ʿAlī ibn Sahl Rabban at-Tabarī

Abū l-Hasan ʿAlī ibn Sahl Rabban at-Tabarī ( Arabic ابو الحسن علي بن سهل ربن الطبري, DMG Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Sahl Rabban aṭ-Ṭabarī ) was a Christian Persian doctor and scholar from Tabaristan who converted to Islam and wrote the first Arabic-language medical encyclopedia and a refutation of Christianity in 855 . His life dates (* around 805 in Merw ; † around 870 ) are uncertain.

Life

ʿAlī's father Sahl ibn Bischr was an astronomer and astrologer from Tabaristan (hence al-Tabari - the Tabaristani). The Abbasid caliph Al-Mu'tasim (833-842) called ʿAlī to his court. During his reign he converted to Islam. The caliph Al-Mutawakkil (847-861) kept him in his service. Probably during his reign he wrote his refutation of Christianity.

His medical textbook Paradise of Wisdom cites such authorities as Aristotle , Alexander of Aphrodisias , Hippocrates , Galen , Māsarğawaih, Yūḥannā ibn Māsawaih and Ḥunain . Ali ibn Sahl mastered Syriac and Greek, the two sources of ancient medical tradition lost to medieval Europe, and wrote verse in calligraphy. His famous student Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya ar-Razi (Rasis) has eclipsed his fame.

Works

• Radd an-Naṣārā , a refutation of Christian teachings, the text of which was only edited in 1959.
• Kitāb ad-Dīn wa-d-daula ("The Book of Religion and State"). It is believed that ʿAlī at-Tabarī wrote this book, in which he endeavors to prove the prophethood of Muhammad especially from the Bible,
• Firdaus al-Hikmah (Paradise of Wisdom) or AL-Kunnash, a system of medicine in seven parts with 358 chapters; he wrote it in Arabic, but also translated it into Syrian to ensure it was widely used. The last 36 chapters of his Firdaus al-Hikmah deal with Indian medicine and cite works by Sushruta , Charaka , and the Ashtanga Hridaya . The book was never well known in the West because it wasn't printed before the 20th century. Mohammed Zubair Siddiqui published the five traditional parts. There is no English translation yet.
• "Tuhfat al-Muluk" (The King's Gift), on the correct use of food, drink and medicine
• "Hafzh al-Sihhah" (The right health care) according to Greek and Indian traditions "
• "Kitab al-Ruqa" (Book of Magic or Amulets)
• "Kitab fi al-hijamah" (Treatise on Cupping )
• "Kitab fi Tartib al-'Ardhiyah" (Treatise on the preparation of meals).

literature

• Max Meyerhof : ʿAlī ibn Rabban at-Tabarī, a doctor of the 9th century AD. In: Journal of the German Oriental Society. Volume 85, 2nd edition 1931, pp. 38–68 (digital copy )
• Alfred Siggel : The Indian books from the paradise of wisdom on the medicine of 'Alī ibn Sahl Rabban aṭ-Ṭabarī. In: Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz, treatises of the humanities and social sciences class. Born 1950, No. 14. Verlag der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz, Wiesbaden (commissioned by Franz Steiner Verlag.)
• Alfred Siggel: The propaedeutic chapters from the paradise of wisdom on the medicine of 'Alī b. Sahl Rabban aṭ Ṭabarī. In: Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz, treatises of the humanities and social sciences class. Born in 1953, No. 8. Verlag der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz, Wiesbaden (commissioned by Franz Steiner Verlag.)
• Werner Schmucker: The herbal and mineral Materia Medica in the Fridaus al-Hikma of Ali ibn Sahl Rabban at-Tabari . Dissertation, University of Bonn, 1969.
• Olaf H. Schumann: The Christ of the Muslims. Christological Aspects in Arabic-Islamic Literature. Gütersloh 1975, pp. 48-71.
• D. Thomas: Article aṭ-Ṭabarī, ʿAlī ibn Rabban. In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition . Volume X, pp. 17a-18b.
• Edward G. Browne: Islamic Medicine. 2002, ISBN 81-87570-19-9 , pp. 37-38.
• Friedrun R. Hau: aṭ-Ṭabarī. In: Werner E. Gerabek u. a. (Ed.): Encyclopedia of medical history. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 1377.

supporting documents

1. ↑ Siddiqi (ed.): Kitʿāb Firdaus al-Hikma. Berlin 1928 (Arabic).
2. ↑ See Schumann 48.
3. ↑ See Thomas 17b.
4. ↑ See Schumann 48, written around 855.