Maimonides (Rabbi Moses ben-Maimon) (1135-1204) (Doktor kepada Keluarga Sultan Salahuddin Al-Ayyubi)

Maimonides (Rabbi Moses ben-Maimon) (1135-1204)

(Doktor kepada Keluarga Sultan Salahuddin Al-Ayyubi)

Sejarah membuktikan bahawa Ibn Maimun memang seorang doktor kepada keluarga Sultan Salahuddin al-Ayyubi dari tahun 1169.

Daripada maklumat yang ada di dalam Who’s Who in Jewish History edisi 1995 (yang baru saya beli di MPH Megamall tadi), Ibn Maimun memang mendapat pendidikan Bahasa Ibrani dan Arab. Keluarganya meninggalkan Cordova pada 1148 M setelah mendapat tekanan daripada pemerintah al-Muwahidun, bemukim sebentar di Fas (Morocco), di Palestin dan akhir sekali di Fustat, Mesir.

Buku Sefer ha-Mitzvot dan Taurat Mishnah berkaitan agama Yahudi ditulisnya di dalam bahasa Ibrani. Buku Guide to the Perplexed berasaskan ilmu dua tokoh failasuf Muslim, iaitu al-Farabi dan Ibn Sina di tulisnya di dalam bahasa Arab tiga tahun sebelum kewafatan Salahuddin pada 1193.

Tetapi perlu kita teliti manuskrip asal buku-buku berbahasa Arabnya kerana di dapati ada buku-bukunya yang ditulis di dalam huruf Judea-Arab iaitu bahasa Arab dengan huruf Ibrani.

Dua belas buku-buku ilmu perubatan ibn Maimun memang ditulis di dalam bahasa Arab kerana disebutkan bahwa Ibn Maimun mempelajari ilmu perubatan daripada orang-orang Arab. Begitu juga buku mengenai ilmu logika, Makalah Fi-Sinat Al-Mantiq.

Ibn Maimun seorang doktor yanag berdedikasi. Beliau menyebutkan:

http://www.jewishvi rtuallibrary. org/jsource/ biography/ Maimonides. html

I dwell at Fostat, and the sultan resides at Cairo [about a mile and a half away].... My duties to the sultan are very heavy. I am obliged to visit him every day, early in the morning, and when he or any of his children or any of the inmates of his harem are indisposed, I dare not quit Cairo, but must stay during the greater part of the day in the palace. It also frequently happens that one of the two royal officers fall sick, and I must attend to their healing. Hence, as a rule, I leave for Cairo very early in the day, and even if nothing unusual happens, I do not return to Fostat until the afternoon. Then I am almost dying with hunger. . . I find the antechamber filled with people, both Jews and gentiles, nobles and common people, judges and bailiffs, friends and foes-a mixed multitude who await the time of my return.

I dismount from my animal, wash my hands, go forth to my patients and entreat them to bear with me while I partake of some slight refreshment, the only meal I take in the twenty four hours. Then I go forth to attend to my patients, and write prescriptions and directions for their various ailments. Patients go in and out until nightfall, and sometimes even, I solemnly assure you, until two hours or more in the night. I converse with and prescribe for them while lying down from sheer fatigue; and when night falls I am so exhausted that I can scarcely speak.

In consequence of this, no Israelite can have any private interview with me, except on the Sabbath. On that day the whole congregation, or at least the majority of the members, come to me after the morning service, when I instruct them as to their proceedings during the whole week; we study together a little until noon, when they depart. Some of them return, and read with me after the afternoon service until evening prayers. In this manner I spend that day.

Maka kita pun setakat ini tidak dapat pastikan sejauh mana Sultan Salahuddin mengetahui penulisan Ibn Maimun berkaitan agama Yahudi yang banyak ditulisnya di dalam bahasa Ibrani. Tidak timbul konflik di antara Salahuddin dan Ibn Maimun kerana Ibn Maimun termasuk kafir dzimmi dan bukannya crusaders yang merupakan kafir Harbi.

Yang pastinya, Salahuddin menerima rawatan Ibnu Maimun yang memang menulis kesemua ilmu perubatannya di dalam Bahasa Arab. Hubungannya dengan Sultan Salahuddin adalah sebagai seorang professional perubatan, bukan seorang pendakyah agama Yahudi.

Joan Comay di dalam Who’s Who in Jewish History meyebutkan: “The medical skill of Maimonides was respected by Jew and Moslem alike. He was careful not to offend the religious beliefs of his Moslem patients,….” (hal. 243)

Wallahu A’laamu BiS-Sawaab

23 Muharram 1431H

Ustaz Ismail (PL PETRONAS Bangi)

http://almukminun.blogspot.com/2010/02/maimonides-rabbi-moses-ben-maimon-1135.html