Abstract

The aims of this article were to evaluate and present the 36th and 60th chapters of Manafi al-Nas (Benefits of People), which related to pediatric diseases and deontological advice for physicians, respectively. The copy of Manafi al-Nas numbered 06 Hk 470 was determined as the main sample and was transliterated into the contemporary Turkish alphabet and then compared to copy number 06 Hk 269 to prepare and evaluate the 36th chapter related to pediatrics. The 60th chapter, in which Nida’i explained why he wrote the book and presented deontological advice for physicians, was also prepared from copy number 06 Hk 470. Nida’i described diseases and also interpreted some symptoms of diseases as illness in the pediatric chapter of Manafi al-Nas. He made direct treatment suggestions after he had presented symptoms or diseases without giving additional information about them. Treatment suggestions sometimes included one or more prescriptions in which mostly herbal but also animal drugs were. Magical or mystic/ religious treatment approaches were determined in some conditions. Nida’i related features that are necessary for physicians in the first part of his deontological advice, then praised his book Manafi al-Nas in the second part of couplets, and finally invoked God and prayed for both himself and for those for whom the book was written. In the pediatric chapter of the book (Chapter 36), examples are found clarifying that materialistic, magical, and then materialistic and religious medical applications originating from Central Asia were performed together, though there is a distinction between them. Based on similar examples in works from the 15th and 17th-18th centuries, it can be said that this process shows continuity. On the other hand, it was understood that advice for physicians was found in classical medical books in Islamic medicine, and Nida’i continued this custom.

Keywords: Nidâ’î, Menâfi‘ü’n-Nâs, çocuk hastalıkları, tıbbi deontoloji, tıp tarihi.

How to Cite

1.
Acıduman A. Physician Nidâ’î from Ankara and his famous work Manafi al-Nas (Benefits of People): a glance at pediatric diseases and medical deontology from the 16th century. Çocuk Sağlığı ve Hastalıkları Dergisi 2013; 56: 151-67. Available from: https://cshd.org.tr/article/view/188