Recreating Medieval Islamic Medicine: A Historical Reconstruction Project

At the core of this class is a group or individual assignment to recreate (and film) a medieval Islamic medicinal recipe, or medicinal occultist object. There are thousands of recipes to choose from. Because this class explores so much material that is not yet fully researched, the best way for students to learn the content is to recreate some of the history itself. This assignment therefore builds upon the important method of history of science to recreate scientific practices to understand the tacit knowledge involved in the creation of scientific knowledge.

The most straightforward thing is to recreate and explain one of the many translated medicinal recipes from the medieval period that I have provided you (see

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files). Anything is possible as long as it is not directly dangerous to your health (e.g. no mercury or cinnabar or arsenic or explosions or poisonous herbs). Also, if you choose a recipe from one of the more cookbook-oriented versions, please be sure to choose a medicinal recipe.

In previous years, the main aim of this project was to create a film with a short essay, and students were expected to work in group. Due to the pandemic and social distancing, I expect most students will complete the assignment individually. However, you can choose to work in groups of two or three students if you so wish. However, groups have to create a video, they cannot share the essay option.

(You can use the class Discord channel to find other students interested.)

What is the final product?

Either

  1. A 5-minute, relatively well-edited film demonstrating and explaining the recreation and a 4-5-page (minimum) essay explaining the theory behind the recipe, i.e. why should this recipe work according to the tenets of pre-modern Islamic medicine. Open to groups and individuals.

Or

  1. A 9-10 page essay (minimum) explaining and describing the recreation and the theory behind the recipe, i.e. why should this recipe work according to the tenets of pre- modern Islamic medicine. In other words, the five-minute video is replaced by 5-pages of text. Open only to individuals, no groups.

Essay portions should be in a 12pt, normal font, standard margins, double-spaced. Please be sure to reference (with either footnotes or an additional works cited page) the material you cite in your essay, so I can follow your logic. It is best

to use the secondary sources provided in the readings for the course and listed below. Looking online can lead you astray because there is too much faulty information on the internet.) Especially helpful for understanding the medical theory is the

textbook, Medieval Islamic Medicine. Portions of this book are posted onto the Perusall page for this class.

For the film option: Why film it? There are some forms of the media that are better suited to document and communicate complex procedures than writing. Video, in this case, is not only more efficient, but also allows students to distribute their skills according to their proficiencies. Those who wish to focus on filming, editing, research, acting, or whatnot can choose to do so. You can attempt to film everything initially and then edit it in, or you can possibly film yourselves reenacting or explaining key scenes. Think of it as a short reality-TV show or good YouTube video where you are both showing yourselves doing something (i.e. recreating the medicine) and explaining your thought process and ideas along the way. If you do produce a video, don’t give me ten minutes of you opening jars and walking through you kitchen. Try not to answer the questions below directly, but integrate them into your narrative/presentation. Feel free to be creative but don’t feel the need to go overboard.

Films should ideally be around 5-6 minutes long, but can be as long as 10 minutes if necessary. You also need to submit 5 pages of writing explaining things you could not get across in video, such as in response to the questions below. Here are two examples of films made by previous groups. Example 1 Example 2. These are just examples, you do not need to reproduce their style or format.

If you decide not to film the project, you can submit photos with your essay to explain the process. (These shouldn’t count toward the page count, i.e., you can’t just fill your essay with photos).

If you have an idea that does not fit within these parameters, tell me and we can try to see if we make something work.

I’m here to help you with this project. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to come to my office hours, email me directly, or speak to me by appointment.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: PLEASE DO NOT DO ANYTHING THAT IS DANGEROUS TO YOURSELF OR YOUR CLASSMATES SUCH AS WORKING WITH DANGEROUS CHEMICALS OR INGESTING POISONOUS SUBSTANCES PLEASE CONSULT ME IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR DOUBTS.

Questions to answer (indirectly) in the videos or writing:

-What was the purpose of the recipe/object/practice and why might people in the Middle East have thought it to be useful?

-Is there a medical or scientific theory behind this recipe, object, or practice? In other words, why was it supposed to have worked? E.g., if it is a medical recipe, explain the reason it was supposed to work according to Galenic principles?

(You can refer to the relevant chapters in Pormann & Savage-Smith [Medieval Islamic Medicine] and Ullman [Islamic Medicine] and from primary sources like

Maimonides’ (1138-1204) Health Regimen.

