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Manuscript/Mixed Material Alfīyah fī al-ṭibb ismuhā Mughnīyat al-muʻānī ṣināʻat al-ṭibb ألفية في الطب اسمها مغنية المعاني صناعة الطب / / Title on t.p. verso: Alfīyah al-ṭibb / Title on fol. 3a: Maʻnīyat al-maʻānī / Mughnīyat al-muʻānī ṣināʻat al-ṭibb

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Title

  • Alfīyah fī al-ṭibb ismuhā Mughnīyat al-muʻānī ṣināʻat al-ṭibb

Other Title

  • ألفية في الطب اسمها مغنية المعاني صناعة الطب /
  • Title on t.p. verso: Alfīyah al-ṭibb
  • Title on fol. 3a: Maʻnīyat al-maʻānī
  • Mughnīyat al-muʻānī ṣināʻat al-ṭibb

Summary

  • As the poem preserved in the present manuscript clearly shows, the tradition of didactic poetry never really died out in the Islamic world, at least until the end of the 19th century. Muġnīya al-Maʻānī Ṣināʻat al-Ṭibb (The richness of the meanings in the medical art) is a metrical compendium of medicine written in the second half of the 19th century by the erudite Ibrāhīm ibn Aḥmad al-Šhīwī al-Dasūqī al-Šhāfiʻī. The more than 1,000 verses of the Muġnīya are composed in a strict metrical form. The rhyming structure is looser than that found in the classical Arabic lyrical poetic form called qaṣīda: here only the endings of the hemistichs that form the single verses rhyme with each other. The poem deals with medicine, drugs, and pharmacology and is introduced by a two-page table of contents. The various sections of the manuscript cover the chemical elements, the causes of sickness, the well-being of the body, and the brain. They describe treatments for the different parts of the body, beginning with the eyes, nose, mouth, face, and ears and extending to cures for problems of the liver. The work also includes a final section on children's health. World Digital Library.
  • Text is a treatise on medicine, including drugs and their pharmaceutical properties, written in 1254 H [1838]. It consists of more than 1,000 verses. Includes table of contents (fol. 1b-2a). Second colophon, dated 10 Shawwāl 1291 H [20 November 1874] added by same scribe on fol. 43a.

Names

  • Shīwī, Ibrāhīm ibn Aḥmad, active 1838
  • Mālikī, Yāqūt najl Aḥmad, scribe
  • Manṣūrī, Maḥmūd al-Imām, former owner
  • Mansuri Collection (Library of Congress)

Created / Published

  • 17 Shaʻbān 1291 H [28 September 1874].

Headings

  • -  Manuscripts, Arabic--Washington (D.C.)
  • -  Medicine, Arab--Poetry

Notes

  • -  Binding: modern cardboard covered with cloth; leather spine.
  • -  Fol. 1a-43a (fol. 44 blank).
  • -  Library of Congress. Mansuri Collection, 5-581.
  • -  Ms.
  • -  Naskhī script; 15 lines in written area, 17 x 11 cm.
  • -  Paper: yellowed cream, untrimmed, with watermarks, in good condition. Few diacritical marks. Text in black with violet decorations. Formula on fol. 2a to protect book from bookworms (Yā Kabīkīj, yā Kabīkīj, yā Kabīkīj, iḥfaẓ al-waraq). Catchwords on rectos.
  • -  Partially erased and illegible ownership stamp on fol. 2a, 11a, 21a, 31a, 41a, and 43a.
  • -  Title page written in later hand in violet pencil and in different script.
  • -  Transcribed by Yāqūt ibn Aḥmad al-Mālikī on 17 Shaʻbān 1291 H [28 September 1874].
  • -  Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.
  • -  Arabic.
  • -  Purchase of Mahmud al-Mansuri collection, 1945.
  • -  Incipit: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم يقول راجي رب سرمد ذو الفقر إبراهيم نجل أحمد لشافعي الشوى وبالدسوقى لقيه تبركا ذو الشوقى الحمد لله الحكيم الشافى الدايم المعروف والألطاف.

Medium

  • 44 leaves (15 lines), bound : paper ; 25 x 17 cm.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • R123 .S46 1874

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2008401932

Online Format

  • pdf
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Shīwī, Ibrāhīm Ibn Aḥmad, Active 1838, Yāqūt Najl Aḥmad Mālikī, Maḥmūd Al-Imām Manṣūrī, and Mansuri Collection. Alfīyah fī al-ṭibb ismuhā Mughnīyat al-muʻānī ṣināʻat al-ṭibb. [17 Shaʻbān H 28 September 1874, 1874] Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/2008401932/.

APA citation style:

Shīwī, I. I. A., Mālikī, Y. N. A., Manṣūrī, M. A. & Mansuri Collection. (1874) Alfīyah fī al-ṭibb ismuhā Mughnīyat al-muʻānī ṣināʻat al-ṭibb. [17 Shaʻbān H 28 September 1874] [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2008401932/.

MLA citation style:

Shīwī, Ibrāhīm Ibn Aḥmad, Active 1838, et al. Alfīyah fī al-ṭibb ismuhā Mughnīyat al-muʻānī ṣināʻat al-ṭibb. [17 Shaʻbān H 28 September 1874, 1874] Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2008401932/>.