[Preliminary Entry] Muḥammad Šarīf Ḫān (m. vers 1222/1807, Delhi) descended from a family of theologians and physicians who traced their ancestry back to the famous mystic ‘Ubayd Allāh Aḥrār (d. 1490, Samarkand). The Ta’līf-i Šarīfī is one of the most important Persian dictionaries of Indian materia medica. A few manuscript copies dedicate the work to the Mughal emperor Šāh ‘Ālam II (r. 1760-1806). The entries of this work describe the aspects, properties and uses of Indian drugs and provide the exact pronunciation of the Indian names.
F. S.
Lithograph: Ta’līf-i Šarīfī , Delhi, 1279/1863.
English translation: The Taleef Shereef or Indian Materia Medica, G. Playfair, ed., Calcutta, The Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta, 1833.
Speziale, Fabrizio, 2009, “šarif Khan, Moḥammad”, Encyclopaedia Iranica, available at: <http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sarif-khan-mohammad-d-ca-1807-physician-at-the-court-of-the-mughal-emperor-shah-alam-ii> [Accessed 31 July 2012]
| Main Persian Title: | Ta’līf-i Šarīfī |
| Author: | Muḥammad Šarīf Ḫān |
| Approximate period of composition: | 1760-1806 |
| Place: | Delhi |
| Dedicatee: | Šāh ‘Ālam II |