-On the other hand, is this recipe just theoretical? Might it have been used practically and if so, how?

(In this case, refer to the chapters on “Practice” in Pormann and Savage Smith and the articles/books by Efraim Lev and Yu Hoki)

-Who might have used this recipe? Where would it have been prescribed, prepared, or taken and who would be responsible for it? (i.e. in a hospital, private home, pharmacy, etc.)

-If you could not find all the proper materials for your recipe or object, how did you decide what to substitute and how?

(Substitutions were common in medieval medicine due to the rarity of some ingredients. Unfortunately, I cannot find a copy of the translated book on medicinal substitutions [Martin Levey, Substitute drugs in early Arabic medicine]) so you will have to figure out your own substitutions. In this case, look at the work of Chip Leighmann [The World of Pharmacy] and Efraim Lev [Practical Materia Medica])

-From where would pre-modern Middle Easterners have acquired their materials? Where was the recipe book written and what materia medica were available on the market then?

-If there is material (outside of the recipe ingredients) specified in the recipe and is material important? E.g. if it says to have a green-clay jar to hold the medicine, what is the importance of the vessel?

-How did you decide the proper weights and measurements?

(Weights and measures differed between regions and time periods. You can find some this information in this reference entry on Islamic metrology

Download reference entry on Islamic metrology

. Some of the edited books of medicines have conversions for you to use, see Kahl, The Dispensatory of Ibn Tilmid, p. 33)

-What information was not clearly or directly stated in the recipe? In other words, what information relied on the tacit or implicit knowledge of the artisan?

-Do you think that this medicine would actually work? According to which medical theory? Our own [Western] modern one or medieval Islamic theory? (Do not try the medicine if it is poisonous or if the ingredients are unknown to you).

-What did you learn about premodern science or medicine through this project?

-Did recreating the medicine/practice/object teach you something that would have been impossible to learn just from reading about it?

General Process

  • Choose whether to work individually or in groups (remember, group assignments should be videos)
  • Choose a recipe or object or practice to recreate (see resources below) Inform the professor of your choice via email.
  • Conduct preplanning and research. What were the purposes of the ingredients? What substitutions will you need to make and why? Think about how you will narrate the video. What scenes will you include? What scenes will you photograph?
  • Recreate recipe. Film initial meetings and moments. Make sure to film unexpected obstacles, failures, trips to the store, unpacking, etc.
  • Time permitting, we will discuss projects in progress on June 3, 2021.
  • Send me a video file or upload your essay (via Dropbox or some filesharing system).

Grading:

This project is worth 45% of your overall final grade. The grade will determined by

  1. the quality of your analysis in response to the above questions,
  1. the amount of work you demonstrate in your video or written work,
  1. the overall production quality of your video, and, to a lesser degree, writing.

For those that choose to do a group project: all members of a group will receive the same score; that is, the project is assessed and everyone receives this score. However, that number is only 90% of your grade for this project. The final 10% is individual, and refers to your teamwork. Every person in the group will provide the instructor with a suggested grade for every other member of the group, and the instructor will assign a grade that is informed by those suggestions. Also, everyone must take part in a group

essay. The grading criteria are the same as the group project. Once formed, groups cannot be altered or switched, except for reasons of extended hospitalization.

Resources

(some places to start looking, feel free to contact me for more suggestions)

For General Research Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd Ed. Links to an external site.

(requires on-campus or VPN access; choose the 2nd edition because the 3rd is not yet complete.)

Medical Stuff (CHOOSE A RECIPE FROM ONE OF THESE BOOKS) RECIPE BOOKS

  • Ibn al-Tilmīdh, Hibat Allāh ibn Ṣāʻid . The Dispensatory of Ibn at-Tilmīḏ: Arabic text, English translation, study and glossaries Download The Dispensatory of Ibn at-Tilmīḏ: Arabic text, English translation, study and glossaries

. Leiden: Brill, 2007.

  • Sābūr ibn Sahl, -869. Dispensatorium Parvum, Al-Aqrābādhīn Al-Ṣaghīr. Leiden ; New York: Brill, 1994.
  • Sābūr ibn Sahl, -869. Sābūr Ibn Sahl’s Dispensatory in the Recension of the ʻAḍudī Hospital Download Sābūr Ibn Sahl’s Dispensatory in the Recension of the ʻAḍudī Hospital

. Leiden: Brill, 2009.

