Risala Jami'a li Funun Nafi'a fi Shira al-Raqiq wa Taqlib al-Abid - ضمن Nawadir al-Makhtutat
- Author died
- 458 AH
- Editions
- Sharikat Maktabat wa-Maṭbaʿat Muṣṭafā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī wa-Awlāduh bi-Miṣr
Risala Jami'a li-Funun Nafi'a fi Shira al-Raqiq wa-Taqlib al-Abid (A Comprehensive Treatise on Useful Arts Concerning the Purchase of Slaves and Examination of Servants) is a handbook on the inspection and purchase of slaves by the Baghdadi Christian physician Ibn Butlan (d. 458 AH / 1066 CE) .
Purpose and Scope
The treatise was composed to guide prospective buyers in evaluating slaves, distinguishing sound limbs from defective ones, discerning moral dispositions, and identifying the suitability of various origins and temperaments for specific duties . It categorizes the perceived aptitudes of different ethnic groups for tasks such as labor, domestic care, companionship, childcare, singing, military service, and security . A central aim of the work was to expose the fraudulent methods and cosmetic deceptions practiced by slave brokers (nakhkhāsūn) in the markets, including the concealment of scars, smallpox marks, vitiligo, and various illnesses, as well as the artificial enhancement of hair, eyes, and skin tone .
Structure and Content
The work is structured into five core arts (funūn) :
- Practical Counsels on Buying and Selling: Guidelines on trading, warnings against purchasing during seasonal fairs where broker manipulation was rife, precautions against deceptive first impressions, advice for rulers on security risks, checks for prior mistreatment, and tests to verify whether female slaves were pregnant prior to purchase .
- Medical Inspection of the Body: Divided into thirty-eight sections, this part details the physical examination of slaves according to medical principles, assessing general bodily balance, complexion, and individual anatomical regions from the head and eyes downward .
- Examination of Dispositions, Occupations, and Deceptions: Additional sections address moral traits, professional aptitudes—including specific criteria for evaluating trained singing slave-girls (qiyān), dancers, and instrumentalists—and the chemical and cosmetic artifices employed by merchants .
Sources and Influence
Ibn Butlan states that he drew material from treatises attributed to Aristotle ("the teacher of Alexander") as well as other philosophers and scholars . In the section on physiognomy (firāsa), his text closely mirrors Jumal Aḥkām al-Firāsa by Abu Bakr al-Razi .
The work influenced later writings on the subject; an anonymous manual titled al-Taḥqīq fī Shirāʾ al-Raqīq, dedicated to the Ayyubid prince al-Malik al-Salih Ahmad, drew heavily upon Ibn Butlan's descriptions of various ethnicities and explicitly cited him .
Manuscript and Publication
The text survived in a manuscript preserving the treatise (Berlin MS 4979, photographed as Cairo University MS 23327) . It was critically edited by Abd al-Salam Harun and published in Cairo within the collection Nawādir al-Makhṭūṭāt .
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