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Ignacio Sánchez
  • Escuela de Traductores de Toledo
    Plaza de Santa Isabel, 5
    45002 Toledo (Spain)
Research Interests:
I. Sánchez, "Arabic and Persian Materials", in Chiara Thumiger (Ed.), Comparative Guts: Exploring the Inside of the Body through Time and Space (Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Exzellenzcluster ROOTS, Kiel, 2024): 109-113.
Endowment Studies, 7/2 (2024): 127–153 The first part of this article, published in 2021, discussed the status of medicine within Islamic societies and changing attitudes towards this discipline until the Ayyubid period that led to the... more
Endowment Studies, 7/2 (2024): 127–153

The first part of this article, published in 2021, discussed the status of medicine within Islamic societies and changing attitudes towards this discipline until the Ayyubid period that led to the so-called Islamisation of medicine. This second part will survey the sources conveying information about a unique phenomenon that took place in seventh/thirteenth-century Damascus: the endowment of madrasas for the study of medicine.
The animal fables of Indian origin collected in Kalīla and Dimna have reached all corners of the world in translations and adaptations made throughout history. This work has also served as inspiration – often unknowingly – for authors who... more
The animal fables of Indian origin collected in Kalīla and Dimna have reached all corners of the world in translations and adaptations made throughout history. This work has also served as inspiration – often unknowingly – for authors who cultivated different genres. This article explores some aspects of the pre-history and reception of Kalīla and Dimna by focusing on an allegorical element that appears in the introductory chapters attributed to Burzoy and was later developed in Arabic literature: the “baby in the womb” motif and the relationship between the origin of life, the divide between the natural world and the hereafter, and its manifestation in literature. The first part of the article traces the embryological notions used in this work back to a Buddhist sutra, the Garbhāvakrāntisūtra (Descent of the Embryo Scripture). The second part of the article analyses the use of the “baby in the womb” motif in varied examples of Shiʿite literature, in which it is part of narratives that address the problem of human suffering and use embryological descriptions to advocate renunciation and asceticism.
Sánchez, Ignacio. "A Religious Polemic in Galenic Garb? Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq's (d. 260/873) Kitāb al-Karma (On Vines) and his Encomium of Wine." Rhetorica, vol. 41 no. 3, 2023, p. 250-278. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/article/910300. Ḥunayn ibn... more
Sánchez, Ignacio. "A Religious Polemic in Galenic Garb? Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq's (d. 260/873) Kitāb al-Karma (On Vines) and his Encomium of Wine." Rhetorica, vol. 41 no. 3, 2023, p. 250-278. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/article/910300.

Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq (192–260/808–873) is mainly known as a translator of Greek works into Arabic, but he was also a prolific author. This article focuses on one of his least known treatises, On Vines (Kitāb al-Karma), which still remains unedited. On Vines is an eclectic and unclassifiable work that combines different genres. It has been traditionally considered a dietetic treatise on the properties of vine products inserted in the Galenic tradition. But On Vines is also a disputation on the excellence of trees written in the form of questions and answers and, ultimately, a polemical encomium of wine that relies for its effect on the opinions of ancient Greek authorities such as Homer, Diogenes, Aristotle, Socrates or Theophrastus. In this article I analyse the structure of the treatise, identifiying its generic affiliations and the rhetorical strategies deployed by Ḥunayn. I discuss specially the long sections on wine and Ḥunayn's defence of the virtues of this drink against its critics, arguing that the structure of the treatise is also determined by the religious implications of praising wine in an Islamic environment.
In: Francesca Bellino , Catherine Mayeur-Jaouen , and Luca Patrizi (Eds.), L’adab, toujours recommencé:  "Origins", Transmissions, and Metamorphoses of Adab literature (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2023): 169–215
"The Jawāmiʿ al-Tawba. Vice and Repentance in the Margins of the Mamluk Society", in The Mamluk Sultanate and Its Periphery, ed. F. Bauden (Louvain: Peeters, 2023): 113-139
Naṣīḥat al-muḥibb fī dhamm al-takassub bi-l-ṭibb, a largely autobiographical treatise by the otherwise unknown Cairene physician Ibrāhīm ibn Yuḥannā al-Wajīh al-Qalyūbī (fl. second half of the seventh century AH/ thirteenth century CE),... more
Naṣīḥat al-muḥibb fī dhamm al-takassub bi-l-ṭibb, a largely autobiographical treatise by the otherwise unknown Cairene physician Ibrāhīm ibn Yuḥannā al-Wajīh al-Qalyūbī (fl. second half of the seventh century AH/ thirteenth century CE), offers a unique account of the lives of street medical practitioners. Although written as a piece of advice warning students about the dangers that the practice of medicine poses for them in this world and the hereafter, this work is a treasure trove of information about the life of physicians beyond the walls of the court and the attitude of the common people towards them and their art. In this essay I will survey and discuss al-Qalyūbī's complaints about the poor living conditions of physicians, the challenge of their authority by female medical practitioners, the predominance of Jews in the profession, and the dangers that the practice of medicine entails, according to al-Qalyūbī, for the intellect and the religious convictions of physicians.
Uwe Vagelpohl and Ignacio Sánchez, "Why Do We Translate? Arabic Sources on Translation," in Dimitri Gutas (Ed.), Why Translate Science? Documents from Antiquity to the 16th Century in the Historical West (Bactria to the Atlantic) (Leiden... more
Uwe Vagelpohl and Ignacio Sánchez, "Why Do We Translate? Arabic Sources on Translation," in Dimitri Gutas (Ed.), Why Translate Science? Documents from Antiquity to the 16th Century in the Historical West (Bactria to the Atlantic) (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2022): 254–376.
This is the first of a two-part article that aims at discussing the creation of medical madrasas for Muslims in 7th/13th-century Damascus. This part briefly examines the relationship between medical practitioners and rulers, especially in... more
This is the first of a two-part article that aims at discussing the creation of medical madrasas for Muslims in 7th/13th-century Damascus. This part briefly examines the relationship between medical practitioners and rulers, especially in the Ayyubid period, and studies a number of works written by religious scholars and physicians —often addressed to their patrons—, in which they tackled problems affecting the practice of medicine and its scientific status. I particularly focus on the polemics against pietistic groups who adhered to the doctrine of tawakkul (reliance on God), the emergence of the genre of “prophetic medicine”, and the denunciation of those physicians who impugned the universality of medical principles. This article will provide a wide contextualisation for the discussion of the phenomena that lead to the creation of medical madrasas, which will be analysed in detail in the second part.
The most famous piece of the collection of Rasāʾil written by the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ is probably the animal fable included in Epistle 22, known in its English translation as “The Case of the Animals versus Man before the King of the Jinn.”... more
The most famous piece of the collection of Rasāʾil written by the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ is probably the animal fable included in Epistle 22, known in its English translation as “The Case of the Animals versus Man before the King of the Jinn.” The complexity and thematic richness of the work allows multiple readings and it has often been interpreted as a fable denouncing cruelty against animals. The abrupt ending of the work recognising the superiority of men, however, seems to contradict the ecological spirit that animates the debate. This article approaches this contradiction from a narratological point of view. Together with the genre of animal fables, especially the Kalīla wa-Dimna, the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ rely heavily on the tradition of the qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ to recreate a setting that would have evoked in the educated audiences both the descriptions of the pre-Adamite era, where animals were free and had the ability to speak, and the consequences of the creation of Adam and his preordained fall. The recognition of these parallelisms and other proleptic clues creates a gap between the expectations of the characters and those of the readers, which can be interpreted as dramatic irony.
This article serves as an introduction to the new journal Endowment Studies ( ENDS ). Besides laying out the scope and goals of the periodical, it also charts the broader arc of historical scholarship on endowments. More specifically, the... more
This article serves as an introduction to the new journal Endowment Studies ( ENDS ). Besides laying out the scope and goals of the periodical, it also charts the broader arc of historical scholarship on endowments. More specifically, the development of the research on foundations is summarized in four fields, namely Medieval Studies, Byzantine Studies, Islamic Studies and Indology. Furthermore, a general vocabulary for the core features of foundations is also proposed.
Research Interests:
This article serves as an introduction to the new journal Endowment Studies (ENDS). Besides laying out the scope and goals of the periodical, it also charts the broader arc of historical scholarship on endowments. More specifically, the... more
This article serves as an introduction to the new journal Endowment Studies (ENDS). Besides laying out the scope and goals of the periodical, it also charts the broader arc of historical scholarship on endowments. More specifically, the development of the research on foundations is summarized in four fields, namely Medieval Studies, Byzantine Studies, Islamic Studies and Indology. Furthermore, a general vocabulary for the core features of foundations is also proposed.
The notable and distinguished adīband theologian of the third/ninth century, al-Jāḥiẓ, is usually not associated with the study of ḥadīth. On the contrary, he has frequently been considered a vitriolic critic of the experts on traditions... more
The notable and distinguished adīband theologian of the third/ninth century, al-Jāḥiẓ, is usually not associated with the study of ḥadīth. On the contrary, he has frequently been considered a vitriolic critic of the experts on traditions and some of his works have even been interpreted as a demolition of the science of ḥadīth. However, a careful reading of his writings reveals a quite different picture. In this article, al-Jāḥiẓ’s treatises on the imamate — and especially the most extended one, the Kitāb al-ʿUthmāniyya— will be scrutinised and discussed in the light of the author’s acquaintance with the tradition of legal hermeneutics as described in al-Shāfiʿī’s Risāla.
Articles included in Michael Borgolte (Ed.), Enzyklopädie der Stiftungen in mittelalterlichen Gesellschaften, vol. 2 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015)
Research Interests:
The Almohads, who presented themselves as a minority of true believers, provide a paradigmatic case of religious elitism. The aim of this article is to study the representation of Almohad elitism and the myth of Ibn Tūmart in contrast... more
The Almohads, who presented themselves as a minority of true believers, provide a paradigmatic case of religious elitism. The aim of this article is to study the representation of Almohad elitism and the myth of Ibn Tūmart in contrast with the legitimizing narrative used by previous North African movements. In the first section, I briefly survey the Berber movements in North Africa and the creation of new dynasties of Berber origin or supported by Berbers. In the second, I analyse the relationship of the religious discourse adopted by these states to the dialectic between Arabs and non‐Arabs, and will address the historical evolution of this narrative, focusing mainly on those expressions of ethnicity that might be connected with religious claims whereby the Berbers are represented as a spiritual minority. The third and final part examines the case of Ibn Tūmart and Almohad religious elitism in the light of this literary tradition, arguing that the exaltation of the figure of Ibn Tūmart as the Mahdī, and the depiction of the Almohad elites as his supporters, are deeply rooted in the tradition that represents the Berbers as the new supporters of Islam [anṣār]. The appropriation and use of this narrative, however, is based on a geographical – rather than ethnic – opposition, and can be analysed as an Almohad variation of the theme of translatio studii et imperii which reflects a change of religious and intellectual legitimacy from the Mashriq to the Maghrib.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Persons interested in attending the conference are welcome to register by sending an e-mail to mamems@uni-mainz.de. An e-mail with a Zoom link for the workshop will be sent shortly before the start of the conference.
Research Interests:
La Escuela de Traductores de Toledo (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha) organiza en mayo y junio un ciclo de conferencias con el título “Utopías y distopías en el mundo islámico y la literatura árabe”. El ciclo incluye las siguientes... more
La Escuela de Traductores de Toledo (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha) organiza en mayo y junio un ciclo de conferencias con el título “Utopías y distopías en el mundo islámico y la literatura árabe”. El ciclo incluye las siguientes ponencias:

15 de mayo - Maribel Fierro (CSIC), Al-Andalus: historia, imaginarios y emociones
22 de mayo - Ignacio Sánchez (UCLM), “Utopías ecológicas” islámicas y su recepción europea
29 de mayo - Antonio García Espada (UNED), Fascinación medieval por el Oriente mongol
5 de junio – Salvador Peña (U. de Málaga), Las mil y una noches y la utopía de los libros
12 de junio – Álvaro Abella (U. Complutense), Distopías y ciencia ficción en la narrativa egipcia contemporánea
Organiza: Ignacio Sánchez

Las conferencias se pueden seguir de forma presencial en la Escuela de Traductores (Plaza de Sta. Isabel, 5 - Toledo) a las 18:30, y online a través de Teams, con ID: 364 062 814 617; y código de acceso: ABoCrt.
O siguiendo el enlace directo: https://bit.ly/4b9KBFh
Research Interests:
Conference: Maimonides on How to Read and Abridge Galen: The Two Introductions to His Collection of Galenic Summaries Por Ignacio Sánchez (Escuela de Traductores de Toledo - UCLM) CSIC Instituto de Lenguas y Culturas del... more
Conference:
Maimonides on  How to Read and Abridge Galen:  The Two Introductions to His Collection of Galenic Summaries

Por Ignacio Sánchez (Escuela de Traductores de Toledo - UCLM)

CSIC
Instituto de Lenguas y Culturas del Mediterráneo y Oriente Próximo (ILC)

Sala Julián Ribera (1C)

Vía Zoom
ID de reunión: 853 4757 3864
Código de acceso: 492890
Research Interests:
La Escuela de Traductores de Toledo (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha) organiza este curso 2023-2024 una serie de conferencias consagradas al estudio y la difusión del Libro de Calila y Dimna. La tercera sesión, impartida por el Dr.... more
La Escuela de Traductores de Toledo (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha) organiza este curso 2023-2024 una serie de conferencias consagradas al estudio y la difusión del Libro de Calila y Dimna. La tercera sesión, impartida por el Dr. Ignacio Sánchez, discutirá el motivo budista del “bebé en el vientre materno” que Calila y Dimna adapta de la Garbhāvakrānti-sūtra, su relación con el texto coránico y su uso en sermones islámicos, hadiz, y literatura aljamiada.
Fecha: Miércoles 24 de enero, 18:00
Lugar: Escuela de Traductores de Toledo, Plz. de Sta. Isabel, 5
Registro online:

https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/9846eeba-ed96-4d8f-94e7-0e372e6c277e@c42cbae6-61f4-498c-9107-6a8cf5f01e56
Research Interests:
La Escuela de Traductores de Toledo (Universidad de Casilla-La Mancha) organiza este curso 2023-2024 una serie de conferencias consagradas al estudio y la difusión del Libro de Calila y Dimna. La segunda sesión de 2023 estará impartida... more
La Escuela de Traductores de Toledo (Universidad de Casilla-La Mancha) organiza este curso 2023-2024 una serie de conferencias consagradas al estudio y la difusión del Libro de Calila y Dimna. La segunda sesión de 2023 estará impartida por las Dras. Antonia María Ortíz Ballesteros (UCLM) y Gema Gómez Rubio (UCLM). Las ponentes abordarán el Libro de Calila y Dimna en su doble dimensión de colección de fábulas y espejo de príncipes, discutiendo el concepto de adaptación y analizando el corpus de obras que pueden considerarse adaptaciones infantiles en castellano.

Fecha: Miércoles 20 de diciembre, 12:00
Lugar: Escuela de Traductores de Toledo, Plz. de Sta. Isabel, 5

El evento se puede seguir online. Para registrarse sigan el siguiente enlace:

https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/0e42b2bf-b851-4394-8215-a93ac7fb4760@c42cbae6-61f4-498c-9107-6a8cf5f01e56
La Escuela de Traductores de Toledo (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha) organiza una serie de conferencias consagradas al estudio y la difusión del ciclo de fábulas conocido como Libro de Calila y Dimna. La primera de estas conferencias... more
La Escuela de Traductores de Toledo (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha) organiza una serie de conferencias consagradas al estudio y la difusión del ciclo de fábulas conocido como Libro de Calila y Dimna.
La primera de estas conferencias tendrá lugar el 21 de noviembre a las 18:00 a cargo de la Dra. Isabel Toral-Niehoff, de la Universidad Libre de Berlín (Freie Universität).
Para registrarse, por favor, sigan el siguiente enlace:

https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/be36b5a8-2b2e-428a-a6f6-1ce690ffa63d@c42cbae6-61f4-498c-9107-6a8cf5f01e56

El evento también se puede seguir de manera presencial en:
Escuela de Traductores de Toledo, Plaza de Sta. Isabel, 5 – 45002 Toledo
Research Interests:
Tuesday 17th October 2023, 5 pm CET. Registration: https://oeaw-ac-at.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jtYw9_Y_TXCkopYHFvdnCw Abstract Scholars have been aware of the complex manuscript and textual tradition of Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa’s Uyūn... more
Tuesday 17th October 2023, 5 pm CET.
Registration: https://oeaw-ac-at.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jtYw9_Y_TXCkopYHFvdnCw

Abstract
Scholars have been aware of the complex manuscript and textual tradition of Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa’s Uyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ  since August Müller discussed it in the introduction to his edition of the work. I revised Müller’s conclusions in one of the essays accompanying Brill's new edition and translation, demonstrating that the ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ had circulated in three different versions (Emilie Savage-Smith et al (ed.), A Literary History of Medicine, Brill, 2020, vol. 1). In this paper, I will discuss how the scribes approached the copy of Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa's work, how they dealt with the textual problems derived from the coexistence of the different versions, and how these collation practices are reflected in the codicological, textual and paratextual features that we find in the extant manuscripts.