Abdullah Tabib

Abdullah Tabib, also known as Abdullah Yazdi,^[a] was a Unani physician and writer from the Golconda Sultanate of present-day southern India. He is best known for writing the medical book Farid, also known as Tibb-i Faridi.

Biography

Abdullah Tabib was a famous physician of Golconda.^[3][4] He lived during the reign of Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah (r. 1580–1612), to whom he dedicated his work Farid.^[2][5] The author calls himself "Abdullah Tabib" in the book's preface. The end of the book's Bodleian Library manuscript, in which two leaves were added much later, calls him Abdullah Yazdi.^[1] Another work, Subh-i Sadiq, dates Abdullah Yazdi to the same period, and describes him as an immigrant to India and a pupil of Khwaja Jamaluddin Mahmud Shirazi.^[1]

Works

Abdullah Tabib's Farid^[b] is a work on medicine that discusses hygiene and treatment of diseases through proper food and simple drugs.^[3] For example, the author considers polygonum aviculare (anjabar or knot grass) as the best drug for treating hematuria.^[7] The introduction of the book discusses the essentials of health and its preservation. The book has a chapter dealing with common human diseases, and a conclusion divided into three parts.^[1] The author quotes from several earlier writers including Hippocrates, Plato, Masawaiyh, Abu Bakr al-Razi, and Ibn Zuhr.^[5] The manuscripts of Farid are available at Bodleian Library (possibly from late 17th century), Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library (1763 CE), and the Nizamia Tibbi College Library.^[2][3]

The works attributed to Abdullah Yazdi include Hashiyah bar Mukhtasar Talkhis, Hashiyah bar Sharh-i Tajrid, and Hashiyah bar Tahzib.^[1]

According to Charles Ambrose Storey, a work titled Tibb i Faridi, attributed to Farid al-Din, may be same as Abdullah Tabib's Farid. It is known from a manuscript at the Government Oriental Manuscripts Library in Chennai, but does not contain any preface or colophon. It contains 368 chapters dealing with a particular disease and its treatment.^[2]

Notes

1. Other transliterations of the name include 'Abdu'llāh Ṭabīb, 'Abdu'llāh Yazdī,^[1] 'Abd Allāh Ṭabīb, and 'Abd Allāh Yazdī^[2]
2. Also known as Tibb-i-Farid,^[5] Tibbi-i Farid,^[3] Tibb Farid,^[6] or Tibb-i Faridi^[2]

References

1. Abdur Rahman (1982). "'Abdu'llāh Ṭabīb". Science and Technology in Medieval India: A Bibliography of Source Materials in Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian. Indian National Science Academy. pp. 3–4. OCLC 9852452.
2. C.A. Storey (1971). Persian Literature - a Biobibliographical Survey: Volume II Part 2 - Medicine. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. pp. 251–252. ISBN 9780700713622.
3. B. V. Subbarayappa, ed. (2001). Medicine and Life Sciences in India. Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy and Culture. p. 337. ISBN 978-81-87586-07-4.
4. Syed Ejaz Hussain (2015). "Rise and Decline of Surgery in Indigenous Medicine with Emphasis on Unani-tibb". In Mohit Saha; Syed Ejaz Hussain (eds.). India's Indigenous Medical Systems: A Cross-disciplinary Approach. Primus. p. 68. ISBN 9789380607627.
5. V. Kishan Rao; A. Satyanarayana, eds. (2005). A Thousand Laurels - Dr. Sadiq Naqvi: Studies on Medieval India with Special Reference to Deccan. Vol. 2. Osmania University. p. 699. OCLC 70864651.
6. Hakim Abdul Hameed, ed. (1979). Studies in History of Medicine and Science. Vol. 3. Institute of History of Medicine and Medical Research. p. 133.
7. Asoke K. Bagchi (1997). Medicine in Medieval India: 11th to 18th Centuries. Konark. p. 78. ISBN 9788122004687.