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Islamic Medicine
Book by Edward Granville Browne
138 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1983
About the author
Edward Granville Browne
165 books35 followersEdward Granville Browne (1862 – 1926), born in Stouts Hill, Uley, Gloucestershire, England, was a British orientalist who published numerous articles and books of academic value, mainly in the areas of history and literature. His works are respected for their scholarship, uniqueness, and style.
The scholarly value of his works was acknowledged both during his lifetime and even more, after his death. He gained a professorship at Cambridge University. Much of his publications are related to Persia (now called Iran), either in the fields of history or Persian literature. He is perhaps best known for his documentation and historical narratives of the Bábí movement as relayed by Count Gobineau. He published two translations of Bábí histories, and wrote several of the few Western accounts of early Bábí and Bahá'í history. His professorship at Cambridge was, however, of the Arabic language, with the full title 'Sir Thomas Adams Professor of Arabic'.
He published in areas which few other Western scholars had explored to any sufficient degree. He used a language and style that showed high respect for everybody, even toward those he personally did not view in positive light. In A Year Among the Persians (1893) he wrote a sympathetic portrayal of a Persian society which few Westerners had ever seen, including a frank account of the effects of opium. It did not attract the attention it deserved at the time of its initial publication, but after his death in 1926 it was reprinted and became a classic in English travel literature. He also published the first volume of A Literary History of Persia in 1902 with subsequent volumes in 1906, 1920, and 1924. At the close of the twentieth century it remains the standard authority on the subject.
Among Persians, at a time when nearly the whole nation was highly suspicious of foreigners, and in particular of any British or Russian person due to the political dynamics of that time, Edward Browne was well accepted by the people who knew him and his works. He is well remembered today, and a street named after him in Tehran, as well as his statue, remained even after the Iranian revolution in 1979[...]
The scholarly value of his works was acknowledged both during his lifetime and even more, after his death. He gained a professorship at Cambridge University. Much of his publications are related to Persia (now called Iran), either in the fields of history or Persian literature. He is perhaps best known for his documentation and historical narratives of the Bábí movement as relayed by Count Gobineau. He published two translations of Bábí histories, and wrote several of the few Western accounts of early Bábí and Bahá'í history. His professorship at Cambridge was, however, of the Arabic language, with the full title 'Sir Thomas Adams Professor of Arabic'.
He published in areas which few other Western scholars had explored to any sufficient degree. He used a language and style that showed high respect for everybody, even toward those he personally did not view in positive light. In A Year Among the Persians (1893) he wrote a sympathetic portrayal of a Persian society which few Westerners had ever seen, including a frank account of the effects of opium. It did not attract the attention it deserved at the time of its initial publication, but after his death in 1926 it was reprinted and became a classic in English travel literature. He also published the first volume of A Literary History of Persia in 1902 with subsequent volumes in 1906, 1920, and 1924. At the close of the twentieth century it remains the standard authority on the subject.
Among Persians, at a time when nearly the whole nation was highly suspicious of foreigners, and in particular of any British or Russian person due to the political dynamics of that time, Edward Browne was well accepted by the people who knew him and his works. He is well remembered today, and a street named after him in Tehran, as well as his statue, remained even after the Iranian revolution in 1979[...]
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 26, 2023
Usai membaca buku yang merupakan kumpulan empat syarahan E. G. Browne (pensyarah bahasa Arab University of Cambridge) mengenai Perubatan Islam ini, terdapat tiga mesej teras yang menarik untuk dicuplik:
i. Ilmu Sains Perubatan Moden mula diperkenalkan di Kaherah pada tahun 1825 oleh Clot Bey dan beberapa saintis Perancis yang diundang oleh pemerintah Khedive Muhammad Ali sehingga tertubuhnya hospital Abu Zabal berdekatan Heliopolis yang akhirnya dipindahkan setahun selepasnya ke Qasru‘l-‘Ayni (Edward Said yang menetap dalam tempoh beberapa tahun di Zamalek, ada menyebut mengenai Kasr Al-Aini dalam adikaryanya “Orientalism” mengenai latar sosial pada zaman beliau).
ii. Falsafah dan tujuan utama penubuhan sesuatu institusi perlulah bersifat murni dan untuk manfaat sejagat. E. G. Browne membawakan contoh hospital tertua di Kaherah yang diasaskan oleh Ahmad ibn Tulun pada 873 M dan Qala’un pada 1284 M yang terbuka untuk semua pesakit - kaya atau miskin, lelaki atau perempuan (seperti yang dikisahkan oleh al-Maqrizi dalam “Khitat” dan E. W. Lane dalam “Cairo Fifty Years Ago”).
iii. Prinsip umum yang menjadi asas Perubatan Arab dan tunjang kepada setiap karya agung yang sistemik kebanyakannya berpusar kepada doktrin “mizaj” (temperament), “taba‘i” (natural properties) dan “akhlat” (humours). Empat asas “mizaj” ialah panas (hot), sejuk (cold), kering (dry) dan basah (wet) yang memerlukan keseimbangan (equilibrium) antara keempat-empatnya daripada ia menjadi terherot (“inhiraf al-mizaj”). Dalam praktis perubatan moden hari ini, konsep ini terpakai dalam mengakses hidrasi, kestabilan dan hemodinamik pesakit yang mempunyai masalah jantung (“decompensated heart failure”) sama ada perlu melalui ubat makan sahaja (dry, warm), boleh “fluid challenge” (dry, cold), “diuretics” (wet, warm) atau perlukan “inotrope” (wet, cold).
