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 Kadircan H. Keskinbora

The Little Qanun of Ibn Sina

Little Model of the Great Qanun
 Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed
bibliographic data is available online at http://dnb.d-nb.de.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress.

Turkish edition: İbn Sina'nın Küçük Tıp Kanunu Ciltli / The Little Canon (or Qanun) of Ibn Sina
Istanbul: Bahcesehir Universitesi, 2015

The views expressed in this book are purely that of the author himself and may not in any
circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of Bahçeşehir University

Printed by CPI books GmbH, Leck

ISBN 978-3-631-79476-0 (Print)
E-ISBN 978-3-631-80324-0 (E-PDF)
E-ISBN 978-3-631-80325-7 (EPUB)
E-ISBN 978-3-631-80326-4 (MOBI)
DOI 10.3726/b16195

© Peter Lang GmbH

Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Berlin 2020
All rights reserved.

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All parts of this publication are protected by copyright. Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the
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This publication has been peer reviewed.

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There are some prescriptions given in this book, which have been translated
exactly as they were written 1,000 years ago, including the ingredients
mentioned. Under no circumstances should readers today take these as
medical advice. Authorized physicians should be consulted for any
treatment.
Foreword

Although very few copies of the Qanun-u Saghir (Little Qanun of Ibn Sina),
Avicenna’s world renowned Canon of Medicine exist today, the
Handwritten Works libraries in Istanbul, Turkey remain one of the
wealthiest sources of such works. There are four copies of this particular
work in Turkey:

1. SÜLEYMANİYE Library REIS-UL-KUTTAB Collection Nb.103

2. SÜLEYMANİYE Library FATİH Collection Nb.3593
3. BAYAZIT Library UMUMİ Collection Nb.4123
4. BAYAZIT Library VELİYÜDDİN EFENDİ Collection Nb.2529

During the course of this work, four of the copies have been carefully
read, revealing no differences apart from the prayers and identification
information included at the end by the scribes; meaning that these four
copies are identical in terms of style, wording and outline.
This book has been translated from the 2529 numbered book in the
VELİYÜDDİN EFENDİ Collection at the BAYAZIT Library into Turkish.
The international scientific community has been informed of the existence
of this translation numerous times through presentations at international
conferences. It was subsequently translated into English, and presented to
scientists on various occasions for their perusal. Scientists working in this
area have been aware of this work for nearly 6 years.
To answer a question commonly posed by scientists as to whether this
book is a “Kanunçe-Kanunche (Canon summary)”:
Not only could a Kanunçe be a ‘special booklet’ written by any scientist
making references to Avicenna’s Canon, it could also be a
‘review/contribution booklet’ written by a scientist and include critical
views, contributions or additions to one of more topics in the Canon.
Therefore, the size, language, style, wording and section divisions vary
from booklet to booklet.
 However, in the Qanun-u Saghir, the size of the books vary only by a few
pages due to the nature of the handwriting, but are identical in terms of
language, sections, content and so on.
The Qanun-u Saghir is a book comprising ten articles and 100 topics. The
scribes who produced the copies have also stated that it was written by Ibn
Sina (Avicenna). It consists of individual articles focusing on the creation of
the human, the body, followed by a systematic description of the human
body from head to toe, based on the medical scientific classifications.
This new edition of Ibn Sina's Little Qanun has been printed by Peter
Lang Co. My previous translation has been re-edited meticulously and peer-
reviewed. I want to thank everyone involved in the process at the company
for their invaluable contribution.
Little Qanun of Ibn Sina like any printed book, this one may contain
various errors, for which I apologize to the reader in advance and thank
them for their understanding. For comments, contributions and thoughts,
please do not hesitate to write to:
[email protected];
[email protected]

With my sincere hope that this book contributes to science and humanity, I
remain
Kadircan H. KESKİNBORA, MD, Ph.D
Foreword (for Bahçeşehir Univ. edition)

Ibn Sina wrote many books on various scientific branches such as

philosophy, religion, music, medicine, astronomy, physics, and natural
sciences. Some sources state that the number of the books he has written is
over 240; 153 of these have been found. Except for a few written in Persian,
all his works are in Arabic, which was considered as the language of
science at the time. Thus it was a tradition for the scientists to write their in
Arabic. Among his valuable books, the two most well-known books are al-
Shifa, which deals mostly with philosophy, and the five-volume al-Qānūn fi
al-Tibb, which is a complete medical encyclopedia.
Within less than a century, his book Qānūn was translated into Latin at
the beginning of the 12th century and left a great impact on the Western
medical world. This book was used as a course book in all European
faculties of medicine, especially in Montpellier and Louvain Universities,
which are the most famous medical faculties in France. Ibn Sina was the
guide for medicine for Europe for 700 years. This went on until the middle
of the 17th century. Ibn Sina not only influenced the Western world
physicians but also philosophers and theologians with his work.
The significance of his books on medicine, especially the Kanun (Qanun
- Canon), in the Islamic world can be understood through the large number
of the commentaries of the Arabic versions, and the translations and
adaptations in Persian and Turkish. The influence of the Qanun in the West
starts with the Latin translation done by Gerard from Cremona in Toledo.
Almagest was also translated into Latin by Gerard in 1175.
It is understood that by the end of the 12th century, Greek Astronomy
with the two sacred books of Greek-Arabic medicine assisted Latin
scientists. From then on, almost all Latin medical books owe their
knowledge of medicine to Ibn Sina. Continens and Regalis Dispositio were
also printed by the first publishers; however, the success of these were not
as much as that of Qanun (Canon).
The well-known science historian George Sarton stated that, like Galen,
who made a bibliography of his own works, Ibn Sina too did the same.
Sarton adds that anybody writing as prolifically as they did would be lost
towards the end of their lives without a comprehensive bibliography. In
addition, Ibn Sina wrote Qānūn al-Saghīr, in the format of a short summary
booklet, which gained fame after his death throughout the world and was
used as a main course book and taught not only in medical schools in
Europe and Anatolia, but also in the Islamic countries.

Life of Ibn Sina (980–1037)

Ibn Sina, by the time he was 20, had already studied the works of Aristotle,
Euclid, Ptolemy (Batlamyus), and Galen, in addition to his religious
education. During his youth in Buhara, he read lot of books written by al-
Kindī (el-Kindi), Alpharabius (Al-Farabi), and Aristotle, which all were the
source of his scientific curiosity. The works of Alpharabius (Al-Farabi),
who was also known as “Magister Secundus” (Muallim-i Sani), explain the
works of Aristotle. His passion for reading was inspired and encouraged by
his father.
At the age of 18, Ibn Sina cured the Emir “Nuh II” of Buhara. Later on,
he started to allocate more time for medicine. He was not only the Emir’s
physician but he was also his consultant. Ibn Sina lived for some time in
Gorgan, Rey, Isfahan, and Hamadan. He cured another Emir, which caused
the jealousy of his rivals, and as a result he had to endure torture. He was
imprisoned for a while, yet fortunately he was allowed to write during his
imprisonment. Later, he took shelter in Isfahan and spent the rest of his life
there. Due to his assignment to accompany the army to Hamadan, he fell ill
and died there in 1037 at the age of 57.
All his life he carried on his philosophical research alongside his
scientific work. Clearly, Ibn Sina’s contribution to humanity has been
greater than his gains from the Indian, Greek, and Muslim worlds. His
leadership in the field of philosophy and medicine continued for centuries.
His significance lies not only in demonstrating solutions but also in how he
approached problems. No other Muslim or Eastern scientist has ever had
such a big impact on the world. Today, the portraits of the two Muslim
physicians, Ibn Sina and Rhazes (Rāzī), hang in the Conference Hall of the
Medical Faculty at Paris University near St. German Boulevard.
al-Qānūn fī al-Tibb
At the beginning of the 11th century, al-Qānūn fī al-Tibb was considered to
be a synthesis of medical knowledge in experience and application, as it
was established upon the bases formed by antique Greek scientists, like
Hippocrates and Galen. It surpassed medical knowledge gained by the
Byzantines and Arabs. Ibn Sina not only discovered the vast knowledge in
Arabic works but he also knew how to benefit from the previous Arab
syntheses. He also gathered most of the information in the works of Ebu
Mansur Muwaffaq and the ones written by the Indian resources and
incorporated them into his work. All this precious information was gathered
and synthesized wisely and intelligently by him in his book Qānūn.
The word “Kanun” was derived from the Greek word ‘canon’ which
means ‘criteria’. The name was well-chosen because Ibn Sina’s Qānūn
(Qanun) was considered for six centuries as the medical criterion or a
sacred book.
Qanun was divided into five main parts (volumes):

