In the Medieval Islamic World
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
LEGACY OF ARABIC MEDICINE Female Patients, Patrons and Practitioners In the medieval Islamic world – Written by Peter E. Pormann, UK Women constitute roughly half the FEMALE PATRONS increased the endowment of the hospital population. This is true now as it must Patronage played a powerful role in the founded by Badr al-Mu‘tadidi (d. 902), have been during the heyday of the Islamic provision of health services. In ‘Abbasid the commander-in-chief of the caliph al- medieval period. The sources from this times, caliphs, viziers and other high- Mu‘tadid (r. 892-902). time, however, whether medical writings, ranking officials sponsored the building histories or works of literature, were mostly of hospitals, the digging of wells and in The Mistress written by men, for men. Male doctors one case even the improvement of access The most powerful woman in ‘Abbasid sometimes even vilified women and put to medical services in prisons and remote times, however, was Shaghab, the mother them into the same category as charlatans, areas. It was not only men, however, who of the caliph al-Muqtadir (r. 908-32). Her the proverbial ‘medical others’. It is therefore financed these charitable activities. Women son became caliph at the tender age of not surprising that the woman’s voice only occasionally rose to some prominence in 13 and remained devoted to his mother reaches us faintly across the centuries. And the palaces of the powerful. For instance, throughout his life. She turned the harem yet, by combining a range of variegated Khayruzan (d. 789) and Zubayda (d. ca. into a separate female court that influenced sources, we can tell an interesting tale 831), mother and wife, respectively, of the the fate and fortunes of the empire. The of how women sponsored healthcare as caliph Harun al-Rashid (r. 787-809), had harem stewardess, installed by Shaghab, patrons, how they provided medical care wells and drinking fountains set up in mediated between the different parties in various roles and how they received Mecca and Medina. Shuja‘, the mother and kept the lines of communication open. treatment. of the caliph al-Mutawakkil (r. 847-61), Shaghab wielded such tremendous power 656 Female Patients, Patrons and Practitioners Image: Double page from Mugiz al-Qanun, an Arabic medical text concerning a commentary on Ibn Sinia'sal-Qanun. Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images. Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0. that she was simply called the ‘Mistress’ (al- could not abide by the idea of a woman perceived biological limitations, some Sayyida). determining the affairs of the state. In the women such as Shaghab, the Mistress, rose The Mistress also enjoyed significant end she met with a cruel fate. After the to power and influence. Others practised income from land holdings that she death of her son she was imprisoned and medicine and offered medical care in obtained from her son, the caliph, and that tortured and died shortly after her release. various ways. she continued to buy up. As these holdings More generally speaking, physicians and increased, she required her own accounting philosophers in the medieval Islamic world WOMEN PRACTITIONERS office (diwan) to administer them. This regarded women as inferior, as did their If we peruse the histories of medicine wealth enabled her to embark on a vast Greek predecessors and their Christian written during the medieval Islamic period, programme of philanthropic works. She contemporaries. This can be exemplified by we find very few women. For instance, in his set up a number of pious endowments the view expressed by a 10th century author monumental history of physicians, called (awqaf), notably to help the poor during of a text on medical anthropology, called Essential Information about the Classes the pilgrimage to Mecca. One of these Abu Ja‘far Ahmad ibn Abi l-Ash‘ath (d. 970). of Physicians (‘Uyun al-anba’ fi tabaqat endowments funded a hospital that she He described women as the weaker gender, al-atibba’), Ibn Abi Usaybi‘a (d. 1270) only founded. At her behest, Sinan ibn Thabit (d. saying: mentions one female doctor (tabiba): the 931), a prominent intellectual and physician, “For the creator, great and exalted, did legendary Zaynab, physician of the Banu set up the ‘Hospital of the Mistress’ not intend women to have wisdom, nor to Awd tribe, who is said to have treated (Bimaristan al-Sayyida) in the area of John’s engage in arts, crafts and agriculture, nor ophthalmia. Even if women are largely Market (suq Yahya) on the bank of the River to protect the cities and the lives [of their absent from medical historiography, we Tigris in Baghdad. It opened its gates on inhabitants]. He only intended them for know about them from indirect sources. 14 June 918. The Mistress contributed to the purpose of procreation; therefore, their In pre-Islamic and early Islamic poetry, the physical well-being of the population mixture is most appropriate for reproduction we can find examples of female carers. through these acts of Islamic charity1. and procreation2.” One warrior boasts that he has left many Yet, even during her lifetime Shaghab Women were not, however, content opponents behind who are mortally was often vilified; the male elite simply with just producing babies. Despite their wounded and describes the scene of women 657 LEGACY OF ARABIC MEDICINE trying in vain to cure them. Another warrior lambasted women for their incompetence competent woman doctor. As these are very brags that he does not care that the wounds and tried to persuade his readers not to uncommon, if you are without one, then he inflicted make a female physician (asiya) consult them5. seek a eunuch doctor as a colleague or bring shudder. Moreover, in the Tradition of the Documents from later times, and a midwife experienced in women’s ailments Prophet, the Hadith and the Sunna, we find especially Egypt, also show that there were or a woman to whom you may give some occasional reports about female carers. In some female physicians (tabiba). In one case, instruction in this art. Have her with you and the entourage of the Prophet Muhammad, a papyrus preserves a letter by a mother bid her to do all that you instruct7.” women such as Umm Qatiya or Umm to her daughter with medical advice; the This quotation highlights not only the Sulaym provided medical care to his male mother writes: rarity of fully trained female surgeons, companions. Incidentally these instances “I had written to you, my beloved but also the woman’s experience in being then provided a precedent for medical daughter, a letter before this one and sent treated by a male doctor. Although we contact between men and women in the with it a paper [cone] containing a remedy mostly do not know the details of how Islamic legal tradition: provided that there for your stomach. Write to me that you have women treated other women and men, we was necessity (darura), men could examine received [it] and that my letter has reached possess more information about how male women intimately and vice versa3. you, that you have drunk it [sc. the remedy] practitioners treated female patients. Literature can also serve as a source. and benefited from it. Write to me, so that The mesopotamian judge and litterateur I can be in good spirits [again], for [at the FEMALE PATIENTS al-Tanukhi (d. 994) relates the episode of a moment] I am extremely worried about you. Examination by male physicians man who contracted a disease that resulted I ask God to grant me relief6.” Al-Razi wrote a letter to one of his in pustules on his leg. As the man is in This is a poignant testimony to the fact students in which he admonishes a young the countryside and no male physician is that many women, whether as mothers, protégé about to embark on a high-flying available, he consults an old woman who wives, aunts or neighbours, provided career that will lead him to the palaces of the uses magic to treat him (‘ajuz tarqi fi hadha). medical care to their family and relations. powerful. Al-Razi lays down some general The old woman not only uses magic, but The Christian physician Sa’id ibn al-Hasan guidelines as to how to behave at court, also applies a dressing made of myrtle and (d. 1072), however, deplored the fact that but also offers specific advice about how to oil to the affected spot. She enjoins her people generally sought the counsel of interact with female patients. He says: male patient to leave the dressing for three their female relatives and neighbours and “Know, my son, that the physician ought to days. He does as he is bidden and when he exclaimed that it is a wonder that anybody be gentle to people, preserve their confidences takes off the dressing, the pustules have got cured at all. Yet this is again evidence and guard their secrets, especially of those disappeared4. for the fact that it was women who often in whose service he is. Someone may suffer provided most of what modern historians of from a disease that he hides even from his Male views on women practitioners medicine call bodywork – the basic medical most intimate friends and family such as his Old women such as the one mentioned care needed in so many instances. father, mother or son. They keep it secret from by al-Tanukhi, were not always viewed with All in all, however, we have very these close connections, while they necessarily a favourable eye by their male competition.