What Is Islamic Medicine?

Sometimes..I asked myself..as a Muslim Doctor, do I really know what Islamic Medicine is and follow true teaching and practice as required by Allah The Almighty and The Prophet?

After all, let me remind myself again that the our Goal in this life Is getting the ridha of Allah Swt.

Let us together do a 'muhasabah' (self-criticism) and get back to the right track..

I found this informative article that clearly defines what Islamic Medicine is..

What is Islamic Medicine
by

Ahmed EI-Kadi,U.S.A.

With the growing movement for the restoration of Islamic values, there is an increasing demand on Muslim scientists to restore and develop the Islamic sciences. It is essential, however, for the Muslim scientist to have a clear and sound understanding of the science he is expected to restore and develop. The majority of Muslim health professionals have no clear idea as to what Islamic medicine is. Even the ones who have an idea may differ in their concept and definition of Islamic Medicine. The question then arises: What is Islamic Medicine?

Is it the Id medicine (?Sufi Healing), still being practiced by some Hakims in the east? Is it natural medicine utilizing mostly herbs, diets and lifestyle adjustments? Is it a medicine limited to the health related teachings found in the Qur'an and the prophet's tradition? Is it primarily faith-healing and prayers for the sick? Is it customary medicine given an Islamic label? Or is it some new discovery providing a cure for almost all ills? None of the above is in itself Islamic Medicine, but all together, and a great deal more, are its ingredients.

According to Islamic teaching, God has made available a treatment for every illness, He has created. This teaching implies that every available and useful treatment known to us should be utilized, and that if a treatment for a certain illness is not yet known to us, it is our duty to search for it until we find it.

Therefore, Islamic medicine cannot be limited to any branch of the healing arts which does not have the answer, or at least the potential to have the answer, to all illnesses. The treatment in question may be spiritual or physical exercise, nutritional adjustment, pharmaceutical preparation, be it all natural ingredients or purely synthetic, surgical procedure, radiation therapy, or a combination of any of these modalities.

Although Islamic Medicine may include, among many others, all the modalities of modern medicine, it differs from modern medicine in that it fulfills all the following six criteria:-

The first criterion is excellence and leading among other brands of the healing arts.

The second criterion of Islamic Medicine is that it is a medicine with faith and divine ethics. All evidence indicates that modern medicine has no faith in God as the Supreme authority, and that modern medical ethics are by no means Divine.

The third criterion of Islamic Medicine is that it is guided and oriented. Examination of current medical practices proves that modern medicine is quite misguided and disoriented

The fourth criterion of Islamic Medicine is that it is comprehensive, paying attention to body and spirit, the individual and society. Examination of our modern medicine will show that its approaches are usually one-sided and inadequate, leading in many instances to disastrous consequences

The fifth criterion of Islamic Medicine is that it is universal, utilizing all useful resources and offering its services to all mankind. Such a medicine must be willing to look into any potentially useful treatment modality, subject it to proper investigation, and utilize it if it proves to be useful. Modern medicine, however, seem to be quite reluctant to become involved with any treatment modality which does not originate from its own schools

The sixth criterion of Islamic Medicine is that it is scientific. The last thing one would expect is to declare modern medicine non-scientific. Unfortunately, it is.

The big question is: Can Islamic Medicine overcome all the problems of modern medicine, and can it provide its missing ingredients? The answer is a confident "yes". In all the problem areas of modern medicine listed in this paper, the deficiencies are either lack of ethical and moral guidance, lack of standardized value system, disregard of certain restrictive or instructive rules related to ingested materials, or disregard of certain hygienic and social guidelines governing human relations and social life. These missing items are the very one abundantly provided by Islamic teachings.

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