Islamset - Al-Biruni and Al-Ghafiqi in the Balance

A History of Muslim Pharmacy:

Al-Biruni and al-Ghafiqi in the Balance

In comparison, al-Ghafiqi, as far as we know, never traveled outside his own country of al-Andalus and most of his personal observations were centered around simples found indigenous in that part of the Iberian peninsula, or widely traded during his time. He stated, and rightly so, that his particular interest was in Spanish products.

Because of his special concern about animal life, on land, at sea, and the number of entries he devoted to their investigation, al-Biruni rightly deserves also to be called the 'Father of Marine Biology.' He described several sea and land animals discretely and many of them, as far as we know, were investigated seriously for the first time in Arabic scientific literature. These creatures include the weasel (carnivorous mammal, genus Mustela, Arabic, Ibn 'Urs); the related sand marten (Arabic, Khattaf ash-Shatt) and the limbed lizard skunk (Arabic, Isqinqur); the caterpillar (Usru or Yusru) with eloquent reference to its transformation to a butterfly; the deer (Ayyil) with its two horns; the rock-dove or the nicolor, and the raja (Family, Scorpaenidae, Arabic, Shifin Barri and Bahri); the porcupinc (Family, Hystricidae, Arabic, Daldal) and the blister beetle (cantharis, Arabic, Dhararih).

Furthermore, important to our study are the useful data the author provides on materia medica synonyms, origins of drugs, habitat, and lexicographical information. He by far surpasses al-Ghafiqi in scope and linguistic ability. He also seems to surpass in his meticulous details of the physical properties of each simple and in comparative anatomy. Al-Ghafiqi surpasses him in the therapeutic and pharmacological data presented in al-Jami'. Invariably al-Biruni includes proverbs, aphor-isms, and quoted verses describing properties and conditions, some in a most eloquent and fascinating style and wording, and in poetry.

We sense in al-Biruni's writings as we also find later in al-Ghafiqi's, an air of honesty and integrity when it comes to quotations from earlier authors, poets or physicians. Both give, systematically and faithfully, adequate credit to writers and books from which the citations were taken. We find also that most authors prior to mid-fifth/eleventh century who were quoted by al-Ghafiqi were also known and acknowledged by al-Biruni. The long list included Dioscorides, Galen, Paulus Aegenata, 'Isa b. Hakam of Damascus, Ibn Masawayh, Hunayn, al-Kindi, ad-Dinawari, ar-Razi, al-Majusi, az-Zahrawi and Ibn Sina, to mention the most important. Al-Biruni, however, went far beyond al-Ghafiqi, especially in consulting Arabic authors and poets of the pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods as well as many of his senior contemporaries. In so doing he preserved much source material that otherwise would have been buried away by neglect or oversight. He furthermore was interestingly aware of the good work in this field carried out by learned men in far away Muslim Spain, native land of al-Ghafiqi. Thus, al-Biruni was fully acquainted with the writings of such Andalusian figures as Ibn Juljul, az-Zahrawi and Ibn Samjun. The complexity of the synonyms used in al-Biruni's book must have made it difficult to have his book transported in numerous copies to the western region of the Islamic world.