Silent Sources of the History of Epidemics in the Islamic World: Literature of Ta'un/Plague Treatises

Abstract

From 1347 onwards, a new literature emerged in the Islamic and Western worlds: the prtin or plague treatises. The literature in lslamdom was underpinned by three things: (i) Since the first epidemic was a phenomenon that has been experienced since the birth of Islam, taun has naturally been on the agenda of hadith sources, prophetic biography, and historical works. This agenda was reflected in the treatises as discussions around epidemics, particularly plague, as well as the fight against disease in general on a religious and jurisprudential ground. (ii) Works aimed at defining plague and dealing with various aspects of it tried to explain the disease on the basis of Galenic Avicennian medicine, within the framework of the miasma doctrine, thus deriving their basis from this medical paradigm. (iii) Finally, the encounter with such a brutal illness prompted a quest for all possible remedies, including the occultist culture. This background shaped the language and content of the treatises at different levels. This article first evaluates the modern studies on plague treatises written in Islamic world. Then, it surveys the Islamic historical sources, in order to pin down the meaning they assign to the concepts of waba (epidemic disease) and taun (plague) Certain medical works, which were sources of medical doctrines and terminology for plague treatises, are also evaluated with a focus on these two concepts. The aim of this survey, then, is to understand the general conception of epidemic disease and plague in the Islamic world before Black Death (1346-1353). The characteristics of plague treatises literature, which constitute the main subject of the article, are discussed and analyzed, and a database for the literature is presented. While the works from the Mamluk and Ottoman periods constitute a continuous tradition in some respects, Ottoman treatises differ from the Mamluk works with certain features, especially in their content. Although this study touches on the common aspects of the works from the two periods, it rather analyzes the literature in question with a focus on points where the two traditions diverge.