LONDON, October 14 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The earliest and most influential medieval texts on medical remedies and drugs is to be offered for sale in London Wednesday, October 15.

As an illustration of the influence of Islam in modern-day Britain, the manuscript will be shown in Sotheby’s, now one of the most important sales to take place in the firm’s New Bond Street salerooms as it attracts attention from around the world, according to Scotsman.com news website Monday, October 13.

Entitled Kitab al-Musta’ini, or Book of Simple (or Single) Drugs, the manuscript is dated 1130AD, and is written on paper in Arabic script with Latin headings.

It was presented by its Jewish author Yanus Ibn Baklarish to his Arab patron, al-Musta’in bi-llah Abu Ja’far Ahmad, the Muslim ruler of Saragossa in Spain, said the website.

The manuscript stands as a uniquely important monument to the central role of Jews and Muslims in the spread of knowledge and learning throughout medieval Europe, as well as being possibly the earliest known example of Latin script of any kind written on paper, it added.

The work itself is a thoroughly comprehensive study of drugs made from plant, animal or mineral sources, said the report.

The manuscript, it added, contains remedies first propounded by early Arab scholars, in addition to reviving the ideas of ancient Greece and Rome.

It is a testament to Ibn Baklarish’s reputation "as one of the wisest men of al-Andalus with regard to the practice of medicine", as stated by Ibn Abi Usaybi’ah in the medieval Biographical Dictionary of Physicians.

However, although the ideas are old, many stand close comparison with modern alternative medicine therapies such as Ibn Baklarish’s advice on the use of laxatives, which, Sotheby’s says, bears a certain similarity to a description of modern detoxification treatment.

This extremely rare manuscript was last available on the market in Paris almost 50 years ago, and is now expected to realize £100,000-£120,000, said the report.

The most important is that in the National Library in Madrid, which has been attributed to the 12^th century. Another, also undated, is in Leiden in the Netherlands, while that in the National Library in Naples was made in 1482. The fourth, in Rabat, is a very late copy made in Morocco in 1891.

The manuscript offered in its sale is not only the fifth copy of this work to have been published, but is also certainly the earliest dated example so far known, said Sotheby’s.

In a sale comprising almost 100 lots, one of the most beautiful is a rare 18th century mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell decorated offertory, said Sotheby.

Crowned with a central dome, which is adorned with a silver and silver-gilt crucifix, the offertory has a central panel depicting Christ rising from a chalice.

It bears the inscription "Gift of the pilgrim Orpheou" and is likely to have been purchased by Orpheou while he was in Jerusalem on a pilgrimage, and brought back and donated to his local church in Greece or Anatolia, said the report.

The offertory is described as a fine and rare example of Ottoman furniture and woodwork.

Colored brown and white with touches of orange and red, this splendid piece would have been bought by a Greek Orthodox Christian pilgrim, named Orpheou, to Jerusalem.

The offertory is used to hold the host until it is presented to the congregation during communion.

This magnificent lot has an estimate of £15,000-£25,000.

The report used the showings as an example of how growth of Islam in Britain manifests itself in almost every section of society, and can be seen in countless institutions, not least the auction houses.

Worldwide, there are about 1,000 million Muslims, in virtually every corner of the world. There are around 1,200 mosques in Britain.