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Diyāʾ al-Dīn Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad al-Mālaqī, commonly known as Ibn al-Bayṭār () (1197–1248 AD) was an Andalusian
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
physician, botanist, pharmacist and scientist. His main contribution was to systematically record the additions made by Islamic physicians in the Middle Ages, which added between 300 and 400 types of medicine to the one thousand previously known since antiquity. He was a student of
Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Mufarraj bin Ani al-Khalil, better known as Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati, Ibn al-Rumiya or al-Ashshab, ( ar, أبو العباس النباتي, ''Abu’l-ʿAbbās al-Nabātī'')  (c. 1200) was an Andalusian scientist, bota ...
.


Life

Ibn al-Baitar was born in the city of
Málaga Málaga (, ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populou ...
in
al-Andalus Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the Mus ...
(Muslim Spain) at the end of the twelfth century, hence his '' nisba'' "al-Mālaqī". His name "Ibn al-Baitar" is Arabic for "son of the veterinarian", which was his father's profession. Ibn al-Bayṭār learned botany from the Málagan botanist Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Nabātī with whom he started collecting plants in and around Spain. Al-Nabātī was responsible for developing an early
scientific method The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific me ...
, introducing
empirical Empirical evidence for a proposition is evidence, i.e. what supports or counters this proposition, that is constituted by or accessible to sense experience or experimental procedure. Empirical evidence is of central importance to the sciences and ...
and
experiment An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...
al techniques in the testing, description and identification of numerous materia medica, and separating unverified reports from those supported by actual tests and
observation Observation is the active acquisition of information from a primary source. In living beings, observation employs the senses. In science, observation can also involve the perception and recording of data via the use of scientific instruments. Th ...
s. Such an approach was thus adopted by Ibn al-Bayṭār. In 1219, Ibn al-Bayṭār left Málaga, travelling to the coast of North Africa and as far as Anatolia, to collect plants. The major stations he visited include
Marrakech Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrake ...
, Bugia,
Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth ( Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
,
Tunis Tunis ( ar, تونس ') is the capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...
,
Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece *Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in t ...
, Barqa and
Antalya Antalya () is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish city on the Mediterranean coast outside the A ...
. After 1224, he entered the service of the
Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin ...
Sultan al-Kāmil and was appointed chief herbalist. In 1227 al-Kāmil extended his domination to Damascus, and Ibn al-Bayṭār accompanied him there, which provided him an opportunity to collect plants in Syria. His botanical researches extended over a vast area including Arabia and Palestine. He died in Damascus in 1248. Ibn al-Bayṭār used the name "snow of China" (in Arabic, ''thalj al-Ṣīn'') to describe
saltpetre Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt is also known as Indian saltpetre (large deposits of which were historically mined in India). It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and nitra ...
while writing about gunpowder.


Works


''Kitāb al-Jāmiʿ li-Mufradāt al-Adwiya wa-l-Aghdhiya''

Ibn al-Bayṭār’s largest and most widely read book is his ''Compendium on Simple Medicaments and Foods'' ( ar, كتاب الجامع لمفردات الأدوية والأغذية). It is a
pharmacopoeia A pharmacopoeia, pharmacopeia, or pharmacopoea (from the obsolete typography ''pharmacopœia'', meaning "drug-making"), in its modern technical sense, is a book containing directions for the identification of compound medicines, and published by ...
(pharmaceutical encyclopedia) listing 1400 plants, foods, and drugs, and their uses. It is organized alphabetically by the name of the useful plant or plant component or other substance—a small minority of the items covered are not botanicals. For each item, Ibn al-Bayṭār makes one or two brief remarks himself and gives brief extracts from a handful of different earlier authors about the item. The bulk of the information is compiled from the earlier authors. The book contains references to 150 previous Arabic authors, as well as 20 previous Greek authors.Russell McNeil
Ibn al-Bayṭār
Malaspina University-College Vancouver Island University (abbreviated as VIU, formerly known as Malaspina University-College and earlier as Malaspina College) is a Canadian public university serving Vancouver Island and coastal British Columbia. Malaspina College began in 196 ...
.
One of the sources he quotes most frequently is the ''Materia Medica'' of
Dioscorides Pedanius Dioscorides ( grc-gre, Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης, ; 40–90 AD), “the father of pharmacognosy”, was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of ''De materia medica'' (, On Medical Material) —a 5-vol ...
who was inspired by Magon, another Amazigh, having also written an Arabic commentary on the work. Another book often cited by him is Book Two of the ''Canon of Medicine'' of Ibn Sīnā (Aveicenna). Both of those sources have similarities in layout and subject matter with Ibn al-Bayṭār's own book, but Ibn al-Bayṭār's treatments are richer in detail, and a large minority of Ibn al-Bayṭār's useful plants or plant substances are not covered at all by Dioscorides or Ibn Sīnā. In modern printed edition, the book is more than 900 pages long. As well as in Arabic, it was published in full in translation in German and French in the 19th century. Ibn al-Bayṭār provides detailed chemical information on the
Rosewater Rose water ( fa, گلاب) is a flavoured water made by steeping rose petals in water. It is the hydrosol portion of the distillate of rose petals, a by-product of the production of rose oil for use in perfume. Rose water is also used to flav ...
and Orangewater production. He mentions: The scented ''Shurub'' (
Syrup In cooking, a syrup (less commonly sirup; from ar, شراب; , beverage, wine and la, sirupus) is a condiment that is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved suga ...
) was often extracted from flowers and rare leaves, by means of using hot oils and fat, they were later cooled in
cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfa ...
oil. The oils used were also extracted from
sesame Sesame ( or ; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a flowering plant in the genus ''Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is c ...
and
olives The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ' ...
.
Essential oil An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the o ...
was produced by joining various retorts, the steam from these retorts condensed, combined and its scented droplets were used as
perfume Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. T ...
and mixed to produce the most costly medicines.


''Kitāb al-Mughnī fī al-Adwiya al-Mufrada''

Ibn al-Bayṭār’s second major work is ''Kitāb al-Mughnī fī al-Adwiya al-Mufrada'', كتاب المغني في الأدوية المفردة .an
encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articl ...
of
Islamic medicine In the history of medicine, "Islamic medicine" is the Science in the medieval Islamic world, science of medicine developed in the Middle East, and usually written in Arabic language, Arabic, the ''lingua franca'' of Islamic civilization. Islam ...
which incorporates his knowledge of plants used extensively for the treatment of various ailments, including diseases related to the head, ear, eye, etc.


Other works

*''Mīzān al-Ṭabīb''.ميزان الطبيب *''Risāla fī l-Aghdhiya wa-l-Adwiya''. *''Maqāla fī al-Laymūn'', ''Treatise on the Lemon'' (also attributed to Ibn Jumayʿ); translated into Latin by Andrea Alpago as ''Ebn Bitar de malis limonis'' (Venice 1593). *''Tafsīr Kitāb Diyāsqūrīdūs'', a commentary on the first four books of
Dioscorides Pedanius Dioscorides ( grc-gre, Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης, ; 40–90 AD), “the father of pharmacognosy”, was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of ''De materia medica'' (, On Medical Material) —a 5-vol ...
' "Materia Medica."''Tafsīr Kitāb Diāsqūrīdūs'', - Commentaire de la "Materia Medica" de Dioscoride, by Abu Muhammad 'Abdallah ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Baytar de Malaga, (ed. Ibrahim ben Mrad), Beirut 1989 (Arabic w/ Taxonomic names in English)


See also

* Islamic science *
Islamic medicine In the history of medicine, "Islamic medicine" is the Science in the medieval Islamic world, science of medicine developed in the Middle East, and usually written in Arabic language, Arabic, the ''lingua franca'' of Islamic civilization. Islam ...
*
Islamic scholars In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...


Notes


References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ibn al-Bayṭār Alchemists of the medieval Islamic world Botanists of the medieval Islamic world Physicians of Al-Andalus People from the Almohad Caliphate Herbalists People from Málaga Pharmacologists of Al-Andalus 1197 births 1248 deaths 13th-century Al-Andalus writers