Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Zakariyya al-Razi (known as Rhazes or Rasis, d.925 AD), Kitab al-Iklil fi'l-Tibb, a treatise on medicine and health, probably Iraq, Abbasid, dated 616 AH/1219 AD

Arabic manuscript on paper, 40 leaves in safina form, 11 lines to the page, written in a neat scholar's hand in black ink, headings in larger script, opening leaf with illuminated headpiece with title in white eastern Kufic script against a gold ground decorated with large scrolling vines, leather binding, ill-fitting, with simple tooled decoration

In fair overall condition, binding with creases and needs reattaching to text block, some losses and rubbing to opening and closing pages, some staining but pages generally clean and calligraphy strong, as viewed.
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The present manuscript represents a rare Abbasid discovery of an apparently lost work of Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Zakariyya al-Razi, the great physician-philosopher of the ninth-tenth century, mentioned by al-Biruni in his list of al-Razi's treatises. Furthermore, the manuscript appears to be a presentation copy, comprising an illuminated heading combined with text in a fine calligrapher's hand.

The title kitab al-Iklil fi'l-Tibb which appears on the title page of the manuscript corresponds to the title given by al-Biruni, and as far as we know he is the only person to have recorded it, as al-Razi does not mention it himself, or if he did, the reference has not yet been found. Al-Biruni’s bibliography is mentioned in Seyyed Hosain Nasr‘s Islamic Science - An Illustrated Study, Westerham, 1976, pp.176-7, in which the author notes: "The incomparable historian and scientist al-Biruni was so deeply interested in the writings of Al-Razi that he devoted years to collecting his works and then wrote a catalogue of them in which, of the 184 works listed, 56 are devoted to medicine and allied subjects, see al-Biruni, Epire de Beruni contenant le repertoire des ouvrages de Muhammad b. Zakariya al-Razi, Paris, 1936, re-issued with a new introduction by M. Mohaghegh, Tehran, 1974. On the writings of al-Razi, see also M. Najmabadi, Mu’allafat wa musannafat-I Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya-yi Razi, hakim-I buzurg-I irani, Tehran, 1339.”

The illuminated headpiece comprising the title is contemporary with the rest of the manuscript and the style is typical of the period, with an elegant, angular eastern Kufic script in white against a ground of fleshy, scrolling split-palmettes. The heading can be compared to the others found in a manuscript entitled Le Livre des Antidotes in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, dated 595 AH/1199 AD, twenty years early than the present work, but displaying a similar decorative motif (Ms.Arabe 2964, published in Paul Johannes Müller (ed), Miniatures Arabes, Paris, 1979, pls.28-30).

Contents

This short treatise concentrates on the welfare of the soul and fitness of the body (badan) following certain regimens by recommending certain diets and exercises and prescribing appropriate powders, pastilles (aqras), electuaries and stomachics. Al-Razi frequently quotes from ancient philosophers such as Rufus of Ephesus, Phythagorus and Ptolemy. The work contains fifteen chapters, or babs:

1. On toothbrushes (siwak) and toothpowders, dentifrice (sununat). Al-Razi lists the types of wood such as olive and plum used in making toothbrushes.
2. On the bath (hammam), the materials used to build the structure and the types of wood used to heat the water. The author lists the appropriate juices to be consumed after a bath such as that of violets and pomegranates. The author quotes the philosopher Hippocrates.
3. On saulajan (a long bat) and tabtabat (club) which horsemen use to strike the ball when playing games and instructions on how to keep their bodies fit.
4. On fumigants (bakhur), preparation and how to apply them after wrestling, intercourse, swimming and bathing.
5. On eating (akl), on the appropriate times for meals, quantity of food, and the harmful properties of certain food combinations.
6. On sleeping and afternoon naps (qailulah), the benefits of sleep after hard work and wakefulness and how to deal with thirst during the night.
7. On beverages (sharab), the quantity of liquids needed for the body and a list of the benefits of some juices such as sour grapes, pomegranate, quince, apples and almonds.
8. On fruits (al-fawakih). Al-Razi lists the benefits of certain fruits such as grapes, figs, watermelons, sweet mulberries and cucumbers, and the harmful effects when consumed with  beverages.
9. On sexual intercourse (al-jama’) and hygiene, the harmful effects of frequent intercourse resulting in the slackening of the body and the weakening of the five senses.
10. On how to keep the body of a musician (musiqar) fit quoting from Phythagorus, Ptolemy, Yaqub Ibn Ishaq al-Kindi and Ishaq Ibn Ibrahim al-Mosuli.
11. On garments and what times of the year to wear certain materials.
12. On drawing blood, phlebotomy (fasd), cupping (al-hajamat) and leeching (al-‘alq). Al-Razi favours the second method, cupping, and discusses the appropriate veins for blood letting.
13. On stomachics or stomachic mixtures (al-jawarishnat) and powders (al-sufufat).
14. On adwiyah and electuaries (ma’junat).
15. On poisons (al-sumum) and treatments for scorpion and snake bites.

For further reading on al-Razi see E. Pormann & E. Savage-Smith, Medieval Islamic Medicine, Edinburgh, 2007, and E. Savage-Smith, A New Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, Volume I: Medicine, Oxford, 2011.