Date of Hijama (Cupping) in Andalusia

Date of Hijama (Cupping) in Andalusia

By Dr. Ahmed Saleh, PhD.

     

The Muslim doctors in Andalusia play big role in Al Hijama (Cupping Therapy), In the cradle of Islamic civilization in Andalusia, the Muslim doctors offer great achievements in the medical field, and the achievements made ​​by Al-Zahrawi in Al Hijama (Cupping) is great in this time.

     The introduction of the writings of Abū al-Qāsim Khalaf ibn Abbās al-Zahrāwī better known as Abulcasis (d. ca. 1013)—to Western Europe was through the Latin translation of his surgical treatise (maqālah) by Gerard of Cremona (d. 1187)

He talk about Al Hijama in chapter of his book, on cupping, mentions the use of cups made of horns, wood, copper, or glass, according to circumstances and the availability of material. The methods of treatment are divided into two kinds: dry cupping, with or without fire, and wet cupping (see fig. 19). He prescribes ointments and aromatic and medicated waters to be applied before and after cupping to facilitate healing. Only when cupping is not possible, as on the nose, fingers, and similar parts of the human body, does he propose the use of leeches for treatment.30 Evidently this is an indication that he did not, as generally supposed, encourage the widespread use of leeches.

Figure 19.—Cupping. Top, from original Arabic manuscript (Tüb. MS. 91), courtesy Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen. Bottom, from Argellata 1531, courtesy National Library of Medicine.

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