AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF QUṬB AL-DIN SHĪRĀZĪ (A PERSIAN PHYSICIAN IN 14TH CENTURY AD) IN HIS MANUSCRIPT, AL-TUḤFA AL-SA'DĪYA.

https://doi.org/10.31952/amha.19.1.6 Quṭb al-Din Shīrāzī (1236-1311 AD), the Persian polymath had great contributions to the fields of philosophy, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, music, literature, and Islamic studies. He lived during the Ilkhanid kingdom in Iran. He wrote an autobiography in the preface of his medical manuscript, al-Tuḥfa al-Sa'dīya. He discussed his views on science and then, he explained his life story, in particular his education and contribution to science. He mentioned the reasons that led him to write al-Tuḥfa al-Sa'dīya, his main medical work. As a great polymath, he traveled to many countries, and his words cleared the scientific atmosphere of 14th century AD. Also, he directly introduced his teachers and their abilities and works. Furthermore, scientists who worked on the Canon of Medicine had commentaries on this book, which were comprehensively introduced in this autobiography.


Introduction
Persian medicine (PM),which is an old paradigm of medicine based on humoral theory, dates back to several thousand years ago 1 , 2 . In the early Islamic era (9-12 th century AD, called Islamic Golden Age), Persian physicians flourished in medical sciences and formed a global paradigm of medicine based on four elements while their books, like Canon of Medicine written by Avicenna (980-1037AD), became the main medical textbooks in the western universities until 17 th century AD 3 . Later, with the attack of the Mongols (north of China) on Persia and then on all Islamic territories, the scientific movement was stopped during the terrible invasion and massacre. Cities, schools, libraries, and many scientists were defeated and murdered 4 . Withthe fall of the Kharazmshahian kingdom in Iran by the Mongols, they founded their king- 1 Zargaran, Arman (2014), Ancient Persian medical views on the heart and blood in the Sassanid era (224-637 AD), International Journal of Cardiology, 172 (2), 307-312. 2 Tadjbakhsh, Hassan (2000),History of Veterinary medicine and medicine of Iran, Vol. 1, Tehran; University of Tehran Press. 3 Kordafshari, Gholamreza, Kenari, Hoorieh Mohammadi, Esfahani,Mohammad Mehdi, ShamsArdakani,Mohammad Reza, Keshavarz, Mansoor, Nazem,Esmaeil, Moghimi, Maryam, , Nutritional aspects to prevent heart diseases in traditional Persian medicine,Journal of Evidenced Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 20(1), 57-64. 4 Ramezany    11 . He had an autobiography in one of his books, al-Tuḥfa al-Sa'dīya.
The term autobiography or self-writing of the accounts of life by a person was first created by William Taylor in 1797 12 . However,this type of writings has a deeper root in history. "Confessions" of Augustine (354-430) are considered to be the earliest western autobiographies left, and there are many such documents in the east and the west, in particular after the medieval era 13 . Nevertheless, the writing of autobiographies was not too popular among Persian scientists in the ancient and medieval eras. The first reported one belongs to Borzouyeh (Perzoes in Latin), a Persian physician in the Sassanid kingdom (224-637AD) 14 . Also, Avicenna is another example.He had a short 5 Şahin, Hanifi (  autobiography reported by his pupil, Juzjani 15 .Quṭb al-Din Shīrāzī ( Fig. 1) isanother scientist-philosopher who had a comprehensive autobiography in his manuscript 16 . In this paper, theaim is to introduce this autobiography by translating it from Arabic to English. The original version of "Al-Tuḥfa al-Sa'dīya", written and copied in 1326 and kept in the Majlis Shura Library (MS no. 1177), was used for this translation.

Quṭb Al-Din ShĪrĀzĪ and his works
Quṭb al-Din was born in Shiraz, south of Persia in 1236AD, and died and was buried in Tabriz in 1311 (Fig. 2). He was a polymath and had many manuscripts in the fields of philosophy, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, music, literature, and Islamic studies 17 18 Hajiha, Abbas (2008), Qutb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī and his opinions and works, Peik Noor, 6 (4), 171-190. 19 Enjoo, Seyyed Ali, Mosavat, Seyyed Hamdollah, Heydari, Mojtaba   al-Dinwas a polymath and therefore discussed comprehensively the subjects based on his wide views and knowledge in different branches of sciences 22 .

Autobiographi of Quṭb Al-Din ShĪrĀzĪ
Quṭb al-Din wrote his autobiography in the preface to his manuscript, al-Tuḥfa al-Sa'dīya (Fig. 3).He initially discusses the importance of knowledge and science. Then, he described his contribution and interest in science, his meetings with scientists, and his efforts -to discover unknown issues. He went on to indicate that medicine is the most important field of science and its benefits aregreater than others, because the subject is the human body, as the most important creature. Also, medicine produces the things which human needs everywhere and forever. Furthermore, Quṭb al-Din believed that the methods of medicine were based on both experiment and proof. Therefore, he concluded that it is obvious to all nations and religions that medicine is the most important field of science. He continued his discussion with some of the prophets, holy men, and scientists' words on the importance of medicine. Afterward, he started his autobiography: "I belong to a family who was famous in medicine and even more because they succeeded in treatment and temperament correction, Jesus-like breathes and Moses-like hands. I was eager to learn medicine when I was very young. I forced myself to observe vigil and preventmy self from sleeping since I learned and investigated famous brief books of medicine and observed and researched common treatments and trained myself in any medical-related issues like ophthalmology and manipulation, e.g., 22 Mimura, T. (2013), 1-13.

