Ibn al-Kattani

Life & Legacy

Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn al-Husayn Ibn al-Kattani al-Madhiji (Arabic: ابن الكتاني) (951–1029), sometimes nicknamed "al-Mutatabbib" (المتطبب 'the medical doctor'), was a well-known Arab scholar, philosopher, medical doctor, astrologer, man of letters, and poet.
Born in Córdoba in the Caliphate of Cordoba, he wrote books on logic, inference and deduction.
For some time he was the personal medical doctor of Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir, sultan of al-Andalus, and wrote The Treatment of Dangerous Diseases Appearing Superficially on the Body (Mu`alajat al-amrad al-khatirah al-badiyah `ala al-badan min kharij). It was cited by later writers, but thought to be now lost, until a copy of it was discovered among the manuscripts now at the National Library of Medicine. Much of the treatise is on the subject of poisonous bites.
Al-Kattani also wrote an anthology of Andalusian poetry, and became especially famous by his book on metaphor in Andalusian poetry.
He died in Zaragoza in 1029.