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N6TES ON THE FOURTH DISCOURSE
al-Jiizjam was thenceforth constantly with him until his death in 428/1037,
always t urginghim to record his knowledge in books while he lived, and
preserving these writings from destruction after his tfeath. For Avicenfia;.
'
at recorded in the Chahdr Maqdla (p. 92 supra), distracted by the rival
claims of learning, pleasure and statecraft, enjoyed little leisure and
tranquillity, ai\d when he wrote a book wouM* often giVe the original to
the ^)rson who had asked him to write' it without keeping a copy for
himself. After his death al-Jdzjani sought out these scattered writings ,
wherever they could be found and arranged and edited them, while 1
in
other cases he actually assisted in their composition. Thus the Ddnishndma-t-'A/d't
1
Avicenna's ,
1 most important Persian work, composed Vor
and dedicated to 'Ala'u'd-Dawla Abd Ja'far KakUya, was designed to
treat of Logic, Metaphysics, Natural Science, Mathematics, Astronomy,
Music and Arithmetic; but after his death only the first* three sections
could be found. The missing portions were therefore compiled and
translated by al-Juzjani from the Shifd and other Arabic works of his
master, and the lacuna thus filled. We also owe to al-Jiizjani' the continuation
of Avice/ma's autobiography from the time of their first
meeting in Jurjan down to his death. The full text of this is given l?y
2 3
Ibn Abi Usaybi'a and an abridgement of it .
by al-Qifti
'
1 1 . Sayyid Isma // Ju rjdni.
This is probably the first Muslim physician who used the Persian
language chiefly or exclusively in writing on scientific subjects, or at
least the first whose works have come down to us. He gives his
^name
and genealogy as follcvws in the Introduction to his Dhak'/itr'a-i-
Khwdrazmshdhi* : Isma'il ibnu'l- Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad
al-Husayni al-Jurjani. Fonahn 8
gives his father's name as Ahmad
instead of al-Hasan, his laqab as Zaynu'd-Din, and his kunya as Abii
Ibrahim: while Rieu 6
transposes Muhammad and Ahmad in his pedigrAe;
and Leclerc 7 calls him Abu'l-Fada'il and Sharafu'd-Din. Little is
known of his life except that he came to Khwarazm (Khiva) and
entered the service of Qutbu'd-Din Muhammad Khwarazmshah in
504/1110-1111, composed the four medical works (Aghrdd, Dhakhira,
Khuffi and Yddgdr) mentioned in the Chahdr Mgqdla, and died- at
Ivierv in or about the year 531/1136-7.
The contents of the Aghrddu't-Tibb*("Avn:s of Me*dicine"), composed
for the Minister of Atsiz Khwarazmshah (reigned A.D. 1127-1156), and
the manuscripts of it existing in different libraries are fully described by
Fonahn 8
, as are the Khuffi-i-'Aid i* (composed in A.D. 1113) and the^
Yddgdr-i-Tibb ("Medical Memoranda") 10
, which deals 'with Pharmaco-'
1 As already noted, the text was lithographed in India in 1309/1891-2, but is
rare. Mr A. G. Ellis most kindly placed his copy at my disposal.
Mirza Muhammad
mentions two MSS. in the British Museum, -viz. Add. 16,830 and Add. 16,659,
b b
ff. 258 ~342 , and there is another, Or. 16,830. See Rieu's Pers. Cat., pp. 433-434.
-
Tabaqdtu'l-Atibbd, ii, 3
pp. 4-9
Pp. 417-426 of edition.
Lippert's
* in an old thirteenth century MS. of Books I-III of this work in my possession.
5 Zur