Water which does not wet hands: the alchemy of Michael Sendivogius

highlights the extent to which the Greek medical tradition has been assimilated, even at the level of popular and religious medical writing. Unfortunately, Al-Akili's translation is wildly exegetical; in some passages more than half of the content of the translation is not to be found in the Arabic. On contagion, for example, one tradition simply states the following: "In the delegation of [the tribe of] Thaqif there was a man afflicted by leprosy. The Prophet-may the blessing and peace of God be upon him-sent [word] to him: 'Go home; we accept your covenant."' For this the translation has: "... a delegation from the tribe of Thuqaif [sic!] came to Medina to declare its faith, and to allege its loyalty to God's path. With them, they brought a man who was afflicted with a severe and incurable leprous condition. Prior to their presenting the man before him, God's Messenger-may the blessing and peace of God be upon him-sent a word to him, 'Return to your home, we have accepted your convenant."' The text is also peppered with anachronisms; wishing to stress the debt of modem medicine to that of medieval Islam, Al-Akili routinely translates as if Ibn Qayyim knew of such distinctly modern scientific notions as, inter alia, microsleep, and adds many "modernizing" headings and sub-headings not present in the original Arabic. Names and transcriptions of Arabic words are often inaccurate, the text lacks the explanatory notes required to elucidate the text for the nonArabic reader, and much of the Introduction is dubious or irrelevant. Prepared for the benefit of the non-Arabic reading Muslim and published as a pious Islamic contribution to modern medicine (both translator and publisher disclaim any responsibility for use of the book without professional medical advice), the translation highlights the central position of Ibn Qayyim's contribution to this literature over the past six centuries, and more generally, the important place that continues to be given to the Medicine of the Prophet in the contemporary Islamic world. More's the pity, then, that this English version cannot be considered an accurate representation of what Ibn Qayyim actually wrote on the subject.