Ibn Al-Jazzār on Medicine for the Poor and Destitute

The Ṭibb al-fuqarāʾ wa 'l-masākīn (Medicine for the Poor and Destitute), a treatise composed by Ibn al-Jazzār of Qayrawān in the tenth century, is part of a literary genre called "medicine for the poor" that has been previously neglected by research. This genre was popular throughout the Middle Ages in Islamic and Western Latin literature. Addressing the needs of the poor and the sick, Ibn al-Jazzār's monograph has a distinctly popular and practical character, especially as it is, in sum, a list of remedies with no attention to aetiology and symptomatology. This character is also evident in the numerous recipes with magical content, and in the frequent advice to use urine and animal excrement as ingredients. However, besides having the features of popular medicine, Ibn al-Jazzār's monograph has a theoretical character as well, since the material is drawn from a variety of literary sources. The treatise thus clearly reflects everyday life in a society in which bookish knowledge and popular lore mutually influenced one another. It combines the data of scientific Galenic medicine with more popular remedies, continuing an old tradition.