Afyun (opium)

Afyun, from the Greek opion, is opium: the dried juice of the unripe capsules of the poppy (Papaver somniferum). Muslim physicians used it as a remedy and a narcotic.

The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), signed C. E. Dubler, says that opium is the dried resinous juice of unripe poppy capsules, a preparation already described by Dioscorides. In Islamic times it was used officinally and as a narcotic, including by dervishes. The poppy was grown in Upper Egypt, and in the 7th/13th century the best opium was made at Abu Tig, south of Asyut; the trade flourished until the early 19th century. In Asia Minor the poppy spread after the Crusades and was acclimatised near Kara Hisar, which became the centre of opium cultivation and export into the 19th century. Opium was also called liryak in Persia and Turkey, and under 'Abbas II the trade was taxed in place of the prohibition on it. The Chinese learned the preparation from medieval India rather than from Muslims, according to Laufer. ¹