Table Of ContentSTUDIA ORIENTALIA
EDITED BY THE FINNISH ORIENTAL SOCIETY
74
THE PROPHET'S MEDICINE
A Creation of the Muslim Traditionalist Scholars
by
Irmeli Perho
HELSINKI 1995
Perho, Irmeli
The Prophet's Medicine.
A Creation of the Muslim Traditionalist Scholars.
Studia Orientalia, Vol. 74. 1995
Copyright© 1995 by the Finnish Oriental Society,
Societas Orientalis Fennica,
c/o Department of Asian and African Studies
P.O.Box 13 (Meritullinkatu 1)
FIN -00014 University of Helsinki
Finland
Editorial Board
Heikki Paiva
Tapani Harviainen
Asko Parpola
Harry HaZen (Publication Secretary)
ISSN 0039-3282
ISBN 951-9380-24-8
§ IP' 0 y
Kokemaki 1995
W!LS
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APY602-8 -l
ABSTRACT
Irmeli Perho,
The Prophet's Medicine-A Creation of the Muslim Traditionalist Scholars.
University of Helsinki, 1995.
Finland (FIN)
Among the Prophet's sayings collected by the Muslims there are some that contain
dietary and medical rules. These medical sayings were assembled into specialized
hadith collections entitled al-Tibb al-nabawl (The Prophet's Medicine). The
Prophet's medicine developed from collections of uncommented hadiths into
medical books where the sayings were placed within the framework of medical
theory. This stage in the development is apparent in the texts of the 8th/14th
century authors Mul}ammad al-Dhahabi, Ibn Qayyim al-Jauziya and Ibn Muflii}.
The aim of this study is to determine the way in which the medical form they
promoted differed from Graeco-Islamic medicine, which was the authoritative
medicine of the period.
The three authors belonged to the active traditionalist circles of Damascus.
They considered Muslim society to be corrupted by innovations and desired to
reform their society by enforcing a closer adherence to Islamic law and rejecting all
innovations in faith and social customs. The authors saw it as their task to instruct
their readers how the guidance of the Prophet could be respected in formulating
medical theory and in treating illnesses. They did not reject established Graeco
lslamic medicine, but combined the foreign Graeco-Islamic medical theory with
the familiar religious concepts of Islam. The Prophet's medicine-as it appears in
the works of Ibn al-Qayyim, Ibn Mufti!} and al-Dhahabi- was Islamic medicine,
which not only gave advice on the treatment of physical illnesses but also
responded to the spiritual needs of believers.
5
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements 9
1. Introduction 11
1.1. Earlier research on the Prophet's medicine 12
1.2. The sources of my study 13
2. The Mamluk society of the 13th and 14th centuries AD 16
2.1. Political situation 16
2.2. Social hierarchy 20
2.2.1. The <u[amiF> 21
2.2.2. The dhimmls 26
2.3. Traditionalism 28
2.4. The Sufis 31
3. Three authors of the Prophet's medicine 34
3.1. al-Dhahabi 34
3.1.1. al-Dhahabi's authorship of al-Tibb al-nabawi 36
3.2. Ibn Qayyim al-Jauziya 40
3.3. Ibn Muflii) 43
4. Medicine in the Mamluk society 44
4.1. Graeco-Islamic medicine 44
4.2. Medical education and profession 46
4.2.1. The curriculum of medical studies 48
4.2.2. Supervision of the physicians 50
4.3. Medical treatment 51
5. The development of the Prophet's medicine 53
6. The religious problems connected with medicine 65
6.1. Reliance on God (tawakkul) 65
6.2. The problem of causality 67
6.3. The Hanbalite views 70
6.3.1. The views of al-Dhahabf, Ibn Qayyim al-Jauzfya and Ibn Muflii) 71
7. The reasons for creating the Prophet's medicine 76
7 .1. Justification for medicine 7 6
7.2. The Prophet's medicine as an Islamic form of medicine 78
8. Medical theory in the Prophet's medicine 84
8.1. Physiology 84
8.1.1. Ibn al-Qayyim's view of fire as an element 86
6
8.2. Aetiology 88
8.3. Contagion ( <adwa) 91
8.3.1. The views of al-Dhahabf, Ibn al-Qayyim and Ibn Muflib 95
8.4. Prevention of illnesses 100
8.5. The methods of curing 104
8.5.1. Cupping, venesection and cautery 105
8.5.2. Lists of drugs and foodstuffs 106
8.5.3. Forbidden medicaments 109
8.5.4. Divine medicaments 111
8.6. The position of the doctor 115
9. Physical illnesses 119
9.1. Diseases and treatments mentioned by the Prophet 121
9.2. Diseases and treatments not mentioned by the Prophet 124
9.3. The influence of the spirits: plague and epilepsy 127
10. Excessive emotions as illnesses of the soul 130
10.1. Passionate love ( <ishq) 134
10.2. Grief (ghamm!!Juzn) 138
10.3. Envy (!Jasad) 143
11. Conclusions 144
Abbreviations 149
Bibliography 149
Index 155
7
Acknowledgements
I wish to express my gratitude to the many individuals who have helped me complete
my study. First of all, my thanks go to Professor Heikki Paiva and to my friend and
colleague Kaj Ohrnberg of the University of Helsinki, for their constant guidance and
generous assistance throughout my research. My thanks go also to Professor Tapani
Harviainen of the University of Helsinki and Professor John 0. Hunwick of North
western University, Evanston, for their valuable comments on an earlier version of the
manuscript, and to Professor Carl F. Petry of Northwestern University, Evanston, who
generously gave of his time to discuss the parts of my research that deal with Mamluk
society.
In the very early stages of my research I was able to spend some time in Egypt
collecting material and had the opportunity to discuss my research plans with Profes
sor al-Sa<ld Mul)ammad Badawl of the American University of Cairo, Professor
l:lasan al-Sharqawl of the University of Alexandria, and Dr. <Umar Al)mad Abo al
<Izz, Principal of the Teachers' College in Dasuq. I am grateful for their encourage
ment.
I also wish to thank Esko N askali who called my attention to the Twelver Shi <a
tradition of the medicine of the Imams and provided me with a copy of Imam <AIJ al
Ri<;la's al-Risiila al-dhahab!ya.
During my research I made use of the services of many libraries and my sincere
thanks go in particular to the staffs of the following libraries: the Oriental Department
of the Royal Library, Copenhagen, the Library of al-Azhar, Cairo, the Middle Eastern
section of the Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago, and the Oriental
Department of Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.
I also wish to thank David Steadman for correcting my English and Harry Halen
for seeing the manuscript through the press.
To my husband, Bent Lerbrek Pedersen, goes a special tribute for his constant
help, advice and encouragement.
Finally, I wish to express my appreciation to the following foundations and institu
tions for their financial support: the Foundation of Leo & Regina W ainstein, the
Foundation of Heikki and Hilma Honkanen, the Academy of Finland, and the Nordic
Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen.
Helsinki, January 1995 Irmeli Perho
9
1. Introduction
During the formative period of Islamic law (2nd and 3rd centuries AH), hadiths were
accepted as a source of law next to the Koran. The hadiths that were collected and
written down did not only deal with ritual matters and questions of positive law, but
treated a variety of other topics as well. Among the hadiths there were sayings that
contained dietary rules or advice on the treatment of illnesses. Some of these hadiths
related that the Prophet had been ill and that he had urged the Muslims to treat the
sick. For example the Prophet is reported to have said: "Feed the hungry, treat the sick
and help the distressed". There were also sayings that reflected the traditional curing
practices among the Arabs such as cupping and cautery. The Prophet is reported as
having said: "There is health in three things: drinking of honey, incision made by the
cupper's knife and cautery with fire; I forbid my people to cauterize".
These medical hadiths aroused the interest of some scholars who endeavoured to
assemble them into collections. The collections were entitled al-Tibb al-nabawl (The
Prophet's medicine) and they formed a genre of hadith literature. The earliest texts
were written in the 3rd/9th century and thereafter the genre underwent a gradual
development from hadith collections to actual medical books. In this final stage of the
development the authors not only presented the Prophet's medical guidance but also
discussed the relevant medical theory.
