Ibn Abi Sadiq

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Ibn Abi Sadiq, Abu al-Qasim ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Ali was an 11th century Persian physician from Khorasan, now Afghanistan and Iran.

He was said by some medieval biographical sources to have been a pupil of Avicenna's. The direct association with Avicenna, has been questioned by recent historians, and it has been proposed that the association with Avicenna was due to his dependence upon him rather than personal discipleship.

Because he composed a popular commentary on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates, he was known in some circles as "the second Hippocrates (Buqrat al-thani)".

His commentary on the Hunayn ibn Ishaq's Questions on Medicine, however, may have been even more popular, judging from the large number of copies preserved today. Ibn Abi Sadiq also wrote a commentary on the Prognostics of Hippocrates, on Galen's treatise On the Usefulness of the Parts, and on Razi's treatise Doubts about Galen (Shukuk ‘alá Jalinus). According to the medieval biographical sources, he completed the commentary on Galen's On the Usefulness of the Parts in the year 1068 AD, which provides us with the one firm date in his biography.

[edit] Sources

The article "Ebn Abi Sadeq" by Lutz Richter-Bernburg in Encyclopedia Iranica, ed. Ehsan Yarshater, 6+ vols. (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul and Costa Mesa: Mazda, 1983 to present), vol. 7, p. 663
Manfred Ullmann, Die Medizin im Islam, Handbuch der Orientalistik, Abteilung I, Ergänzungsband vi, Abschnitt 1 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1970), p 160.
Carl Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, 1st edition, 2 vols. (Leiden: Brill, 1889-1936). Second edition, 2 vols. (Leiden: Brill, 1943-49). Page references will be to those of the first edition, with the 2nd edition page numbers given in parentheses, vol. 1, p. 484 (638), Carl Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, Supplement, 3 vols. (Leiden: Brill, 1937-1942). vol. 1, pp. 886-7
Lutz Richter-Bernburg, Iran's Contribution to Medicine and Veterinary Science in Islam AD 100-900/AD 700-1500", in The Diffusion of Greco-Roman Medicine in the Middle East and the Caucasus,, ed. J.A.C. Greppin, E. Savage-Smith, and J.L. Gueriguian (Delmar, NY: Caravan Press, 1999).