Desert truffle (al-kam'a)

The kam'a, the desert truffle, is a plant that comes up from the ground in spring without sowing or watering, and in al-Bukhari the Prophet says 'the kam'a is part of the manna, and its water is a cure for the eye' ¹. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya notes that it is called 'smallpox of the earth' for its likeness to smallpox, that the Arabs call it 'plant of the thunder', and that it has several kinds, one of them deadly ²; he gives two readings of 'part of the manna' and three of 'its water is a cure for the eye' ^{2 3}.

Sa'id ibn Zayd reports the Prophet's saying: 'the kam'a is part of the manna, and its water is a cure for the eye' ¹ al-Bukhari 4478 al-Bukhari 4639 al-Bukhari 5708. In Ibn Majah, from Sa'id ibn Zayd: the kam'a is 'part of the manna God sent down on the Children of Israel' ⁴ Ibn Majah 3454; in another version the Companions were talking in the Prophet's presence, mentioned the kam'a and said it was 'smallpox of the earth', and when this reached him he said 'the kam'a is part of the manna, and the ajwa is from Paradise and is a cure for poison' ⁵ Ibn Majah 3455. Ibn al-Qayyim gives the report together with the ajwa report in the entry on the letter ayn: 'the ajwa is from Paradise and is a cure for poison, and the kam'a is of the manna and its water is a cure for the eye' ⁶ Ibn Majah 3453.

Ibn al-Qayyim says the kam'a arises from vapour trapped in the ground near its surface by the cold of winter and fostered by the spring rains, so it forms and pushes up toward the surface, which is why it is called 'smallpox of the earth', in likeness to smallpox in appearance and matter ². It is found in spring and eaten raw or cooked; the Arabs call it 'plant of the thunder' because it multiplies with thunder and the ground splits for it; it is food of the desert dwellers and abundant in Arab lands, the best coming from sandy land with little water ². It has several kinds, one of them deadly, reddish in colour, which causes choking ². He describes it as cold and moist in the third degree, bad for the stomach and slow to digest, and in constant use it brings colic, apoplexy, palsy, stomach pain and difficulty in urinating, the fresh being less harmful than the dried; he says whoever eats it should bury it in wet clay, boil it in water with salt and thyme, and eat it with oil and hot spices, because its substance is earthy and thick ². Applying it as kohl is beneficial against dimness of sight and hot ophthalmia, and he notes that the foremost physicians, among them al-Masihi and the author of the Canon, acknowledged that its water clears the eye ².

Ibn al-Qayyim gives two readings of 'the kam'a is part of the manna'. The first is that the manna sent down on the Children of Israel was not only this sweet substance but many things with which God favoured them, plants found freely without work, effort or ploughing; 'mann' is a verbal noun in the sense of the passive, 'what is given as a favour', so whatever God provides a servant freely without his earning or effort is pure favour, and the kam'a is one of its members; the terebinjabin that falls on trees is a kind of manna, and the word manna later came by usage to be applied to it. The second is that the Prophet likened the kam'a to the manna sent down from heaven because it is gathered without toil, trouble, sowing or watering ².

Ibn al-Qayyim asks: if this is the nature of the kam'a, how does harm come to it? He answers that God perfected everything He made, so at its first creation it is free of afflictions and defects, and afflictions come upon it afterwards through other things, whether proximity, mixture or causes that bring about its corruption ². He holds that the corruption, general and particular, in air, plants and animals came after creation through causes that produced it, and that human deeds and opposition to the messengers bring on illnesses, plagues, droughts and the loss of the earth's blessings and fruits ^{2 3}. This is a religious explanation he attributes to himself and offers as a lesson.

Ibn al-Qayyim gives three readings. One, that its water is mixed into the medicines used for the eye and is not used alone, stated by Abu Ubayd. Two, that it is used pure after roasting it and draining its water, so that its harmful moisture goes and its benefits remain. Three, that 'its water' means the water produced with it, the relation being one of conjunction and not of part, stated by Ibn al-Jawzi, which Ibn al-Qayyim calls the most remote and weakest reading ³. He also relays a view that if its water is used to cool what is in the eye, the water alone is a cure, and if for anything else, it is compounded with others ³. He quotes al-Ghafiqi that the water of the kam'a is the best of eye medicines when ithmid is kneaded with it and applied as kohl, and that it strengthens the eyelids ³ ithmid and kohl. For the wider topic see prophetic medicine.

This page describes the reports and what Ibn al-Qayyim says of the kam'a; it gives no medical or dietary advice.