ABSTRACT
In Islamic medicine, the link between religion and medicine is explicit in the very word †ibb, which means healing, treating, sorcery, magic or enchanting. This term derives from the root †bb with two forms of vocalisation: 1-†abb is one who is learned about any matter, hence †ab¥b is a skilled person in every science or craft, including medicine; 2-†ibb is the practice of medicine.2 With regard to the first meaning, much was assigned to supernatural skills in medical treatments but also in various other matters such as the use of talismans for changing stones into gold, a craft which was called k¥m¥yå (or alchemy). According to an anonymous Persian author, the †ab¥b or physician is a person who calms and reassures the mind of a patient.3 For Muªammad HÇd¥ Aq¥l¥, writing in the eighteenth century, †ibb meant enchanting and skilfulness in sciences and techniques in general, and in the jargon of physicians, it consisted of a knowledge of the human body in health and illness.4 In a manuscript dated to the early nineteenth century in India, but copied from a medieval source, the eighth branch of science (fann) is ªikmat, which is divided into theoretical (naΩar¥) and practical (amal¥). The theoretical ªikmat is subdivided in three: divinity, which is superior science, mathematics, which is medium science and natural science, which is inferior science.5
