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In 1768, A¿mad al-Damanh¿r¿ became the rector (shaykh) of al-Azhar, which was one of the most authoritative and respected positions in the Ottoman Empire. He occupied this position until his death. Despite being a prolific author, whose writings are largely extant, al-Damanh¿r¿ remains almost unknown, and much of his work awaits study and analysis. This book aims to shed light on al-Damanh¿r¿'s diverse intellectual background, and that of and his contemporaries, building on and continuing the scholarship on the academic thought of the late Ottoman Empire.
The book specifically investigates the intersection of medical and religious knowledge in Eighteenth-Century Egypt. It takes as its focus a manuscript on anatomy by al-Damanh¿r¿ (d. 1778), entitled "
The Clear Statement on the Science of Anatomy (
al-qawl al-¿ar¿¿ f¿ ¿ilm al-tashr¿¿),". The book includes an edited translation of
The Clear Statement, which is a well-known but unstudied and unpublished manuscript. It also provides a summary translation and analysis of al-Damanh¿r¿'s own intellectual autobiography. As such, the book provides an important window into a period that remains deeply understudied and a topic that continues to cause debates and controversies.
This study, therefore, will be of keen interest to scholars working on the "post-Classical" Islamic world, as well as historians of religion, science, and medicine looking beyond Europe in the Early Modern period.
List of contents
Introduction
Part I: The study of al-Damanh¿r¿'s life and career 1 Al-Damanh¿r¿: the life of a scholar 2 The Education of Ahmad al-Damanh¿r¿ 3 Medicine and Religion in al-Damanh¿r¿'s Clear Statement; Postscript Al-Damanh¿r¿ in Anticipation: Writing Postcolonially
Part II: The Clear Statement-a translation; A note on translation;
The Clear Statement-Translation
About the author
Ahmed Ragab is Richard T. Watson Associate Professor of Science and Religion, Affiliate Associate Professor at the Department of the History of Science, and Director of the Science, Religion and Culture program at Harvard University, USA. He is a physician, a historian of science and medicine, and a scholar of science and religion.
Summary
This book investigates the intersection of medical and religious knowledge in eighteenth-century Egypt. It takes as its focus a manuscript on anatomy by al-Damanhuri (d. 1778), entitled The Clear Statement on the Science of Anatomy.
Additional text
‘Medicine and Religion in the Life of an Ottoman Sheikh is a brilliant work. This book is a much-needed contribution to the history of medicine and intellectual life in the late Ottoman Empire. The translation is elegant and finely wrought and the accompanying chapters bring to life the intellectual milieu of Shaykh Ahmad al-Damanhuri, one of the most significant intellectuals of late Ottoman Egypt.’ – Jennifer L. Derr, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA
