Abu al-Fadl Dawud ibn Abi al-Bayan al-Isra’ili (d. circa 1240), Mukhtarat min kitab al-hawi (extracts from the medical encyclopedia of al-Razi), Near East, dated [Jumada I] 600 AH/[January-February] 1204 AD

Abu al-Fadl Dawud ibn Abi al-Bayan al-Isra’ili, also known as al-Shaykh al-Sadid, was a twelfth/thirteenth-century Jewish physician working in Cairo. He was known to have been extremely skillful and became chief professor at the Al-Nasiri hospital. As well as having a great many students, such as the famous physician and writer Ibn Abi Usaybi'ah, he was also the personal physician of Sultan al-Malik al-'Adil Abu Bakr ibn Ayyub (d.1218, see Hilloowala 2000, pp.314-15).

Although the manuscript is not titled, close comparison with a manuscript in the Chester Beatty Library (inv. no.AR.3029) dated 651 AH/1253 AD reveals it to be based on the same text, selections and additions to the great Medical encyclopaedia of Abu Bakar Muhammad b. Zakariya Al-Razi. The manuscript is not just a copy of the encyclopaedia, but also includes numerous additions from the author within the main body of the text, particularly those related to his specialism in pharmacy. He has highlighted these additions with marginal notes to differentiate his contributions from those of his predecessor.

Our manuscript predates the Chester Beatty copy and importantly was written during the lifetime of its author. It includes interesting features such as marginal notes in Hebrew and three lines in Syriac, possibly a reflection of the collaborations between Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities in the academic milieu of the medieval Islamic period. Further marginal notes confirm that the manuscript was collated against an autograph copy by the author.

The manuscript is dated 600 AH twice, once at the end of the manuscript and another colophon on the first folio, indicating that this was probably originally part of a compendium of texts. That folio also gives the name of the scribe Mahmud ibn Muhammad ibn al-Anjab al-Hakim al-Baghdadi who is most likely also the scribe of our manuscript.

An early 14^th century manuscript including a text by Abu al-Fadl Dawud ibn Abi al-Bayan al-Isra’ili was sold in these rooms, 19 October 2016, lot 163.