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Ibn al-Nafīs
He was appointed by al-Mustaī as head
of all the physicians, and, in this capac-
ity, was instructed to examine the profes-
sional competence of all the physicians
of Ba dād and the surrounding district.
Ibn Abī Uaybia relates an amusing
scene which took place during an exami-
nation of this type. Ibn al-Tilmī £ died
on 28 Rabī I 560/12 February 1165 in
Ba dād at the age of 95 lunar years (92
solar years), leaving to his son a consid-
erable fortune and a large library, which
on the son's death became the property
of the state. It appears from the various
information given by the Arab histori-
ans that Ibn al-Tilmī £ made use of the
works of the Greek physicians, and also
of the great ānūn of Ibn Sīnā as the basis
of his teaching on the theory of medicine.
He acquired a following of eminent dis-
ciples (Fa r al-Dīn al-Māridīnī, Ibn Abi
'l- ayr al-Masīī, Raī al-Dīn al-Rabī,
Muwaffi al-Dīn b. al-Marān, etc.), the
majority of whom later went from Irā to
Syria and Egypt, where they founded new
medical schools which began to flourish
in Egypt in the 7th/13th century. Ibn
al-Tilmī £ left a whole series of medical
works; they are not in fact original, but
consist for the most part of commentaries
on or summaries of works from the Hippo-
cratic Corpus and from Galen, or of works
by Ibn Sīnā, Rāzī, unayn and other
Christian physicians. His pharmacological
works are nevertheless often quoted, in
particular an Arābā £ īn (Pharmacopoeia)
and two abridged versions of it intended
for use in hospitals. In the Audī hospi-
tal they replaced the Pharmacopoeia of
Sābūr b. Sahl (d. 255/869), which had
been used until then. These works and
some others (a treatise on bleeding and
a practical manual of medical treatment)
have survived in manuscript.
Alā al-Dīn Abu 'l-Alā Alī b. Abi
'l-aram al-ura ª ī al-Dima ª ī Ibn
al-Nafīs was a distinguished physician and
many-sided author of the 7th/13th cen-
tury. Except for the date of his death, only
few facts of his life have been recorded,
because Ibn Abī Uaybia, although his
contemporary, does not mention Ibn
al-Nafīs in his history of physicians; but
al-Umarī and al-afadī give detailed
though anecdotal accounts of him and
his personal habits. Born in or near
Damascus (presumably in the village
of al-ura ª iyya), he studied medicine
there under Muha ££ ib al-Dīn Abd
al-Raīm b. Alī known as al-Da wār
(d. 628/1230), who came from the school
of Ibn al-Tilmī £ , who in his turn had
formed many disciples several of whom
came from Ba dād to Damascus. Besides
medicine, Ibn al-Nafīs studied grammar,
logic, and Islamic religious sciences. At
an unknown date he moved to Cairo,
where he was given the important post
of Chief Physician of Egypt and became
the personal physician of sultan Baybars
I. He presumably worked at the Nāirī
hospital and trained a number of pupils.
The best known among them was Ibn
al-uff, author of a work on surgery. He
lectured on · āfiī law at the Masrūriyya
madrasa . The famous grammarian, Abū
ayyān al- fi arnāī, was his disciple in
logic and praised his teaching. His con-
temporary, the philologist Ibn al-Naās,
praised his style in grammar. He became
rich and had a luxurious house built for
himself in Cairo. He died in Cairo on 21
u 'l-ada 687/18 December 1288
at the age of about 80 (lunar) years, and
left his house, his fortune and his topics
to the Manūrī hospital there, founded
by sultan alāwūn and only recently
completed (683/1284). In prescribing,
(M. Meyerhof )
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