Three works by the great Central Asian scientist and encyclopaedist ‘Abu ‘Ali ibn Sina (980 – 1037) adorn the collection of medical books such as a manual on medicine written in verse in a rajaz metre in ‘Arabic and Persian titled “Urjuza fi al-tibb” (Urjuza [A Poem] on Medicine) in one manuscript of the 19th century; “Al-Masa’il al-ma’duda” (Selected Issues) includes fifteen questions on medicine and answers from Ibn Sina in the manuscript of the early 18th century; the famous encyclopedia in Arabic titled “Al-Qanun fi аl-Tibb” (The Canon of Medicine) is represented in seven manuscripts, among which two manuscripts are complete: a copy made in 1309 and a three-volume decorated manuscript supposedly of the 17th century.
“The Canon of Medicine” was quickly spread throughout the Muslim Orient and since the 12th century the commentaries and abridged versions were composed for it. The collection of the Institute keeps commentaries in Arabic and editions of “The Canon of Medicine” of different periods. The earliest is the 13th-century copy of an anonymous work “Sharh mushkilat al-Qanun” (A Commentary on Difficult Sections in the “Canon”), which is a commentary of the first two sections in the first book of “The Canon of Medicine”. “Al-Tuhfat al-Sa’diya fi аl-Tibb” (Sa’d’s Gift to Medicine) by Qutb al-din Mahmud al-Shirazi (d. 1311), a disciple of renowned theologian, philosopher, and astronomer Nasir al-din al-Tusi, is considered one of the most complete commentaries on “The Canon of Medicine.” This work is available in two full copies dated supposedly to the 14th century and the 17th century, as well as in a small excerpt of the 17th century.
Abridged editions of “The Canon of Medicine” were composed by reputed doctors of their time such as ‘Ala’ al-din ‘Ali al-Qarshi nicknamed ibn al-Nafis (d. 1288) and Mahmud ibn Muhammad al-Chaghmini (d. 1344). “Mujaz al-Qanun” (“The Abridged Canon”) by Ibn al-Nafis is represented in the collection by four complete copies of the early 17th – 19th c enturies and two incomplete manuscripts. Short abstracts of main propositions of “The Canon of Medicine” are contained in “Al-Qanuncha” (The Small Canon) by al-Jaghmini, which apparently was very popular judging by the abundance of copies in Arabic and one in old Uzbek. The earliest of the available 11 manuscripts in Arabic was made in 1572. Besides commentaries and abridged editions of “The Canon,” there are commentaries in Arabic composed in the 14th – 16th centuries.
You can learn more about this topic in the book-album “The Collection of the Al-Biruni Institute of Oriental studies, the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan” (part two, “Miniature and Calligraphy”) (Volume XXII) from the series "Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in the World Collections".
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