NORTHERN AFRICA, 16TH CENTURY

There are two treatises in this volume. The first by Ibn Khalsun on medicine and hygiene. The second is a theological treatise on the right attributes of God and the Prophets by Muhammad bin Yusuf al-Sanusi al-Hasani (d. 1489-90 AD). See Mingana, Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library, Manchester, 1934, pp. 1048-50.

Two copies are in the Rabat, in the Royal Library (1982-1402). According to the Andalusian scholar Ibn al-Khatib (1313-1374), Ibn Khalsun was originally from Rueda in Spain and lived in Malaga and Granada where he was part of the Nasrid ruler Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Yusuf's court (1272-1302). His only recorded work on medicine is Kitab al-aghdhiya fi hifz al-sihha, the same work as the present manuscript although recorded under the variant title of Kitab al-'ufyan fi hifz sihha badn al-insan
(Muhammad al-'Arabi al-Khattabi, Al-tibb wa al-attiba' fi al-andalus al-islamiyya, Beirut, 1988, p.11). The work has been published by Al-Khattabi (op. cit., p.11) and indeed starts with the same introduction. It has five chapters (maqala) on basic principles of medicine, on preservation of the body and health, on the types of food and drinks.