American Research Journal of English and Literature

Ibn Khātima (c.1324-c.1369) is a noted writer of the Medieval Arab Spain. He was poet, historian and, over all, physician. His main work in the field of medicine is titled in Arabic Taḥṣīl garaḍ al-qāṣid fī-tafṣīl al maraḍ al wāfid (Succeeding in clarify pest disease), known simply as Taḥṣīl, which deals with the Black Death, the pandemic that devastated Asia, Africa and Europe in the 14th century. This paper focuses on this important book and includes the causes of this terrible plague described by Ibn Khātima according to the scientific knowledge of Islamic Middle Ages. Moreover, the article also discusses the connection of the Taḥṣīl to scientific discoveries of the 19th and the 20th centuries in relation to the contagion theory in the disease. And, ultimately, it contains the English translation of some fragments of the Taḥṣīl taking as reference the Arabic manuscript n.1785 from the Library of El Escorial at Madrid.