Quṭb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī’s Commentary on Ibn Sīnā’s Qānūn in Historical Context: Edition and Translation of the Preface

Abstract

Ibn Sīnā’s al-Qānūn fī l-ṭibb, especially its first book, al-Kulliyyāt, elicited dozens of commentaries from the 6th/12th century through the 8th/14th century. Among them, Quṭb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī’s commentary, entitled al-Tuḥfa al-saʿdiyya, is distinguished in that in it he analyzed and synthesized almost all commentaries written before his death in 710/1311. This article shows how Shīrāzī bridged some of the political boundaries that divided the Islamic world after the Mongol invasion to gather his predecessors’ commentaries, as well as other sources for composing al-Tuḥfa al-saʿdiyya. Shīrāzī’s extensive travels and proximity to patronage allowed him to acquire, and later disseminate, medical and scientific texts that were otherwise unavailable in Anatolia and the eastern territories of the Islamic world.