Kupasan mengenai dua pergerakan yang bertentangan antara “systolic” (inqibad) dan “diastolic” (inbisat) oleh Ali ibn al-Abbas al-Majusi (d. 982 M) dalam Kitab al-Maliki juga menarik untuk dikunyah. Huraian ringkas tetapi menarik mengenai hikmah penciptaan dua entiti bertentangan oleh Sang Pencipta seperti pagi-malam, benar-dusta, dosa-pahala, syurga-neraka, kebaikan-kejahatan, malaikat-syaitan, sihat-sakit, jasad-ruh, systolic-diastolic, lelaki-wanita, RNA-DNA, Chromosome X-Chromosome Y, Cytosine-Guanine, Adenine-Thiamine dan sebagainya ini boleh didapati dalam buku Hiwar Ma‘a Sadiqi al-Mulhid oleh Dr. Mustafa Mahmud.
i. Ilmu Sains Perubatan Moden mula diperkenalkan di Kaherah pada tahun 1825 oleh Clot Bey dan beberapa saintis Perancis yang diundang oleh pemerintah Khedive Muhammad Ali sehingga tertubuhnya hospital Abu Zabal berdekatan Heliopolis yang akhirnya dipindahkan setahun selepasnya ke Qasru‘l-‘Ayni (Edward Said yang menetap dalam tempoh beberapa tahun di Zamalek, ada menyebut mengenai Kasr Al-Aini dalam adikaryanya “Orientalism” mengenai latar sosial pada zaman beliau).
ii. Falsafah dan tujuan utama penubuhan sesuatu institusi perlulah bersifat murni dan untuk manfaat sejagat. E. G. Browne membawakan contoh hospital tertua di Kaherah yang diasaskan oleh Ahmad ibn Tulun pada 873 M dan Qala’un pada 1284 M yang terbuka untuk semua pesakit - kaya atau miskin, lelaki atau perempuan (seperti yang dikisahkan oleh al-Maqrizi dalam “Khitat” dan E. W. Lane dalam “Cairo Fifty Years Ago”).
iii. Prinsip umum yang menjadi asas Perubatan Arab dan tunjang kepada setiap karya agung yang sistemik kebanyakannya berpusar kepada doktrin “mizaj” (temperament), “taba‘i” (natural properties) dan “akhlat” (humours). Empat asas “mizaj” ialah panas (hot), sejuk (cold), kering (dry) dan basah (wet) yang memerlukan keseimbangan (equilibrium) antara keempat-empatnya daripada ia menjadi terherot (“inhiraf al-mizaj”). Dalam praktis perubatan moden hari ini, konsep ini terpakai dalam mengakses hidrasi, kestabilan dan hemodinamik pesakit yang mempunyai masalah jantung (“decompensated heart failure”) sama ada perlu melalui ubat makan sahaja (dry, warm), boleh “fluid challenge” (dry, cold), “diuretics” (wet, warm) atau perlukan “inotrope” (wet, cold).
Kupasan mengenai dua pergerakan yang bertentangan antara “systolic” (inqibad) dan “diastolic” (inbisat) oleh Ali ibn al-Abbas al-Majusi (d. 982 M) dalam Kitab al-Maliki juga menarik untuk dikunyah. Huraian ringkas tetapi menarik mengenai hikmah penciptaan dua entiti bertentangan oleh Sang Pencipta seperti pagi-malam, benar-dusta, dosa-pahala, syurga-neraka, kebaikan-kejahatan, malaikat-syaitan, sihat-sakit, jasad-ruh, systolic-diastolic, lelaki-wanita, RNA-DNA, Chromosome X-Chromosome Y, Cytosine-Guanine, Adenine-Thiamine dan sebagainya ini boleh didapati dalam buku Hiwar Ma‘a Sadiqi al-Mulhid oleh Dr. Mustafa Mahmud.
September 23, 2021
Some interesting parts and definitely some leads to follow up on. Obviously being so old a lot is probably outdated and sometimes it seems the Arabic physicians are diminished to ‘only’ translating and using Greek and Roman ideas, rather than having their own originality and medical ideas. Some very intriguing figures and anecdotes though!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews