al-Ilaj bil-Ashab

al-Ilaj bil-Ashab (Treatment with Herbs), also known in scholarly and bibliographical references as Mukhtasar fi al-Tibb (Compendium on Medicine) or al-Tibb al-Nabawi (Prophetic Medicine), is an early medical and pharmacological treatise composed by the Andalusian Maliki jurist and scholar Abd al-Malik ibn Habib (174–238 AH / 790–853 CE) al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. The text represents one of the earliest surviving Western Islamic works combining Prophetic traditions on health and healing with traditional Arab and humoral medical practices al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1.

Scope and Structure

The treatise integrates transmitted religious traditions (athar and hadiths) concerning therapy with humoral theory, dietetics, and herbal pharmacology al-Ilaj bil-Ashab+1. It covers the permissibility of medical treatments, specific therapies practiced or recommended in early Islamic tradition, surgical and invasive interventions, human humoral anatomy, and an extensive classification of foods, simple remedies, and aromatic substances according to their medicinal properties al-Ilaj bil-Ashab+1.

General Principles and Prophetic Remedies

The work opens with chapters affirming the legitimacy of seeking medical care, citing narrations where the Prophet ﷺ instructed wounded individuals to seek out physicians and affirmed that God sent down remedies alongside ailments al-Ilaj bil-Ashab. The author emphasizes the role of dietary abstinence and moderation (himya) for patients, citing early reports and the physician al-Harith ibn Kalada, who identified himya as the principal foundation of medicine al-Ilaj bil-Ashab.

The text details several therapeutic practices:

• Cupping (al-hijamah): The work identifies ten bodily locations where cupping was applied, including four on the head (such as the vertex /al-yaafukh/ and occiput) and six on the body (such as between the shoulder blades, over the hip, above the knee, and on the instep of the foot) al-Ilaj bil-Ashab. It records traditions instructing the burial of cupped blood, hair clippings, and trimmed nails al-Ilaj bil-Ashab.
• Invasive Procedures: Cauterization (al-kayy), surgical incising (al-batt), and cutting veins are classified as disliked (makruh) except under overriding necessity when no alternative exists al-Ilaj bil-Ashab. Enemas (al-huqan) are similarly reported to have been disapproved of by early authorities unless compelled by necessity al-Ilaj bil-Ashab.
• Specific Pathologies: Fever (al-humma) is treated with cold water bathing in accordance with Prophetic directives al-Ilaj bil-Ashab. Headaches (al-suda') and migraines (al-shaqiqah) are treated with head wraps, henna, and nasal drops (su'ut) containing Indian costus (kust) or boxthorn extract (hadad) al-Ilaj bil-Ashab+1. Sciatica ('irq al-nasa) is prescribed the rendered fat of a desert ram taken on an empty stomach al-Ilaj bil-Ashab.
• Prohibited Substances: Ibn Habib cites early Maliki positions forbidding medical treatment with wine or impure substances, noting Malik ibn Anas's disapproval of using wine even for treating animals Majallat Majma al-Fiqh al….

Humoral Anatomy and Pharmacology

Ibn Habib sets out a humoral framework based on the four primary qualities: heat, coldness, moisture, and dryness al-Ilaj bil-Ashab. The human body is divided into four functional quarters, in which opposing organ temperatures maintain physiological balance:

1. The Head: Governed by the brain, which is inherently hot, balanced by the cold spinal cord al-Ilaj bil-Ashab.
2. The Chest: Governed by the heart, situated to be cooled by the lungs al-Ilaj bil-Ashab.
3. The Abdomen: Governed by the hot liver, which digests food and refines blood for the heart, counterbalanced by the cold gall bladder al-Ilaj bil-Ashab.
4. The Lower Abdomen and Pelvis: Governed by the hot kidneys, balanced by the cold bladder al-Ilaj bil-Ashab.

Foods, herbs, and drugs are classified into four degrees (hudud) of deviation from equilibrium, directing that an excess of any bodily temperament be countered by foods or remedies of the opposite quality al-Ilaj bil-Ashab.

Classification of Materia Medica

The treatise provides an extensive survey of the medicinal temperaments and applications of natural substances:

• Grains and Legumes: Wheat is hot and moist in the first degree, used internally and as a topical plaster for hot swellings; chickpeas are hot and moist, benefiting the chest and lungs; broad beans soothe the chest and are used in poultices for gout and swelling al-Ilaj bil-Ashab+1.
• Meats and Dairy: Beef and camel meat are described as cold, dry, and generating thick blood and black bile; goat and mutton vary in moisture and heat; fowl is generally hotter and drier than quadrupeds al-Ilaj bil-Ashab. Milks are generally cold and moist, with camel milk benefiting spleen swelling and ascites, while goat milk, when boiled, relieves lung, kidney, and bladder ulcerations al-Ilaj bil-Ashab.
• Oils and Fats: Clarified butter (samn) is hot and moist, acting as an antidote when mixed with honey against venoms and stings; unripened olive oil (infaq) strengthens the stomach; sweet almond oil opens hepatic and splenic obstructions; castor oil (zayt al-khirwa') is the hottest of the oils and is applied topically for alopecia al-Ilaj bil-Ashab.
• Fruits and Vegetables: Figs are hot and moist, soothing coughs and chest pains; fresh grapes and raisins differ according to sweetness and acidity; cabbage dissolves internal and external swellings; chard (silq) and purslane (sarmaq / qatf) are cold and moist, used for hot swellings and jaundice al-Ilaj bil-Ashab+1.
• Aromatics and Spices: Myrtle (as) is cold and dry, drying moisture and weeping ulcers; rose is cold, moist, and beneficial for the stomach; marjoram relieves cold-induced headaches; cumin and black seed (shuniz) are hot and dry in the third degree; and coriander seed, caraway, lovage (kashim), and black pepper serve as major digestive and carminative agents al-Ilaj bil-Ashab+1.