The medical compendium entitled Zād al-musāfir wa-qūt al-ḥāḍir (Provisions for the Traveller and the Nourishment for the Sedentary) and compiled by Ibn al-Jazzār from Qayrawān in the tenth century is one of the most influential medical handbooks in the history of western medicine. The current edition and translation include a wide variety of external afflictions.

Gerrit Bos, PhD (1989), is emeritus professor and chair of the Martin-Buber-Institut für Judaistik, Universität zu Köln