I. General topics (this part was mainly about medical philosophy)

II. Basic medicines in alphabetical order
III. Local diseases from head to toe
IV. General diseases like fever and others
V. Complex medicines (receipts)

Titles like Master of the Masters or other honorable titles given to him by
Darü’l Islam (house of Islam) most probably were not given to him for his
book Shifa (Cure) but for his book Qanun.
To understand the statements and concepts related to the causes of
illnesses mentioned in the book, we need to know the main theory that
guided all the physicians all over the world in humoral pathology, in that
specific period of time the book was written. While reading the book, we
come across the following terms: blood, bile, sputum, black bile or heat,
coldness, moisture, and dryness or terms like “if it derived from the blood
…fever from the bile which leads to headaches…pain which is caused by
sputum and black bile…if pain is related to sputum, “sersam” illness caused
by blood…, headache due to catching cold…”.
 Medieval medicine tries to explain that causes of illnesses are formed due
to four main components and that the condition of illnesses depends on the
amount of these components. Therefore, treatments focused on the
improvement of the balance of these components. The “Theory of Humoral
Pathology” considered these four main elements as the base, until Modern
Medicine was widely accepted. Between 5th BC and 19th century AD, and
by the second half of the 19th century when the “Cellular Theory”, set forth
by Rudolph Virchow, was widely accepted, this “Humoral Pathology
Theory” received acceptance by all physicians for about 2500 years.
According to Pythagoras (584–504 BC), the universe was formed by four
main directions (North, South, East, and West); four main elements (fire,
air, water, soil); four main physical features (heat, cold, dryness, and
dampness); four products of nature (humans, animal, plant, and metal); and
four seasons (spring, summer, autumn, and winter). Therefore, four has
been the perfect symbol of inseparable interconnection with the earth.
Sicilian Empedocles (492–432 BC) is the first person to bring up the
concept “Element” in his work called “Peri Physeos” (On the Nature). He
formed the four-component theory that remained for about two thousand
years. For Empedocles, component means the matter that never changes by
itself, in terms of quality, and is indivisible but can easily be transformed
into various states.

The Universe (Cosmos)

Macrocosmos consists of these four components: earth, water, fire, and air.
Being part of the universe (cosmos), humans (microcosmos) also contain
the same components in certain proportions. These four components are
unchangeable, indispensable, and immortal; when combined in different
proportions, they cause various formations of beings in the universe.
Therefore, all living and nonliving things, which, of course, includes
humans, are made up of these four main components. These also form flesh,
blood, and other matters in humans and determine their “natura”. This four-
component theory of Empedocles would be used by the descendant
scientists to explain the structure of beings in nature. The fact that this
theory survived until the last century shows that change in scientific
theories does not take place quickly. Another accepted main principle is
“qualities”. Everything existing in nature has “four main qualities”, namely,
heat, cold, dampness, and dryness. The four basic components forming
nature also have the very same qualities. The components mentioned here
should not be taken as fire, air, water, and soil in physical or chemical
meaning. These are symbolic expressions of components/principles that are
expressed in the same words in daily language: for example, cold or coldish
which feels like cold. It should be considered as cold, heat, dryness, and
dampness, which one feels in different seasons of the year.
This theory of Empedocles was accepted and applied to the human body
by Hippocrates (460–377 BC). According to the so-called Humoral
Pathology Theory, aliveness was made up of earth, forming the solid parts
of the body; water, forming the liquid parts; air, enabling the respiration;
and fire, which is the core of liveliness, i.e., the soul. There are four
elements with different compositions, namely, liquid/humor: blood, sputum,
yellow bile, and black bile. Each of these corresponding to air, water, earth,
and fire has two properties: yellow bile corresponding to hot-dry fire; blood
to hot-wet air; sputum to cold-wet water; black bile to cold-dry soil. Health
depends on the equilibrium of the liquids in the body according to the
person’s nature. While some of these liquids, under certain circumstances,
can change into another, some others do not.
For example, sputum can change into blood, blood can change into
yellow bile, but blood does not change into sputum. As for black bile, it
does not transform into any of these. Both the human body and the organs
forming it come into being by mixing with these main elements in certain
proportions. The difference among them lies in the proportion of the
mixtures. Therefore, each organ is different and carries different properties
in its structure and hence has different characteristics. As an example, the
heart and the liver are warm, the brain and bones are cold, the spinal cord
and the lungs are humid, and hair has the quality of dryness. Considering
these four elements and four qualities as the main principles without
dispute, physicians did their medical practice for centuries. In humoral
theory, “hilts” are the main elements of vital importance in the human body.
These four main hilts (humor, liquid ore, liquid element, active liquid) are
based on the thought that these four forms of liquid (blood, sputum, bile,
and black bile) are present in blood. Health is the equilibrium of these four
active liquid forms; diseases are the disorder of this balance. These four
active liquids (blood, sputum, bile, and black bile) are formed like this:
when food in the mouth is chewed, it is cooked and digested with heat and
saliva; this is called the first digestion. The food moves to the stomach from
the mouth; and with the heat and the substances, further digestion happens
there. Here, the food takes a form like barley juice. This is called the second
digestion (“keylus”; easily digested food). From here, some of the digested
contents go to the bowels, the purest part is absorbed there, and the excess
is removed from the bowels. Some goes to the liver. The digestion in the
liver is the third digestion. All digested content gets treated in the liver, and
the part which forms foam in blood and becomes bile. That, producing
sediments in blood, becomes black bile. The undigested part in the blood is
sputum, and the thoroughly digested part is blood. The center of blood is
the heart and liver, the center of sputum is the brain, the center of bile is the
liver, the center of black bile is the spleen and the stomach. These four basic
liquid forms, which are of vital importance for the human body, have
certain characteristics – blood: hot (warm) and damp; sputum: cold and
damp; bile: hot and dry; black bile: cold and dry.
A human being is created with different proportional secretions of these
four liquid substances. Even though these “hilts” show differences, they are
gathered in four main groups. These are the ones with more blood “hilts”,
sputum, black bile, or those with more bile hilts. This is called the nature
(temperament). If blood humor is high, the person is called “sanguine”
tempered. If sputum is high, he is “phlegmatic” tempered. If black bile is
high, he is in “melancholy mood”. If bile is high, he is called to be a
“bilious mood” type of human being.
Blood (hot/wet) is formed by good-quality food like meat and eggs, and
in its overdose, there are symptoms such as bitterness in the mouth,
sleepiness, stretching, yawning, itching where blood is drawn, slowing
down in the actions of the body, pimples in the skin, nose bleeding, and skin
rashes.
Bile (hot/dry) is formed by sugary food, and its excess causes a bitter
taste in the mouth, thirst, paleness in the face, lack of appetite, and
insomnia.
Sputum (cold/wet) is formed by fish, yoghurt, and raw fruit, and when it
increases, indigestion, slowing down of the bodily actions, sleepiness,
decline in body temperature are some possible outcomes.
Black bile (cold/dry) is formed by dry food like garlic; in excessive
cases, lack of appetite, weight loss, pessimism, and complaints about
nightmares occur.
A human being has a special nature according to the mixture of liquids in
different percentages. Human nature tends towards one of these liquid
matters. Therefore, in case we have more of one of the liquids in our body,
our nature is also determined as warm-blooded (sanguine); calm,
lazy/phlegmatic; outrageous, less lively/choleric; and
pessimistic/melancholic.
Because seasons are the characteristics of the four basic elements, the
food eaten in a season leads to diversity of the temperament. Summer is hot
and dry – it increases the secretion of bile. Fall is cold and dry – it increases
black bile. Winter is cold and wet – it increases the sputum. Spring is hot
and wet – it increases blood. Physicians, on diagnosing a disease, practice
their related treatment according to the patient’s nature. The medicine for
that illness has a different formula for those with sanguine, phlegmatic,
melancholic, and choleric temperaments.
For this reason, it is very important for a physician to know the patient’s
nature. In addition, he needs to see blood, sputum, bile, and black bile as
important; and he needs to know that the illness is caused by the
disturbance of one of the humors, which the person has in a certain balance.
He also needs to diagnose which humor has increased in that patient. Even
though it is important for the physician to know the patient’s temperament
and which humors have been increased due to illness, he also needs to
know another peculiarity, namely the property of that disease (i.e., hot, cold,
damp, and dry). Every disease has one of the qualities of hot, cold, damp,
and dry in a high amount.
On getting insight on the patient and the illness, the physician starts the
treatment. The properties of the medicine resemble the humors causing the
disease: hot, cold, dry, and damp. The treatment of the disease is to bring
balance by increasing or reducing the disordered humors. This is possible
with the medicine having reverse impact on the features of that humor.
Therefore, it is essential to know all the qualities and features of each
medicine. The properties of the medicine and food can be soothing,
penetrating, anesthetic, or healing. It is necessary to know the above
mentioned properties of the medicine and the diet and the substances to be
used as medicine. For example, lettuce, lily, black night shade (Solanum
nigrum), “mandrakes”, opium are anesthetic; mallow (Malva sylvestris),
marshmallow (Althaea officinalis), chard (Beta vullgaris cicla), “manna”,
and peanut are soothing; meat: strong and causing constipation; bean:
laxative and water-absorbing; sea food: dry and light; cheese: strong and
nutritious. Apart from this, saffron and laurel (Louus nobilis) are hot and
dry, “sumac” is cold and dry, and apple is cold and damp.
According to Humoral Pathology theory, illnesses are believed to occur
due to the imbalance in the arrangement of the four humors believed to
exist in the body, for example, for a woman with delayed menstruation, to
start menstruation, medicine soothing and relieving the stoppage is given;
by giving the stone-removing medicine to the patient who is supposed to
have a stone in the urethra; for psychological disorders by removing black
bile or by improving it, the disordered balance will be brought to a healthy
state.

