Comparison of the Content of Maddetü'l Hayat in Akşemseddin and Avicenna

Abstract

Akşemseddin (d. 863/1459), known as the spiritual conqueror of Istanbul, became very famous for his Sufi identity as well as his medicine. In addition to his works in the field of Sufism, Risaletü'n-Nuriyye, Makamat-ı Evliya and Defʿu meṭâʿini'ṣ-ṣûfiyye, he also wrote a work called Maddetü'l Hayat, which still needs to be studied in the field of medicine. In his work, he touched on issues such as the hereditary nature of the disease and cancer, and also mentioned the microbe at least a century before the Italian physician Fracastor (d.1553), who gave precise information about microbes and transmission. Akşemseddin said that the medicine of the same name, also known as the blessed liquid, which bears the same name as his work on a dream he had, would be good for all kinds of diseases.

As a result of the researches, it has been determined that ruby, mercury and sulfur, which are included in the content of the maddetü'l hayat, which Akşemseddin said was a cure, were used by many physicians in the past. One of these physicians is Avicenna, who lived four centuries before Akşemseddin and wrote many important works in the fields of music, philosophy and medicine such as ash-Shifa, an-Najât, Uyûnü'l-ḥikma. His work El-Kanun Fi’t Tıbb, which he wrote in the field of medicine, left its mark on the period in which he lived and was taught as a textbook in the west for years. In this work, which has an important place in the history of medicine, Avicenna did not mention a medicine that would cure every panacea like Akşemseddin. However, he frequently used ruby, mercury and especially sulfur in his prescriptions for treatments. This study was written in order to compare the content of Avicenna's work called El-Kanun Fi’t Tıbb with the content of Maddetü'l Hayat, which is said to be a cure for all problems, and to determine the similarities and differences in the places where they are used.