Hakim Shifai (16th Century AD): Bibliography and Contributions to Medicine and Pharmacology

Introduction

The Safavid dynasty ruled Iran between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries and is considered a prominent and golden period for the advancement of medical sciences in the history of medicine in Iran. During this period, great scholars such as Imad al-Din Mahmud ibn Mas’ud Shirazi, Hakim M’omen, and Hakim Arzani wrote several seminal works on medicine and pharmacology. Nevertheless, one of the influential scholars of this era was Hakim Shifai. He was one of the renowned scholars in the medical history of Iran who lived in the early Safavid era. (Tadjbakhsh, 2000; Rezaei Orimi, and Asadi, 2022). To the best of our knowledge, no research has been conducted on this great scholar and his works in the current literature, and thus, the purpose of this study is to present the scientific life and prominent works of Hakim Shifai.

Methods

This study is registered under the ethical code IR.MUBABOL.HRI.REC.1401.027 with the Ethics Committee of Babol University of Medical Sciences. Data was collected through an extensive evaluation of historical library documents in both Arabic and Persian and an extensive review of contemporary literature in English, conducted through searches in databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct, Google Scholar, Google Book, SID, Irandoc, Iranmdex, and Magiran.

Results

1- The Biography of Hakim Shifai

Mozaffar ibn Mohammad Hosseini Shifai Kashani Isfahani, known as Hakim Shifai, was an Iranian physician and pharmacist (16th century AD) who lived in the early Safavid period in Kashan City, Isfahan Province. Hakim Shifai was from the Lajevardin family and, in addition to practicing medicine, was involved in writing books on medicine and pharmacology. In addition, he had authority over wisdom, ethics, Persian literature, and poetry. Hakim Shifai was a devout Muslim and a physician during the Safavid era, when many scholars and physicians, such as Sharaf al-Din Hassan Shirazi and Kamal al-Din Hossein Shirazi, were known for excessive alcohol consumption and the use of narcotics like opium. Unlike them, there are no historical records of Hakim Shifai engaging in such practices or, at the very least, his abstinence is not mentioned in historical accounts. Moreover, he preferred not to seek fame by dedicating his works to the names of the Safavid Shahs or Viziers (Elgood, 1978).

2- Shifai’s Qarabadin (Mozafari’s Qarabadin)

Shifai’s Qarabadin, or Mozafari’s Qarabadin, published in 1532 AD by Hakim Shifai, was an encyclopedia of drug information. Enough of its importance is that it was translated by Ange de Saint Joseph or Joseph de la Brosse (1636-1697AD), the French Carmelite missionary individual who lived in Isfahan at that time, into Latin under the title Pharmacopeia Persica in 1681 AD. In the prologue of Qarabadin, Hakim Shifai stated: The purpose of writing the book [Shifai’s Qarabadin or Mozafari’s Qarabadin] was to provide an exhaustive Qarabadin to meet the need of medical scholars in referring to other books.” He arranged the information on drugs in alphabetical order to ease readers’ access. Shifai’s Qarabadin included pharmacological applications of each drug and administration methods, as well as the type and the amount of each ingredient of therapeutic agents (Figure 1). This book is also known as “Abajadieh va Morakkabat,” “Advieh-e-Tibbi,” “Jameah Mostaghni,” “Tibb-e-Shifai,” “Shafa al-Alil,” “Fava’ed-e-Shafayieh,” “Shafaieh,” “Kolliat-e-Shafaie” and “Mo’alejat-e-Amraz,”. This indicates the widespread recognition and influence of the work among both the noble and common populations within the medical community.(Tadjbakhsh, 2000; Zargaran, and Zarshenas, 2017).

3- Shifai’s Kholaseh (Synopsis of Shifai’s Qarabadin)

In contrast to Shifai’s Qarabadin, around thirty-four copies of Shifai’s Kholaseh are available in Iran. Of the few other existing copies, one dates back to 1654 AD and is available in the Islamic Heritage Revival Center library. This manuscript is written in 384 large pages. It includes two books, the first of which is classified into three topics: 1) principles of maintaining health, 2) principles of treatment of diseases, and 3) monographs on drugs. The second book consists of three main chapters, including diseases of each organ, other diseases, and medicinal information. The author declared that the “abundant passion for studying the works of ancient and antecedent scholars and physicians” was the reason for writing this book. Therefore, he did not summarize the contents but mentioned all significant points discussed in the studied books to the greatest extent possible. Moreover, the information in Arabic books was translated into Persian. Hakim Shifai did not state which books were used as references in writing “Shifai’s Kholaseh”. While some chapter titles are written in Arabic, the author provides their Persian translations when elaborating on their meanings. Shifai did not raise his own clinical and personal experiences in this book. Notably, Hakim Shifai did not dedicate this book to any contemporaneous kings or governmental seniors. This can be one of the reasons his book did not become popular (Shifai, 1064 AH/ 1653 AD).

Figure 1. The first two pages of Shifai’s Qarabadin (1673 AD), in the Library, Museum, and Document Center of Iran Parliament (Shifai, 1673)

4- Resaleh Bahieh (Treatise on the Sexual Organ Functions and Dysfunctions)

Another work written by Shifai in the field of medicine is Resaleh Bahieh, which discoursed on sexual organ functions and dysfunctions. This treatise is in Persian, and a version of the manuscript in Nastaliq script is available in the Library, Museum, and Document Center of Iran Parliament.(Shifai, 952 AH/ 1545 AD).

5- Akhlagh-e-Shifai (Shahi’s Ethics)

This ethics book on moral virtues and vices is written in Persian. The foundations of wisdom in Iran, the thoughts and opinions of the author, a preface of royal ethics, morality, chastity, courage, justice, good character, conformity and tolerance, contentment, patience, modesty, humility, trust and religion, envy, lust, and greed are discussed. This book comprises an introduction to the virtues of knowledge and wisdom, an article on moral virtues (21 chapters), and an article on vices (17 chapters). Shifai has used numerous examples and anecdotes of his time to provide better insight into issues and has also used verses from the Holy Quran and hadiths in appropriate places. This book is also known as “Akhlagh-e-Shahi” which mainly preached to Shahs (Shifai, 2014; Elgood, 1978) (Table 1).

Hakim Shifai’s Influence on the Medical Knowledge of the Safavid Era

The works of Hakim Shifai, especially Shifai’s Qarabadin, gained considerable attention from numerous physicians and scholars during and after the Safavid period. For instance, one of the most important sources Hakim M’omen ibn Mohammad Zaman Tonekaboni (17^th century AD) used for writing the book Tohfa al-Momenin, was likely to be Shifai’s Qarabadin (Elgood, 1978). There are many manuscripts of Shifai’s Qarabadin, and around 127 copies are available in Iran’s public libraries. Although some of these manuscripts originated during the Safavid era, others were created in subsequent periods. This demonstrates the enduring significance and influence of the book. A few archaic versions of these manuscripts are available in Iranian libraries as follows:

• Manuscript belonging to the National Library of the Islamic Republic of Iran, written in Nastaliq script, on 1616 AD, in 125 pages (The oldest manuscript of Shifai’s Qarabadin);

• Manuscript belonging to Tehran University Central Library, written in Naskh script, on 1672 AD, in 211 pages;

• Manuscript belonging to Library, Museum and Document Center of Iran Parliament, written in Nastaliq script, on 1673 AD, in Amol in 169 pages;

• Manuscript belonging to the National Library of the Islamic Republic of Iran, written in Nastaliq script, on 1681 AD, in 212 pages.

Six copies of Shifai’s Qarabadin in the National Library of Iran were written during the Safavid period in the early 17th-18th centuries. After the Safavid period, Shifai’s Qarabadin continued to be used by physicians and scholars, and thus, different copied versions were prepared. For instance, some copies were written in the years 1803 AD (by Mohammad Hossein Khoei), 1809 AD, 1813 AD (by Abbas Valad-e-Karbalaei Mohammad in Najaf Abad city), 1829 AD, 1858 AD (by Ali Akbar Maravi), and 1904 AD. After Shifai’s death, Qarabadin was used as a scientific textbook for medical scholars for a long time.(Mahdavi, 2018)

Conclusion

The bibliography of Hakim Shifai, an Iranian physician and scholar of the 16th century AD, shows his seminal contributions to medicine and pharmacology.

Authors’ Contribution

The authors confirm their contribution to the paper as follows: Conceptualization, Supervision, Validation, Writing- Reviewing and Editing: Zahra Aghabeiglooei and Jamal Rezaei Orimi. Investigation, Resources, Writing- Reviewing and Editing: Narges Tajik and Aliakbar Vatanparast. Methodology, Software, Formal analysis, Writing- Reviewing and Editing: Mohammad Amrollahi-Sharifabadi and Zahra Aghabeiglooei. Investigation: Morteza Mojahedi and Zahra Aghabeiglooei. Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing- Original draft preparation: Zahra Aghabeiglooei and Morteza Mojahedi.

All authors read and approved the final version of the work.

Funding

None.

Conflict of Interest

None.

References

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