Little Qanun (Kanun-u Sagir)

This is a ten-article book. By dividing it into subsections, in separate
articles, first the creation of human being, the formation of the body and
parts (fields) of medical sciences are explained in summary. The pulse is
explained in detail. Urine, basic information about other organs of the body,
the power of food and beverages; maintenance of health, education of
children; guidance of pregnant and nursing women, illnesses of chest and
abdomen and the part including both; stomach and the digestive system
illnesses; urethral diseases; respiration arthralgia, malaria; accidental
illnesses, bloodletting, poisonous insect stings are all explained in brief.
The following explanation of the expressions used in the book about food
and medicine should be helpful for the readers.
The main properties of food and medicine are: light, dense, solid, fluid,
sticky, dry, sweet, and fragrant.
The most frequently mentioned obvious impacts of food and medicine
can be: relieving, comforting, solving, cutting (sharp), soothing, releasing,
washing, solidifying, attractive, digestive, softening, blister-causing, gas
repulsing, crushing, maturing, scraping, wound healing, stirring up,
exterminating, strong, causing to rot, intensifying, padding, and causing to
shrink, (defecating/removing), dissuasive, anesthetic, causing to be taut,
strengthening, relieving, causing to fall, causing to remove stone, milk
increasing, hindering milk secretion, brain-activating, etc.
I would like to state that we have had considerable difficulty in finding
the corresponding lexis for certain vocabulary items while we, Dr. Ayhan
Işık and Ekrem Sırma and I, Kadircan Keskinbora, were doing the
translation, because the book was written in archaic Arabic 1000 years ago,
and contained archaic Arabic terms and grammatical rules. We have also
given the original names of the plants that we had difficulty to have access
to translate. We have left a blank space for contradictory words and for
those we have failed to clarify. Those we could not find the correspondents
for are given in Arabic.
In this international symposium organized by Bahçeşehir University, we
have decided to offer our participants a copy of the book mentioned above
and registered in the catalogue Veliyüddin Efendi with the number 2529 in
the “Hand Written Books” in the State Library, Bayezid, İstanbul, i.e., Ibn
Sina’s lesser known, handwritten book El-Kitab El-Sagir. Due to the
support they have given for the decision to be put in practice, I would like
to thank Prof. Dr. Türker Kılıç, the Dean of the Medical Faculty; our Rector
Prof. Dr. Şenay Yalçın; and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Mr.
Enver Yücel and Uğur Publishing for the efforts they have put forward in
the meticulous design and visual quality of the book.
The book has been proofread several times. It has been also checked
separately in terms of translation, editing, modification, simplification, and
the relationship between subjects. I apologize to our readers for the errors
we might have made in spite of all our painstaking efforts. Readers and
scientists can send their comments, corrections, impressions, suggestions,
and contributions, which I will appreciate to
[email protected] or
[email protected]
With the hope that the book will be a contribution to the Turkish medical,
scientific, and cultural world,
Prof. Dr. Kadircan H. Keskinbora, M.D., Ph.D.