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The of the prophet

t would be somewhat of an under- statement to assert that the notion I of ars medicina has been substan- tially transformed from its classical definition as the art of healing. Practi- tioners of modern medicine would probably be more inclined to refer to themselves as practising the science of medicine, dispatching all other forms of treatment to the shamanistic margins where abide “traditional,” “alternative,” or “complementary” such as , , , herbalism and bush or tribal remedies. Then there is Islamic medicine, an altogether tricky term to pin down. Some believe it to be a comprehensive form of medicine based on a complete system of theory and practice. Others

say it’s largely a medieval notion that 2012 Thinkstock © has been abandoned by all but the most Some view Islamic medicine in prophetic terms, as having been crafted from the Qur’an, tribal Muslims as the Arab World with natural remedies for most ailments and specific prayers to conquer disease. moves inexorably into the 21st century. Still others view it in prophetic terms, medical schools in India offer degrees dict the Qur’an and [clear and as having been crafted from the central in and several coun- well-trodden path]. It is not specific religious text and core source of all tries continue to license and regulate medical procedures or therapeutic knowledge in , the Qur’an, with its practitioners. As part of an effort to agents used in a particular place or a par- natural remedies for most ailments and benchmark training for traditional, ticular time. Islamic medicine is univer- specific prayers that must be recited for complementary and alternative medi- sal, all-embracing, flexible, and allows any disease to be conquered. cine, the World Health Organization has for growth and development of various Historically, Islamic medicine is even issued guidelines to promote methods of investigating and treating believed to be a body of knowledge cul- “safety, efficacy and quality” in unani diseases within the frame-work tivated largely from the first eight cen- medicine and support “national health described above” (www.eimjm .com turies and based primarily on Greek authorities in the establishment of ade- /Vol4-No1/Vol4-No1-H2.htm). sources, Dr. Husain Nagamia, chairman quate laws, rules, and licensing prac- Kasule also contended that any med- of the Brandon, Florida–based Interna- tices” (http://apps .who.int/medicinedocs ical system that meets the moral criteria tional Institute of Islamic Medicine /documents /s17558en /s17558en.pdf). of Islam falls within the purview of wrote in the Journal of the International Although the practice of unani medi- Islamic medicine. Systems that don’t Society for the History of Islamic Medi- cine has been largely relegated to rural conform, he writes in an email, can be cine (www.ishim.net /ishimj/4 /04 .pdf). It communities in South Asia, Omar Hasan “Islamized” by requiring them to instill was built incrementally into a type of Kasule, Sr., professor of epidemiology Islamic values and remove those medicine before being subsumed, as and Islamic medicine at the University of aspects that don’t mesh with such val- were most other forms of religious pre- Brunei Darussalam in Bandar Seri ues. In this sense, what distinguishes scription, by the birth of modern medi- Begawan, Brunei, writes in an email that Islamic hospitals and medical schools cine during the European renaissance. a broader concept of Islamic medicine is from others is not necessarily the pro- But a form of Islamic medicine, enjoying a renaissance of its own. cedures and treatments being used, but known as unani tibb (from unani, the Kasule defined that concept in a “the ethical, social, and spiritual values word for Ionian or Greek, and paper for the International Medical that their physicians and nurses believe tibb, the Arabic word for medicine), Journal (for which he was the founding in and practice,” Kasule added. continues to be practised to this day in chief editor) as being “medicine whose Yet, while Kasule believes that countries such as India, Pakistan and basic paradigms, concepts, values, and Islamic medicine stands poised to make Bangladesh, Nagamia wrote. Some procedures conform to or do not contra- a splash, current practice of the primary

© 2012 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors CMAJ, September 4, 2012, 184(12) E649 News extant variant, unani medicine, is involves measures intended to restore refer to as a collection of “” or largely confined to a few countries. balance to the four humours. As diag- accounts of the sayings and actions of For the most part, it is a comple- nosis necessitates determining which the prophet Muhammad that are related mentary form of practice used mainly humour is out of balance, assessment is to sickness, diet, hygiene and other in the treatment of common ailments, accomplished by identifying a patient’s aspects or determinants of health, wrote says Ibrahim Syed, president of the temperament, examining the pulses and Nagamia in his paper on the history and Islamic Research Foundation Interna- conducting urine and stool analyses. current practice of Islamic medicine. tional, Inc., based in Louisville, Ken- The external environment is also For instance, several hadiths assert that tucky. Patients with more serious con- viewed as an important variable in the there is a remedial value in . ditions are usually referred to advanced maintenance of equilibrium, so treat- According to another — “I heard medical centres, he adds. ment typically involves an effort to Allah’s Apostle saying, ‘There is healing Unani medicine is primarily based “keep the human body attuned to the in black cumin for all diseases except on the Greek notion of the four various changes in climate and geogra- death’” — nigella sativa, or black seed, is humours, according to a paper on the phy by regulating diet, sleep, activity, a cure-all (www.2muslims .com/directory history and practice of unani medicine bathing, and so forth,” Sheehan and /hadith/bukhari/7/592/). by Helen Sheehan, an affiliated faculty Hussain added. Other treatment options Prophetic medicine is distinct from member of the South Asia Center at the include surgery or the use of herbal, traditional Islamic medicine because it University of Pennsylvania in Philadel- mineral or other natural remedies. lacks a scientific basis, Nagamia says. phia and Dr. S.J. Hussain, former direc- Another set of treatments that falls In prophetic medicine, there’s no need tor of the Central Research Institute of under the rubric of unani therapy is to explain why or how remedies work Unani Medicine in Hyderabad, India detoxification of the body by removing because they are considered credible (Ann Am Acad Pol Soc Sci 2002; 583: waste materials through such proce- solely on the basis that they originated 122-35). It posits that health and tem- dures as venesection or phlebotomy, from Mohammad, he explains. perament are tied to four fluids in the which involves surgical incision of a Although Islamic medicine may human body: phlegm, blood, yellow bile vein to remove small amounts of blood, have been essentially ousted from most and black bile. The manner in which the which is believed to be effective in the health care systems, it laid a foundation four substances balance within the body treatment of conditions such as high for many aspects of preventive medi- determine an individual’s temperament, blood pressure, hemorrhoids and sca- cine, Nagamia adds. “When you talk with dominance of one substance mani- bies, according to the paper. Similarly, about modern medicine, it does not festing itself in the form of a phlegmatic, emetics are used to induce vomiting necessarily mean you shelf all of these sanguine, choleric or melancholic tem- and treat headaches, tonsillitis, other ideas. Ideas of diet, prevention, perament, respectively. migraines and other ailments, while cessation of smoking, cessation of alco- An individual is in good health “cupping” uses a suction device to holism — all of these are also very when the humours are in balance. Con- draw blood to the surface of the skin important in modern medicine, and this versely, an excess or deficit of one or which can then be drained as part of is inherited from the basis that was laid more fluids is the cause of sickness — treatment for infection. during the time of Islamic medicine.” the body’s struggle to return to a state Muslim historians and physicians — Michael Monette, CMAJ of equilibrium, Sheehan and Hussain draw a line between Islamic medicine wrote. Treatment of the ill, therefore, and “prophetic” medicine, which they CMAJ 2012. DOI:10.1503/cmaj.109-4228

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