Aqsara'i

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Jamal al-Din Muhammad ibn Muhammad Aqsara'i, also written al-Aqsara'i, was a 14th century Persian physician.

He is known for his commentary on the Mujiz, which was an epitome made in the 13th century by Ibn al-Nafis of The Canon of Medicine of Avicenna.

Al-Aqsara'i studied medicine with his father, under whose tutelage he first read the Mujiz. Thereafter he studied The Canon of Medicine itself, as well as the Hawi by Razi and the Complete Book on Medicine by al-Majusi, as well as the medical writings of Najib al-Din al-Samarqandi. He employed these other treatises in his commentary on the Mujiz, and he titled his commentary "The Key to the Mujiz" (Hall al-Mujiz).

He died in 1379.

[edit] Sources

For medieval biographical references to him and his commentary, many copies of which are preserved in libraries today, see:

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. 457 (598)
A. Z. Iskandar, A Catalogue of Arabic Manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library (London: The Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 1967), pp. 55 and 100-103.
A.Z. Iskandar, A Descriptive List of Arabic Manuscripts on Medicine and Science at the University of California, Los Angeles (Leiden: Brill, 1984), p. 44.