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The object of this publication, produced by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, is to educate, enlighten and inform its readers on religious, social, economic and political issues with particular emphasis on Islam. EDITORIAL BOARD CONTENTS – December 2001, Vol.96, No.12 Chairman: Rafiq Hayat Fazal Ahmad, Sarah Waseem, Editorial ............................................... 2 Fauzia Bajwa, Fareed Ahmad, Basit Ahmad, Mansoor Saqi, Bockarie Tommy Kallon, Comment .............................................. 3 Navida Shahid, Mahmood Hanif, Fazal Ahmad – UK Tanveer Khokhar, Mansoora Hyder-Muneeb, Saleem Ahmad Malik. The History and Theory of Islamic Medicine.................................. 5 Chairman of the Mrs Samina Mian – Edmonton Management Board: Naseer Qamar Assessment of Belief – Part I.............. 16 Special Contributor: Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as) Amatul-Hadi Ahmad Design and Typesetting Chirality and Sideness in Tanveer Khokhar Nature ................................................... 23 Shaukia Mir Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad Publisher Al Shirkatul Islamiyyah Socrates(as) – Development of Greek Philosophy and Religion.......... 33 Distribution Muhammad Hanif, Fazal Ahmad – UK Amatul M. Chaudry, M.D. Shams Division and Unity.. ............................. 44 Views expressed in this publication are not necessarily Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad the views of the A h m a d i y y a Muslim Community A Unique Cosmic Heavenly Sign........ 52 M. Alikoya – India All correspondence should be forwarded directly to: Index of 2001 Artcicles........................ 62 The Editor Review of Religions The London Mosque 16 Gressenhall Road London, SW18 5QL United Kingdom © Islamic Publications, 2000 (Photo: From ArtExplosion Photo ISSN No. 0034-6721 library) Editorial The realm of medicine has fascinated Mirza Tahir Ahmad in his outstanding man for centuries. Particularly with the work R a t i o n a l i t y, Revelation, expectation of a longer and a healthier Knowledge and Truth. In this issue, we life, man has been obsessed with have an extract from his book covering understanding nature and medicine. In the science behind sidedness in nature as the modern world, we have a range of seen in animal and plant life. treatments available based upon hundreds of years of compiled For many centuries, Muslims were at knowledge and experimentation. It does the forefront of scientific and medical however come as a shock to many advance because they understood that people to learn the extent to which our the physical and spiritual aspects of life knowledge of nature, biology and are closely intertwined, just as the medicine comes from the early religious modern phrase ‘healthy mind, healthy scholars and the insights and inspiration body’would allude to. that they gleaned through the Holy Qur’an and the practice of the Holy Modern science has taken a more Prophet(sa). selective approach to medicine in which sporadic successes have pushed the The feature article takes a closer look at medical profession to the view that they how our understanding of medicine can play at creation as witnessed by evolved in the schools of knowledge in recent activities around cloning and the Islamic world. It shows how they gene experimentation. preserved and built upon the knowledge of the Greeks. Moreover, it illustrates Hopefully, the articles in this issue will how unlike much of modern medicine remind scholars of the fact that all life which aims to treat the symptoms of was created by God, and that the illness, Islam encouraged early physical and spiritual aspects of life are practitioners (or hakims) to treat the governed by the same Laws of that one cause in order to treat the illness. In this God. To understand one aspect without way, Islamic medicine concentrated on investigating the spiritual aspect will lifestyle (exercise, food, stress, prayers, lead to a flawed confidence in our family) as well as the disease itself. ability to control medical conditions. Even in modern times, scholars can explain phenomena through the insights of the Qur’an as shown by Hadhrat 2 Review of Religions: December 2001 Notes and Comments Seasons Greetings Empire could celebrate in peace and December is an interesting time of anonymity. Therefore Christmas is year. Christians celebrate Christmas now a seasonal festival. In Europe Day to mark the birth of Jesus(as) and and the States, this is a cold time of this year, Muslims will finish the the year and often there is snow, so month of Ramadhan and celebrate the festival has come to be associated Eid ul Fitr during December also. In with snow, trees, a warm fire, both cases, families will get together stockings etc. Similarly in the to celebrate, eat together and Christian calendar, Easter occurs presents will be handed out. So are during the spring. Of course, just as the two events similar or is there a it is associated with snow in Europe difference? and North America, in places like Australia, it occurs during the Obviously the two festivals have summer and so will be associated to d i fferent roots, meanings and warm weather and barbecues! significance, but there is also an obvious difference: in five years In Islam, all major events and time, Ramadhan and Eid will be in festivals are tied to the Islamic October or November while calendar which is based on the Lunar Christmas will still be in December. calendar, and that is why the symbol of the crescent moon is so prominent In the case of Christmas, it is tied to in Islam. The Lunar calendar is 10 a particular date, the 25th December days shorter than the business year which was selected in Roman times based on the solar calendar, and this because it was the festival of the Sun explains why Islamic festivals move god Sol Invictus, and co-incided with back 10 days each year. Accordingly the winter solstice on that day two Ramadhan will slowly move back thousand years ago. Adopting the from December towards August in a Roman day of the sun god for the few years time. Many people in the Christian son of God seemed a past have mocked Islam for the fact logical and safe decision at the time that the dates change in this way and which meant that Christians in the that festivals and major events Review of Religions: December 2001 3 Notes and Comments cannot be tied down in a fixed way have family get-togethers and to the Gregorian calendar. distribute presents, but the day also revolves around attending the So does any of this matter? After all, mosque and remembering the a festival is a festival, and the main significance of the day just as purpose is the spiritual significance practising Christians also attend the and the remembrance of God. The Church on the 25th. If these festivals climate or other factors have very were fixed to a particular day, there little to do with it. Well in the UK, is every danger that the same shift to there was a recent call from a commercialism could have blighted Christian clergyman that Christmas them also. should be celebrated two days after the 25th. His rationale is not based There seems to be a logic to the way on any thoughts that the date is not Islamic events are based on the the actual birth date of Jesus( a s ), Lunar calendar which is only now rather it reflects his concern that the coming to the fore. There are signs 25th has now been hijacked by the that true Christians are trying to general public as a day of merry- rescue their festival and its making. In Europe, the run up to significance from the commercial Christmas is now a time of many p a r t y. Whatever the merits or parties involving immoral behav- otherwise, it is a fact that more and iour, huge consumption of alcohol more cards sent on this occasion and a huge emphasis on commer- have now replaced ‘Merry cialism. He is horrified at the way C h r i s t m a s ’ with ‘Seasons the day has become such a Greetings’. commercial institution while the religious significance has been all Fazal Ahmad – UK but forgotten. People now associate the 25th with a family get-together, presents, alcohol, snow and cold weather. In Islam, this is not observed, partly because the festivals are not seasonal. Muslims therefore also 4 Review of Religions: December 2001 The History and Theory of Islamic Medicine by Mrs Samina Mian - Edmonton, India The author had the opportunity to on its historical development, review the history of Islamic practice, theory and the influence of medicine and was so fascinated that Islam on Islamic medicine. she compiled this article to chronicle the achievements of Muslims in the Historical Development field of medicine. The article Islamic science, from its very explores how Muslim scientists beginning, did not concern itself created the very fundamentals of only with man’s physical modern medicine. environment, but included a pene- trating analysis of man as a spiritual Modern man, dependent as he is on being and of the society in which he the drugs of the chemist and the skills dwelt. The first Muslim physician of the physician, on the reckoning of was a Companion of the Holy the computer and the predictions of P r o p h e t( s a ), Haridth ibn-Kaladah, the economic planner, owes more of who had studied at Jundishapur(1). a debt than he might suspect to the But despite this very early contact of Islamic scientists of the Middle Ag e s . Islam with the school of medicine, Between the 9th and 14th centuries, Arab Muslims did not pursue this Muslim chemists, physicians, field, and nearly all of the early astronomers, mathematicians, physicians were either Christians, geographers and others not only kept Jews or Persians.

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