Critical edition and annotated English translation of Ibn al-Mubārak’s Book on Poisons. Books I and II: General Toxicology and Poisonous Substances

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Gerrit Bos
• Subject Area: Islamic Studies, Arabian Studies, Semitic Studies ; History of Science
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 527729212

The Yemeni physician al-Husayn ibn abî Tha´lab ibn al-Mubârak wrote in the year 488 AH / 1095 AD a voluminous monograph on poisons entitled Kitâb al-Munqidh min al-halaka fî daf´ madârr al-samâʾim al-muhlika (“the lifesaver through repelling the harm of deadly poisons”). Despite important studies authored by Manfred Ullmann from the 1970ies on, the text is still widely neglected by the public and even specialists in the field of history of Arabic medicine. The main aim of the present project is the first critical edition of the Arabic original of books I and II of the tripartite text preserved in several manuscripts. The first book contains a general introduction to toxicology and the second part is dedicated to animal, vegetal, and mineral poisons. The Arabic text will be accompanied by an annotated English translation and a detailed commentary dealing with diverse topics, e.g., the identification of the poisons, parallel texts, and above all the sources of the K. al-Munqidh. Its author had cited dozens of Greek and Arabic authors and books. Many of these sources are lost today, which makes Ibn al-Mubârak’s quotations particularly valuable and interesting. Especially late-Antique and early-Islamic pseudepigraphic books on toxicology with their scientific and magical contents can only be reconstructed with the help of quotations. The K. al-Munqidh counts among the most important sources of such fragments that have never been analyzed in their entirety.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants