Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Harawi ( fa, محمد بن یوسف هروی, fl. 1492-1518 and died 1542) was a

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

n late 15th century

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

from

Herat Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safē ...

, Safavid Iran, now part of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. In 1518 he composed, in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

, an alphabetical

medical dictionary A medical dictionary is a lexicon for words used in medicine. The three major medical dictionaries in the United States are '' Stedman's'', ''Taber's'', and ''Dorland's''. Other significant medical dictionaries are distributed by Elsevier. Dict ...

and encyclopedia. It covers anatomical and

pathological Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in th ...

terms and concepts, medicinal substances, and prominent physicians, with all the entries arranged alphabetically. This medical lexicon, titled 'Jawahir al-lughah wa-Bahr al-jawahir', has three chapters: the first explaining terminology for parts of the body (in alphabetical order), the second on the names of simple and compound drugs (also in alphabetical order), and the third on names of diseases, presented in order from head to toe according to their locations. An autograph copy of Jawahir al-lughah exists in which the author states that he completed the correction of the treatise in 1492 (London, Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine, MS Arab. 143). His other work, “Ainul Hayat” is based on Ageing. The original manuscript of Ainul Hayat was written in 1532 by the author in

. There are four copies of this old manuscript reported in various libraries of the world. It is stated that this is the first text on ageing in the world. After collation of these four copies of the manuscript, Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman edited and translated the manuscript in 2007. In the edited book, one can find how the author 500 years back discussed all types of behavioral and lifestyle factors including diet, environment and housing conditions related to ageing. He also discussed what drugs could increase and decrease ageing.

References

See also