‘a, al-Samarqandi also wrote a book on the treatment of diseases by diet two medical formularies. The treatise Us??l tarkib [al-adwiya] (“On the Principles of Compounding Drugs”) also is ascribed to him.

Works still extant are al-Adwiya al-mufrada (“Simple Drugs”), Aghdhiyat al-mard?? (“Diet for the Ill”), al-Aghdhiya wa’I-ashriba wa-ma yatta?sil bih? (“Food and Drink and What Relates to Them”), Fï mud?w?t waja‘ al-maf??sil (“On the Cure of Pain in the Joints”), Fi ’l-t?ibb (“On Medicine”), Fi kayfiyyat tarkib tabaqat al-‘ayn (“On the Mode of Composition of the Layers of the Eyes”), Tractatus de medicamentis repertu facilibus, Aqr?b?dhin (“Medical Formulary”), F? ‘il?jman suqiya ’l-sumum aw nahashahu ’I-hawamnt waghayruh? (“On the Treatment for One Who Has Been Poisoned or Has Had a Poisonous Bite, and Similar Cases”), Gh?yat al-guarad, fi mu‘alajat al-amräd (“The Last Word on Treating the III”), F? ittikh?dh m?‘ al-jubn waman?fi ‘ihi wakayfiyyat isti ‘m?lihi (“On Administration of Water of Cheese, Its Benefits, and Its Various Uses”), and Fi ’I-adwiya al-musta‘mala ’inda ’l’sayäyädila (“On Drugs Prepared by Pharmacists”).

It is significant that al-Samarquandi did not rely entirely on the old humoral pathology. In fact, he displayed originality in not considering the theory of humors of decisive importance in therapeutics. He dealt with the many “accidents” of drugs and conditions of the body in the much broader framework of medicine and the prescribing of drugs.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Nafis’ Commentary on al-Samarqand+s al-Asb?b wa’ l’-‘al?m?t was published by Mawlawi ‘Abd al-Maj?d (Calcutta, 1836). The Tibb-i Akbar+ of Muhammad Arz?n?, completed in 1700–1701, includes a Persian translation of this Commentary, Printed and lithographeds. of the Tibb-i Akbari are listed in G. Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science,II (Baltimore, 1962), 661.

See also G. M. Anawati, Drogues et médicaments (Cairo, 1959), 117–118,text in Arabic: Carl Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Literatur, I² (Leiden, 1943), 491, and supp. I (Leiden, 1937), 895–896; S. Hamarneh and G. Sonnedecker, A Pharmaceutical View of Abulcasis (Leiden, 1963); L. Leclerc, Histoire de la médecine arabe, II (Paris, 1876), 128–129; Martin Levey, Chemistry and Chemical Technology in Ancient Mesopotamia (Amsterdam, 1959), introduction: The Medical Formulary or Aqr?badh?n of Al-Kind? (Madison, Wis., 1966); Medieval Arabic Toxicology (Philadelphia, 1966): and The Medical Formulary of al-Samarqnd? and the Relation of Early Arabic Simples to Those Found in the Indigenous Medicine of the Near East and India (Philadelphia, 1967); P. Sbath and C. D. Averinos, Deux traités médicaux (Cairo, 1953): and Ibn Ab? Us?aybi‘a, Kit?b ‘uy?n al-anb??’ fi t?abaq?t al-at?ibb?’. A. Müller, ed., II (Cairo, 1882), 31; and (Beirut, 1950), pt. 2, 47-48.

Martin Levey