Arbaun Hadithan min al-Juz al-Rabi min Kitab al-Tibb
- Author died
- 430 AH
- Editions
- A manuscript published in the free Jawāmi‘ al-Kalim software affiliated with the Islamweb website
Arbaun Hadithan min al-Juz al-Rabi min Kitab al-Tibb (Arabic: أربعون حديثا منتقاة من الجزء الرابع من كتاب الطب, lit. 'Forty Hadiths Selected from the Fourth Part of the Book of Medicine') is a specialized hadith selection compiled by Abu Bakr ibn Ali ibn Abi al-Haram (also recorded as Abi al-Hazm) ibn Abi Bakr ibn Ibrahim ibn Abi Tahir al-Siqilli al-Qalanisi, known as Ibn al-Sarraj. The work is an excerpt of forty traditions drawn directly from the fourth volume of the medical and prophetic medicine compendium Kitab al-Tibb (or al-Tibb al-Nabawi) by the hadith scholar Abu Nuaym al-Asbahani (d. 430 AH / 1038 CE).
Content and Structure
The tract consists of forty numbered hadiths transmitted with full chains of transmission (isnad) originating from the transmissions of Abu Nuaym al-Asbahani. The compilation focuses on prophetic guidance regarding diet, medicinal foods, general remedies, and hygiene:
- Dietary Staples and Meat: The collection opens with traditions concerning nutrition, beginning with the report stating, سيد الإدام في الدنيا والآخرة اللحم ("The master of condiments in this world and the hereafter is meat"), followed by the narration naming meat and rice as master foods of this world.
- Dairy and Animal Remedies: It records general exhortations to seek medical treatment ( تداووا عباد الله ), alongside specific benefits attributed to cow's milk and ghee, as well as camel's milk and urine for treating abdominal and digestive illnesses.
- Fruits and Produce: Several entries detail the therapeutic properties of dates, particularly the barni variety, and ajwah dates for poison, colic, and leprosy. Other reports address consuming fresh ripe dates alongside unripe dates (balah), using desert truffles (kamah) to treat ailments of the eye, and the dietary benefits of raisins.
- Physical Hygiene: The compilation concludes with the fortieth hadith, which recommends washing the feet with cold water after exiting the public bath (al-hammam) as a safeguard against headaches: غسل القدمين بالماء البارد بعد الخروج من الحمام أمان من الصداع .
Manuscript Preservation
A primary manuscript copy of the text is preserved at the Zahiriyya Library in Damascus under general medicine and pharmacy (MS 3815, folios 78–91). Microfilms and reproductions based on the Zahiriyya codex are also indexed in other collections, including the Central Library in Mecca (MS 688/6), the Manuscript Library in Kuwait (MS 895 mk), and the Islamic University of Medina (MS 7077/6).
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