Joseph ben Aḥmad ibn Ḥasdai
JOSEPH BEN AḤMAD IBN ḤASDAI
JOSEPH BEN AḤMAD IBN ḤASDAI (also known as Ibn Hasdai ; 12th century), student of medicine, born in Spain of a father who converted to Islam. Joseph emigrated to Egypt, where the vizier Maʾmūn became his patron. Joseph maintained a friendship with Ibn Bajjā (Avempace), the Spanish philosopher, with whom he continued to correspond after his departure from Spain. Among his works are (1) Al-Sharḥ al-Maʾmūnī (Commentary on the Oath (Kitāb al Īmān) of Hippocrates). (2) Sharḥ al-Fuṣūl (Commentary on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates). (3) Fāwāʾīd (useful observations and extracts from the Commentary of Ali Ibn Riḍwān on the Glaukon of Galen). (4) Al-Qawl ʿalā Awwal al-Ṣināʿāt al-Ṣaghīra (Study of book one of Mikrotechnē of Galen).
bibliography:
Steinschneider, Arab Lit, 148–9; G. Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science, 2 pt. 1 (1931), 229–30; H. Friedenwald, The Jews and Medicine (1944), 174, 633.
[Isidore Simon]