I have limited my study to three texts that were written in the 8th/14th century by
three scholars of the religious sciences, Ibn Qayyim al-Jauziya, Mul)ammad al
Dhahabi and Ibn Muflil). The reason why I have selected these texts to study is that
they all represent the final stage in the development of the Prophet's medicine. The
authors did not confine themselves to collecting and commenting on the hadiths as
their predecessors had done, but attempted to combine the hadiths with the teachings
of Graeco-Islamic medicine. The aim of my study is to determine the motives that led
these three scholars of the religious sciences to devote themselves to the Prophet's
medicine and to systematize the work of the earlier authors.
It is also significant that all three were contemporaries living in Damascus during
the Turkish Mamluk period. In order to place the texts in their social context I shall
describe the characteristics and the intellectual climate of the period. I am convinced
that the authors did not take up the subject only because of a scholarly interest in
hadiths, but had motives that arose from the social situation and from their desire to
influence that society.
The authors' treatment of the subject was not identical. I shall compare their
individual views on the various medical and theological ideas in order to give a fuller
11
picture of the issues presented in the Prophet's medicine. Because the authors
combined the teachings of the Prophet with Graeco-Islamic medical theory, I shall
compare their presentation of medical subjects with the views of Ibn Sin a and al-Razi.
The reason I chose to use these two as the main representatives of Graeco-Islamic
medicine is that also al-Dhahabi, Ibn al-Qayyim and Ibn Muflii) frequently referred to
them as their medical authorities.
I shall concentrate on analysing the theological and medical ideas presented in
the texts. I shall not discuss the authenticity of the hadiths and their origin, i.e. the
question of whether they really reflect the medical practices in the Prophet's time or
whether they are later creations. According to the authors of the Prophet's medicine,
the traditions that fulfilled the criteria of sound hadiths reported the actual practice of
the Prophet.
1.1. Earlier research on the Prophet's medicine
There has been relatively little research on the Prophet's medicine, although it has
been mentioned in passing in studies about Graeco-Islamic medicine. Manfred Ull
mann devotes one chapter of Die Medizin der Islam ( 1970) to the Prophet's medicine,
in which he presents some sources. He does not describe the texts in detail but gives a
general evaluation that they are collections of popular practices and superstition (Ull
mann 1970, p. 185). Also Felix Klein-Franke mentions the Prophet's medicine in his
Vorlesungen uber die Medizin im Islam (1982). Klein-Franke uses al-Dhahabi's al
Tihh al-nabaw! as a source for medical hadiths, but he does not analyse or describe
the author's presentation of the medical issues.
Christoph Biirgel briefly presents the Prophet's medicine in his article Secular
and religious features of Medieval Arabic medicine ( 1976). His main sources of the
Prophet's medicine were the medical hadiths recorded in al-Bukhari's al-$af;lf;. Of
the actual texts on the Prophet's medicine he only refers to Cyril Elgood's translation of
a manuscript ascribed to Jalal al-din Abu Sulaiman Da>ud. Biirgel does not discuss
that text in detail, but quotes it to prove the mixture of magic and medicine that in his
opinion is central to the Prophet's medicine. According to him the Prophet's medicine
was a dethronement of Galen "in favor of Bedouin quackery and superstition sancti
fied by religion" (Biirgel1976, p. 60).
A more thorough presentation of the Prophet's medicine is given by Fazlur Rah
man in his book Health and medicine in the Islamic tradition: change and identity
( 1987). The book contains a chapter on the Prophet's medicine, in which the author
discusses the various motives its originators had for creating it at some length. I shall
refer to this discussion in Chapter 7 below. Rahman also deals with the contents of the
Prophet's medicine but tends to present and discuss the hadiths themselves and not the
various authors' interpretation of them; nor does he expound the underlying medical
theory.
There are two further studies that present the treatment of particular diseases in
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