In the year A.H. 512,*

in the Druggists' Bazaar of Níshápúr, at the shop of Muḥammad Ḍakhm the Physician,*

I heard Khwája Imám Abú Bakr Daqqáq saying: “A certain man of Níshápúr*

was seized with the colic and called me in. I examined him, and proceeded to treat him, fulfilling the utmost of my endeavour in this matter; but no improvement in his health took place. Three days elapsed. At the time of evening prayer I returned, thinking that the patient would pass away at midnight. I went up on to the roof, but could hardly sleep for anxiety. In the morning when I awoke I said to myself, ‘The patient will have passed away.’ I turned my face in that direction, but heard no sound [of lamentation] which might indicate his passing. I repeated the Fátiḥa, and hastened in that direction, saying: ‘O my God and my Lord, Thou Thyself hast said in the Sure Book and Indubitable Scripture, “And we send down in the Qur'án what is a Healing and a Mercy to true believers.”’*

For I was filled with regret, seeing that he was a young man, and in easy circumstances. Then I performed the minor ablution, went to the oratory, and repeated the customary prayer. One knocked at the door of the house. When I went to look who was there, it was one of his household, who gave good tidings, saying, ‘He hath passed out of danger’; and, on my enquiring when, added, ‘Just now he obtained relief.’ Then I knew that the patient had been relieved by the blessing of the Fátiḥa of the Scripture, and that this draught had been dispensed from the Divine Dispensary. For I have put this to the proof, administering this draught in many cases, in all of which it proved beneficial, and resulted in restoration to health.”

Therefore the physician should be of good faith, and should venerate the commands and prohibitions of the Holy Law. And on the science of Medicine he should read the “Aphorisms” (Fuṣúl) of Hippocrates, the “Questions” (Masá'il) of Ḥunayn b. Isḥáq,*

the “Guide” (Murshid) of Muḥammad b. Zakariyyá of Ray (ar-Rází),*

and Nílí's “Commentary”*;

and after he has read and learned these volumes above enumerated with a kind and careful master, he should diligently study with a congenial teacher the following intermediate works, to wit, the “Thesaurus” (Dhakhíra) of Thábit b. Qurra, the Manṣúrí*

of Muḥammad b. Zakariyyá of Ray, the “Direction” (Hidáya) of the younger*

Abú Bakr, or the “Sufficiency” (Kifáya) of Aḥmad Farrukh, or the “Aims” (Aghráḍ) of Sayyid Isma'íl Jurjání.*

Then he should take up one of the more detailed treatises, such as the “Sixteen (Treatises,” Sitta 'ashar) of Galen, or the “Compendium” (Ḥáwí) of Muḥammad b. Zakariyyá, or the “Complete Practitioner” (Kámilu'ṣ-Ṣaná'at), or the “Hundred Chapters” (Ṣad Báb) of Abú Sahl Masíḥí,*

or the Qánún of Abú 'Alí (Avicenna),*

or the Dhakhíra-i-Khwárazmsháhí,*

and read it in his leisure moments; or, if he desires to be independent of other works, he may content himself with the Qánún.

The Lord of the Two Worlds and the Guide of the Two Grosser Races says: “Every kind of game is in the belly of the wild ass.”*

All this has been set forth by the Qánún, so that much may be effected therewith; and whoever has mastered the first volume of the Qánún, to him nothing will be hidden of the general principles and applications of Medicine, for if Hippocrates and Galen could return to life, it would be proper that they should do reverence to this book. Yet have I heard a wonderful thing, to wit, that one hath taken exception to Abú 'Alí in respect of this work, and hath embodied his objections in a book, which he hath named “the Rectification of the Qánún”*;

and it is as though I looked at both books, and perceived what a dis­tinguished man the author of the first was, while the author of the second merits only censure. For what right has anyone to find fault with so great a man, when the very first question which he meets with in a book of his which he comes across is difficult to his comprehension? For four thousand years the physicians of antiquity travailed in spirit and melted their very souls in order to reduce the science of Medicine to some fixed order, yet could not effect this, until, after the lapse of this period, that absolute philosopher and most mighty thinker Aristotle portioned and parcelled out*

Logic and Philosophy as in a balance, and measured them by the measure of analogy, so that all doubt and ambiguity departed from them, and they were established on a sure and critical basis. And during these fifteen centuries which have elapsed since his time, no philosopher has won to the inmost essence of his doctrine, nor travelled the high road of his pre-eminence, save that most excellent of the moderns, the Philosopher of the East and the West, the Proof of Islám,*

Abú 'Alí b. 'Abdu'lláh b. Síná (Avicenna). He who finds fault with these two great men will have cast himself out from the company of the wise, ranked himself with madmen, and proved himself to be of the number of those who lack intelligence. May God (blessed and exalted is He) keep us from such stumblings and vain imaginings!

So, if the physician hath mastered the first volume of the Qánún, and hath attained to forty years of age, he will be worthy of confidence; and when he hath reached this degree, he should keep ever with him some of the smaller treatises composed by proved masters, such as the “Gift of Kings” (Tuḥfatu'l-Mulúk) of Muḥammad Zakariyyá [ar-Rází], or the Kifáya of Ibn Sandúna of Isfahán, or the “Provision against all sorts of error in Medical Treatment” (Tadáruku anwá'i'l-khaṭá fi't-tadbíri'ṭ-ṭibbí), of which Abú 'Alí (Avicenna) is the author; or the Khafiyyu'l-'Alá'í,*

or the “Memoranda” (Yádigár) of Sayyid Isma'íl Jurjání.*

For no reliance can be placed on the Memory, which is located in the posterior part of the brain, for it may delay to afford him assistance in carrying out these prescriptions.

Therefore every king who would choose a physician must see that these conditions which have been enumerated are found in him; for it is no light matter to commit one's life and soul into the hands of any ignorant quack, or to entrust the care of one's health to any reckless charlatan.