Garlic is closely related to onion. A hadith says: “Whoever eats them should remove their strength by cooking.” Food containing garlic was once offered to the Prophet, who sent it to Abu Ayyub Al-Ansari. Abu Ayyub asked: “Messenger of God, you dislike it and send it to me?” He replied: “I converse with those with whom you do not converse.”
In the traditional medical account reproduced here, garlic is described as hot and dry in the fourth degree, strongly warming and drying. It is said to benefit people with cold or phlegmatic constitutions and those thought to be at risk of paralysis. The account attributes many effects to it: drying semen, opening obstructions, dispersing trapped gas, aiding digestion, relieving thirst, loosening the bowels, and promoting urination. It describes garlic as an antidote for venomous stings and cold swellings, and claims that a crushed poultice applied to snakebites or scorpion stings draws out poison. Other claimed effects include warming the body, reducing phlegm and bloating, clearing the throat, preserving general health, helping with changes in drinking water and chronic cough, and relieving chest pain attributed to cold. It says garlic may be eaten raw, cooked, or roasted and can remove leeches from the throat.
The account further claims that garlic crushed with vinegar, salt, and honey and applied to a decayed tooth will break it up and make it fall out, while application to a painful tooth will relieve pain. It states that two dirhams’ weight of crushed garlic taken with honey water expels phlegm and worms, and that application with honey benefits pale skin patches.
The harms listed are headache, adverse effects on the brain and eyes, weakened eyesight and sexual potency, thirst, stimulation of bile, and bad breath. The account says chewing rue leaves removes the smell.
The article then states that allicin in garlic prevented moderate pulmonary hypertension in laboratory rats and helped prevent blood clots by maintaining blood fluidity. It also claims cholesterol-lowering effects, saying 12 weeks of garlic use lowers blood cholesterol by 12 percent and triglycerides by 17 percent. It describes a substance called “albin” as anticancer and, on that basis, recommends garlic to cancer patients. It adds that garlic strengthens male sexual function. The source ends with the unfinished phrase “blood sugar.”