al-Tibb al-Nabawi li Abi Nuaym al-Asfahani
- Author died
- 430 AH
- Editions
- Dār Ibn Ḥazm
al-Tibb al-Nabawi (Prophetic Medicine) is a collection of traditions on healthcare, therapeutics, hygiene, and pharmacology compiled with full chains of transmission by the hadith scholar and historian Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani (336–430 AH / 948–1038 CE) .
Background and Composition
In his introduction, Abu Nu'aym states that students approached him requesting to hear the medical compendium composed by the hadith scholar Abu Bakr Ibn al-Sunni (d. 364 AH) through Abu Nu'aym's general authorization (ijaza) . Noting that Ibn al-Sunni had arranged his work into seven thematic discourses (maqalat) in conformity with the classifications used by medical practitioners to make topics easy to locate, Abu Nu'aym chose to mirror that structure chapter by chapter and section by section, compiling an equivalent work using his own narrative chains as a substitute for Ibn al-Sunni's text .
Structure and Contents
The compilation is organized into seven major discourses (maqalat) :
- The First Discourse (al-Maqala al-Ula): On the precedence of medical knowledge and the virtue of the craft of medicine, beginning with traditions that encourage seeking medical learning .
- The Second Discourse (al-Maqala al-Thaniya): On bodily anatomy, constitution, and general health regimen .
- The Third Discourse (al-Maqala al-Thalitha): On various ailments and the therapeutic methods prescribed for each illness .
- The Fourth Discourse (al-Maqala al-Rabi'a): On materia medica, drugs, herbs, and their remedial properties .
- The Fifth Discourse (al-Maqala al-Khamisa): On nursing the sick, the management of convalescents, and the humoral properties of various foods and drinks .
- The Sixth Discourse (al-Maqala al-Sadisa): On the adherence to habit and the preservation of bodily health through customary practices .
- The Seventh Discourse (al-Maqala al-Sabi'a): On spiritual healing, lawful incantations (ruqa), amulets, and charms .
Transmission and Reception
The book was preserved and transmitted through Abu Nu'aym's prominent students, including Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn Ahmad al-Haddad, who taught and read the text to disciples in Isfahan . Later hadith transmitters and bibliographers drew upon it; Abu Bakr ibn Ali al-Qalanisi (known as Ibn al-Sarraj) compiled an extracted selection titled Arba'un hadithan min al-juz' al-rabi' min kitab al-tibb li-Abi Nu'aym (Forty Hadiths from the Fourth Part of the Book of Medicine by Abu Nu'aym) . The book is frequently cited by later authors of prophetic biography and medical anthologies, such as Ibn Kathir in al-Bidaya wal-Nihaya, al-Salihi al-Shami in Subul al-Huda wal-Rashad, and Hajji Khalifa in Kashf al-Zunun .
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