Abū Zayn Kaḥḥāl was a 9th/15th-century Persian physician. Little is known about the details of his name or his life except that he lived in the time of the Tīmūrid Shāhrukh (r. 807–850/1404–1447), and went to Herat during his reign. It was there that he wrote the work Sharāyiṭ-i jarrāḥī (‘Surgical Requirements’), to which he owes his reputation (Abū Zayn, fols. 2a, 2b). According to his own testimony in the book, he travelled to the most important towns of Khurāsān in his time (fols. 96b, 132a, 146a, 164b).

His title of ‘Kaḥḥāl’ (oculist) indicates that he had some expertise in the…