The literary genre and compositional tradition of Man Lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Ṭabīb (medical guidelines for those lacking access to a physician) represents one of the most invaluable, practical, and influential currents in the history of medical literature. This genre emerged to promote self-care, enhance public health preservation (Ḥifẓ al-Ṣiḥḥa), and provide basic therapeutic interventions utilizing readily accessible simple drugs (Materia Medica) when skilled physicians were unavailable. Although the historical roots of this tradition can be traced back to the texts of ancient medical schools, it achieved a remarkable zenith of structural maturity and proliferation during the Islamic civilization. Given that this significant historical current has rarely been scrutinized through a cohesive typological approach, the present research was undertaken to identify, comprehensively introduce, and trace the historical evolution of this literary form. Adopting a descriptive-historical and bibliographic methodology, this qualitative study is predicated on a systematic survey of authoritative domestic and international manuscript catalogs (such as Fankha, Al-Fihrist, Gallica, and Şeşen) alongside academic databases. Data analysis reveals that the corpus associated with this genre can be classified into two macro-categories: “lost works,” whose titles are merely attested in surviving historical texts (e.g., the treatises of Rufus of Ephesus, Oribasius, Philagrius, and ʿĪsā ibn Māssa), and “extant works,” whose manuscripts are preserved to this day (including the enduring treatises treatises of Muhammad ibn Zakarīyā al-Rāzī, Ibn Jumayʿ, Ibn al-Akfānī, Ibn al-ʿAjlānī, Jamal al-Din Tabib, and Al-Azraqī al-Yamanī). The findings demonstrate that despite sharing a fundamental mission to popularize and democratize medical knowledge, these treatises exhibit substantial divergence in their theoretical frameworks and the breadth of their content. Ultimately, texts belonging to the Man Lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Ṭabīb genre have not only played a pivotal role in the popularization of science and the preservation of indigenous therapeutic heritage, but have also transcended the strict boundaries of medicine. They functioned as structural and conceptual paradigms for compiling reference works across other disciplines within the Islamic sciences, and their study offers a novel vantage point into the history of public health. |
