Journal of - International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine

The Relation between Times Progression to Human Health
in the Arabic Islamic Heritage
CHALHOUB Sami *, OMRAN Taleb **, ALI Rula ***
* Prof .Dr. ,The History of Basic Science Dept.
Institute for the History of Arabic Science - Aleppo University
e-mail :samch47@gmail.com
** Prof .Dr. Dept. of Basic Science ., Faculty of Civil Engineering - Damascus University
e-mail: talebomran@yahoo.com
*** Rula Ali : Postgraduate Student (Ph.D), The History of Basic Science Dept.
Institute for the History of Arabic Science - Aleppo University
e-mail: afraa78@scs-net.org
Summary
The Translation, that started by the beginning of Almansour Caliphate (136- 158 Hijri/754-775 AD), of various ancient civilizations languages into
Arabic language had an important role in the introduction and development of Astrology (Ahkam al-nujum), as ancient astrological books were common
within the various scientific Islamic media. Natural Astrology, that belonged to the Al-Anwā’ Science( meteorology) and was based on observing the
effects of planets in the natural elements, had acquired a great popularity in the Islamic World. It avoided some traditional objections against Astrology,
because being able to forecast about future meant that there was nothing to be done to improve human life, and consequently astrology would be worthless.
In addition, both astrology branches: Choices (ikhtiarat) and Matters (masael) such as choosing the good days and periods and avoiding bad unlucky
times for performing various tasks, or identifying various conditions to find lost things, gave a practical significance for Astrology.
Therefore, it is not uncommon for Muslim Arab physicians to have interests in astronomical sciences in general, and astrology in particular since
choosing the appropriate time to give a patient a proper remedy was more vital than the remedy itself. They considered it was impossible to choose the
suitable time to take medications or to perform bloodletting (fsd) without physicians’ having some astronomical knowledge. Many of these physicians,
such as at-Tabarī, ar-Rāzī, al-Hasan b. )al)-Bahlūl (1) , 1 allocated chapters with astronomical titles in their medical manuscripts that contributed to give
their medical sciences wider scientific prospects.
The importance of this study is in focusing on the subject of “Times” (Azmina) as an important practical aspect of the practical astronomy that helps
to offer a clear idea for integration of sciences in the Islamic era, by studying the relation between Times Progression to the Human Health.
Key Words: Times Azmina, human health, illness, hours, seasons alternations.
1
1. Introduction:
Islamic astronomers allocated a large portion for the
Time and Timing in their books, and they tried to interpret
and clarify the reason behind its progression, and explained
the difference in the time concepts between Arabs
and other nations in the Islamic state.
Azmina books emerged from the development of specialized
Arabic Al-Anwā’ books that were ranked highly
in the Arabic Islamic heritage, as a result to the extension
of the state after Islam contributed in involvement of the
scholars to compile them to prevent their loss within the
educational and civilized diversity.
Four Times (Al- Azmina al-arbaa’) were studied extensively
in some of them, and so were the twelve months in
both of solar and lunar years in other books.
1
The distinguished personalities names in research are written as Fuat
Sezgin wrote them.
One Of the clues about the importance of Azmina is
that it is found within most of the astronomical issues that
attracted the attention of the Arab Muslim physicians who
studied the subject matter from the translation of “Hippocrates”
who associated the knowledge of changes of
Azmina’s states with the knowledge of illnesses’ causes .
We studied some aspects of the relation between the
progression of times “Taa’qub al-azmina” and the human
health in the Arabic Islamic heritage, because “Azmina”
were in the focus of the Arabic astronomers, scholars and
physicians.
2. Times in the Arabic Islamic Heritage:
Al-Marzūqī (died in 5 th Hijri century/11 th AD) gave in
his book “Times and Places (Al-Azmina wa al-amkina), the
definition of time under the title “A Chapter about Essence
149
ISHIM 2011-2012