of my uncle, Kamal al-Din Abul Kheir ibn Mosleh Kazerooni, who was the greatest philosopher. Then, I continued learning Canon by Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-hakim al_Kishi, the great researcher. Then, I learned the Canon under the teaching of Sharaf al-Din Zaki
Bushkani, the great polymath. These three persons were well known for teaching this book and could solve its challenges. God blessed them. However, these three persons could not cover all aspects of the book because this book is the hardest book in understanding this knowledge, although it includes exact scientific points and philosophical issues, and strange points that contemporary scientists were unable to understand. Therefore, I was disappointed at them and also from the commentaries I accessed them.

The commentary of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi is disappointing because he reviewed only some parts of the Canon and did not comment on the whole book. But, the commentaries of the persons who followed him like Imam Quṭb al-Dīn al-Miṣrī and Afḍal al-Dīn al-Khūnajī and Rafie al-Din Jili and Najm al-Dīn Nakhjavani have nothing more than the commentary of Fakhr al-Razi.
Therefore, I went close to Naṣir al-Dīn Ṭūsī, the greatest scientist and philosopher over the world and the greatest magister of all scientists. God bless him. Some challenges were solved, but some others remained unsolved because the only covering of philosophical aspects is not enough for understanding this book, but it is necessary that the person also has experience in medical practice.

Discussion
The autobiography has a long history, and Galen (129-210 CE), a Greek physician, is one of the pioneers in this subject. His autobiography was simple and contained only essential information about his life and treaties. Later, most scientists in Islamic civilization who have autobiographies followed a simple Galenic pattern to write their autobiographies 24 . However, Quṭb al-Din's autobiographyis completely different, and he has his own pattern. In Collectivism philosophy, science is a social subject that social developments affect 25 . Reviewing these effects of social impacts and the relations of people and government developments with science areconsidered by the sociology of knowledge 26 . It can be claimed that Quṭb al-Din was one of the pioneers in this subject in his autobiography and tried to discuss these social impacts and their relations to explain the scientific development of his era. He explainedhis life and his thinking on the scientific matters and reasons that led him to write al-Tuḥfa al-Sa'dīya, his main medical work. As a great polymath,he traveled to many countries, and his words cleared the scientific atmosphere of 14 th century AD. He also introduced his teachers and their abilities and works directly. Furthermore, the scientists worked on the Canon of Medicine and had commentaries on this book thatwere introduced comprehensively in this autobiography. He explained the commentaries on the book of Canon of Medicine and defined theirs trengths and weaknesses. Quṭb al-Dinpresented ascientific criticism for these commentaries and believed he solved their problems in his commentary. His words show the importance of the Canon of Medicine and Avicenna in the then scientific society across Islamic territories. Also, it is concluded that there was a great scientific atmosphere, including discussions and criticisms among scientists and scholars. Many scientists who followed the Canon of Medicine and others who criticized that book and deep 23 Majlis Shura Library, MS no. 1177, Qutb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī, Al-Tuḥfa al-Sa'dīya, Original manuscript, (1326). 24 Rosenthal, Franz (1937),Die arabische Autobiographie, Roma; Pontificium Institutum Biblicum. 25 Chalmers, Alan F. (1999),What Is This Thing Called Science? London; Open University Press. 26 Knoblauch, Hubert (2006), Wissenssoziologie, Stuttgart;UTB GmbH. discussions among them were mentioned. Furthermore, it shows the unity of science in Islamic lands and neighbors; from Transoxiana to Byzantium.
On the other hand, there are no other reports about many of the scientists he introduced, and this is the sole reference to them. It is too important because we can only know them from his report. Also, Shams al-Din Kishi and Sharaf al-Din Boushkani, two scholars who teach the Canon of Medicine and were introduced by Quṭb al-Din, are known as teachers of religious knowledge. This shows that the teaching of the Canon of Medicine began to be performed in religious teachings as well. This tradition continues to this day in Islamic teachings.
Another important point is considering the personal character of Quṭb al-Din according to his words. Quṭb al-Din has great self-confidence when he presents himself as a great scientist, but he also respects his teachers and the scientists who believed in their great impact on science. He has frank characteristics and criticizes the scientific characters of the scientists whom he presented free-hearted. Also, his work shows that his active personal character in scientific activities led him to travel all around the world at that time and actively discuss with different scholars.

Conclusion
The autobiography of Quṭb al-Din in al-Tuḥfa al-Sa'dīya is a unique work in Islamic literature. This work shows not only his life timeline but also his personal characteristics and the scientific atmosphere of his era. This work helps us tobetter understand the scientific and social impacts of that timeon Islamic civilization. It is an important report to review the social history of medicine.

Conflict of interest
There is no conflict of interest.