| Ibn al-Jazzar | |
| Birth Date: | 895 |
| Birth Place: | Kairouan, now Kairouan Governorate, Tunisia |
| Death Date: | 979 (aged 84) |
| Death Place: | Kairouan, now Kairouan Governorate, Tunisia |
| Notableworks: | Zād al-Musāfir wa Quwwat-ul-Hadhir زاد المسافر وقوت الحاضر (Viaticum) |
Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Khālid ibn al-Jazzār al-Qayrawani (895–979) (Arabic: أبو جعفر أحمد بن أبي خالد بن الجزار القيرواني), was a 10th-century Muslim Arab physician who became famous for his writings on Islamic medicine.[1] He was born in Qayrawan in Tunisia.[2] He was known in Europe by the Latinized name Algizar.
Andalusian physician Ibn Juljul only knew Ibn Al Jazzar's biography from his student Ibn Bariq, who went to Qayrawan, Tunisia, to learn medicine. The writers of Tabakates, or "classes of famous men," generally considered writing only for Faquih, the benefactors and the saints. The information on Ibn Al Jazzar is controversial and possibly incomplete from second-hand experience.
Ahmed Ben Jaafar Ben Brahim Ibn Al Jazzar was born in Qayrawan around 895, and died around 979. He lived for about 84 years. He was married and had no children. He had learned the Quran at kuttab in his youth, and its grammar, theology, fiqh and history at the mosque of Okba Ibn Nafaa. He had learned medicine from his father and his uncle, who were both physicians, and from Ishaq Ibn Suleiman (Isaac Ben Salomon), a physician in Qayrawan.
The existence of a hospital in Kairouan is not proven. Teaching is provided by the doctors themselves at home. This is the case of Ibn Al Jazzar. He said himself in the conclusion of his book Zad Al Mussafir (Viaticum) that he would be available at home for his students at the end of their daily consultation.
The teaching was oral. The paper was not widely spread in the ninth century, the scrolls were rare and expensive. Ibn Al Jazzar had a library of 25 quintals, as it seems. This figure seems exaggerated. The quintal at the time amounted to 50 kg according to some, and 25 kg, according to others. These books were not all about medicine, but also of other disciplines.
Ibn Al Jazzar was calm and quiet. He did not attend funerals or weddings, and did not take part in festivities. He had great respect for himself. He avoided compromises, did not attend the court and members of the regime, thus taking on Fouqaha example of the time. This may explain the fact that when he treated the son of Cadhi Al Nooman, he refused to receive as a gift a costume of 300 mithkals. It is also with respect to the Emir that he did not realize his desire to visit Andalusia, the relationship between the two governments of Mahdia and Cordoba were tense. It is out of respect for the Emir that he did not begin his pilgrimage to Mecca in spite of his strong desire to do so. The Emir was Shia and for ceremonial purposes and policies, he creates barriers to pilgrims and forced them to pass through Mahdia and pay a toll.
But he went every Friday to Mahdia to visit the uncle of the Emir El Moez Lidin Allah, which he was bound by friendship. During the heat of the summer, he went to Monastir and lived in a ribat with valiant soldiers who watched the boundaries. Ibn Al Jazzar prepares himself the medicines and has an assistant serve them who stood in the vestibule of the house, and who collected the fees of the consultations. At his death, Ibn Al Jazzar left 24,000 gold dinars. The Aghlabid dinar weighed 4.20 grams.
Ibn al-Jazzar wrote a number of books. They deal with grammar, history, jurisprudence, prosody, etc. Many of these books, quoted by different authors, are lost. The most important book of ibn al-Jazzar is Zad al-Mussafir (The Viaticum). Translated into Latin, Greek and Hebrew, it has been copied, recopied, and printed in France and Italy since the sixteenth century. It was adopted and popularized in Europe as a book for a classical education in medicine. This book is a compilation of the Canon of Avicenna, a mixture of medicine and philosophy.
It is a medicine handbook from head to toe, designed for clinical teaching. With neither anatomy nor philosophy. There are lessons written after the course, as noted by the author in the conclusion of his book. This can be seen by the repetitions found in them. The author names the disease, lists the known symptoms, gives the treatment and sometimes indicates the prognosis. He often cited in reference the names of foreign authors, as if to give importance to his subject or for intellectual integrity to justify the loans.
In his History of Arab medicine in Tunisia for ten centuries, Ahmed Ben Miled writes:
Books by these authors must have existed in Tunisia at that time. Tunisia was in constant contact with Rome, Athens and Byzantium because of the sheer size of its economy and its position in the midst of the Mediterranean Sea.
Constantine the African was the translator of Ibn Al Jazzar's books.
His major work was Zād al-Musāfir.
He had some books on geriatric medicine and health of elderly (Kitāb Ṭibb al-Mashāyikh[3] or Ṭibb al-Mashāyikh wa-ḥiifẓ ṣiḥḥatihim),[4] a book on sleep disorders, one on 'forgetfulness and how to strengthen memory' (Kitāb al-Nisyān wa-Ṭuruq Taqwiyat al-Dhākira),[5] [6] and another on causes of mortality (Risāla fī Asbāb al-Wafāh). He had other books on pediatrics, fevers, sexual disorders, medicine of the poor,[7] therapeutics, viaticum, coryza, stomach disorders, leprosy, separate drugs, compound drugs, and in other areas of science (e.g., history, animals and literature).