  • Ibn Sayyār al-Warrāq, al-Muẓaffar ibn Naṣr, Nawal Nasrallah (tr.) Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchens: Ibn Sayyār Al-Warrāq’s Tenth-Century Baghdadi Cookbook Download Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchens: Ibn Sayyār Al-Warrāq’s Tenth-Century Baghdadi Cookbook

. Brill, 2007. (Make sure to choose a medicinal recipe, not a food recipe)

  • al-Kindi and Martin Levey (tr.) — The Medical Formulary (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1966) (Access through HathiTrust. You need to log-in with your UCSD credentials and then check out the book, might not work this year)
  • Al-Nuwayri and Elias Muhanna (tr.) — The Ultimate Ambition in the Arts of Erudition Download The Ultimate Ambition in the Arts of Erudition

selections on plants, ingredients, and medicines. (Available in our course reading Files)

  • Sābūr ibn Sahl, and Oliver Kahl. The Small Dispensatory. Islamic Philosophy, Theology, and Science, v. 53. Leiden: Brill, 2003. (Paper copy available at the UCSD Library)

PRIMARY SOURCES ON MEDIEVAL MEDICAL THEORY:

  • Al-Sulamī, ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz. Questions and Answers for Physicians-A Medieval Arabic Study Manual Download Questions and Answers for Physicians-A Medieval Arabic Study Manual

Translated by Gary Leiser and Noury Al-Khaledy. Leiden: Brill, 2004 (Available in our course reading Files)

  • Maimonides, On the Regimen of Health Download On the Regimen of Health

, Leiden: Brill, 2019 (Available in our course reading Files)

BOOKS AND ARTICLES FOR BACKGROUND

  • Efraim Lev & Zohar Amar, Practical Materia Medica of the Medieval Eastern Mediterranean According to the Cairo Geniza Download Practical Materia Medica of the Medieval Eastern Mediterranean According to the Cairo Geniza

. Leiden: Brill, 2008 (Note: This book has a useful explanation of ingredients and their medical usage on pp. 89-508. (There is a short and long version, look up ingredients alphabetically by the name. This will help you explain how these medicines and ingredients are supposed to function theoretically.) (Also vailable in our course reading Files)

  • Lev, Efraim. “Mediators between Theoretical and Practical Medieval Knowledge: Medical Notebooks from the Cairo Genizah and Their Significance Download Mediators between Theoretical and Practical Medieval Knowledge: Medical Notebooks from the Cairo Genizah and Their Significance

.” Medical History 57, no. 4 (October 2013): 487–515. (Also vailable in our course reading Files)

  • Lev, Efraim & Amar, Zohar. “Practice versus Theory: Medieval Materia Medica according to the Cairo Genizah Download Practice versus Theory: Medieval Materia Medica according to the Cairo Genizah

.” (Also available in our course reading Files)

  • Leigh Chippman, The World of Pharmacy and Pharmacists in Mamluk Cairo Download The World of Pharmacy and Pharmacists in Mamluk Cairo

. Leiden: Brill, 2020. (Available in course readings).

  • Ullmann, Manfred. Islamic Medicine Download Islamic Medicine (selection on pharmaceutics) (Also available in our course reading Files)
  • Pormman, Peter & Savage-Smith, Emilie. Medieval Islamic Medicine. (see chapters in Weeks 6, 7, 8, and 10, which discuss basic structure of Islamic medicine, etc.)
  • Yuki, Ho, Logic in Compound Drugs Download Logic in Compound Drugs (article trying to understand practical creation of ophthalmological recipes.
  • Alvarez-Millan, Cristina, “The Case History in Medieval Islamic Medical Literature: Tajarib and Mujarrabat as Source Download The Case History in Medieval Islamic Medical Literature: Tajarib and Mujarrabat as Source

Links to an external site.

” Medical History, 54 (2010), pp. 195-214 (Also available in our course reading Files)

  • Dols, Michael W. The Black Death in the Middle East. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1977, pp. 121-142 (contact me if you need a PDF of this)
  • “Amulets and Talismans from the Islamic World,” The Metropolitan Museum
  • Rebstock, Ulrich, “Weights and Measures in the Islamic World Download Weights and Measures in the Islamic World

,” For more precise information about conversions, scroll down toward the bottom for units in metric grams. (Also available in our course reading Files)

Video and Production Resources:

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