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The Islamic Tradition The Islamic Tradition Religious Beliefs and Healthcare Decisions by Earle H. Waugh he Islamic tradition began on the Arabian T Peninsula with the birth of Muhammad, the Prophet (570?- 632 A.D.), in the midst of interactions between Arab pagan traditions, Jewish tribes, Christian Arab tribes, the Byzantine and Sassanian Empires, and the still-dominant legacy of Hellenistic Greek culture. From the beginning, Islam saw itself as Contents a community created by God in fulfillment of God’s Beliefs Relating to Health Care 3 promise to send a prophet to every people. Muslims Overview of 3 believed that the message from God to the Arabs Religious Morality and Ethics would be the last and most complete. Both the The Individual and 4 Prophet Muhammad and the early Islamic community the Patient-Caregiver believed that the great prophets of the past, such as Family, Sexuality, and Procreation 7 Abraham and Moses, were part of its Semitic inheri- tance. Islam thus saw itself as renewing and/or bring- New Reproductive Technologies 9 ing to completion a message that had previously been Genetics 11 given to all other communities throughout world his- Organ and Tissue Transplantation 12 tory. Mental Health 13 Islam was therefore intricately woven into the cul- Death and Dying 15 tural fabric within which Judaism and Christianity Special Concerns 17 had flourished. It quickly saw its purpose as bringing Conclusion 19 God’s true message to as many peoples as it could, resulting in the expansion of Islam throughout the then-known world. Within two centuries of the Prophet’s death, Muslim empires reached from the Atlantic to the steppes of China. Faced almost immediately with a schism (circa 656) that has lasted to this day, Islam split into Part of the “Religious Traditions and Sunnis and Shiites, both of whom constructed sophis- Healthcare Decisions” handbook series ticated spiritual versions of Islam and strove to bring published by the Park Ridge Center a great diversity of peoples into the Muslim fold. for the Study of Health, Faith, and Ethics Urged by the Qur’an to tolerate earlier forms of reli- THE PARK RIDGE CENTER giosity, the Islam that settled over the heartland attitude informed by pious Muslim commitment. of North Africa, the Middle East, Fnd East Asia On the other, the imposing figure of the prophet accepted diversity and furthered the intellectual engendered a perception of good health as the resources with which it came in contact. United legacy of Muhammad, opening doors for every- not only by the impulses of state within various one to seek aid to that end. With the growth of empires, but by the loose control of Muslim ritu- Sufism, mystical approaches to health—some of al and Islamic law, Islam put down deep roots. them very old and predating the advent of Religious leadership was shaped according to Islam—came into practice. Saints, for example, sect: in Sunnism, the scholarly class, or ulama, were perceived as having transcendent powers gradually formed what has become known as by which they could influence the health of traditional Sunni Islam, while in Shiism, the believers. These beliefs flowered while resting Imams developed religious law, theology and on an essentially Muslim view of God’s presence Imamate philosophy. Classical Muslim culture in ordinary affairs of life. (c.750-950) flourished in the arts, literature, Islamic culture eventually expanded into architecture, science and government. India, Indonesia, and Africa. Since classical Islam grew exponentially. Various forms of Islam was the most advanced culture of its day, piety flowered, nurtured by a highly literate cul- it attracted interest just by virtue of its sophisti- ture. Piety of the Qur’an, love for the Prophet, cation. At the same time Islamic tradition and pious attendance to God’s everyday require- expanded into new areas through trade, scholar- ments as found in the law helped shape Muslim ly ties, and movements of peoples. By the high life. Among the most distinctive forms of piety Middle Period (1500-1700), Islamic states were developed, Sufism was an ascetic and mystical dominated by peoples of Turkic ancestry. movement. Reacting to the worldliness and Following the conversion of the Mongols to sophistication of official Islam represented by Islam and their advances into India, a growing the courts, Sufism urged a more authentic inter- Islamic internationalism linked believers in a action with God through meditation and prayer. common religious ethos that nevertheless fos- This type of piety constructed its own institu- tered distinctive regional characteristics. tional orders, or tariqas, and its own spiritual By the end of this period, Islam had come leaders, known as saints. Through the medium into increasing contact with European powers, of Sufism, Islam became the vehicle through and the ascendancy of European culture had which a myriad of believers connected to their begun to impact Islam dramatically. Little by lit- heartfelt spiritual urges. tle, Islamic hegemony eroded under these pres- Islamic views of health were reflected with sures until Muslims all over the world saw their similar pluralism. The Islam of the court and of dominance fade. The Second World War led to developing Muslim intellectual traditions adopt- the rise of local Muslim nation-states whose ed the medical heritage of Greece, Persia, and global significance paled compared to earlier India, and immediately began building upon glories. Reactions to this state of affairs has con- those traditions. In the towns and villages, where tributed significantly to the growth of access to such training was sparse, Arab folk tra- “Islamism” (Muslim fundamentalism) today. ditions held sway. These traditions blended quickly with a wealth of popular conceptions attributed to the Prophet. Both systems—intel- lectual and folk—were eventually absorbed into basic Islamic ideology, with two ends. On one hand, physicians assumed certain moral respon- sibilities for health, along with a professional 2 THE ISLAMIC TRADITION: RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND HEALTHCARE DECISIONS BELIEFS RELATING TO HEALTH CARE slam has no central authority. Unlike other physical and spiritual aspects without dramatic I religions, such as Roman Catholicism, a com- distinctions between the two. bination of reluctance within Islam to accept This special creation has moral significance: human mediatorship and the diversity of the Through human creation, God set in place his Islamic community has resulted in no one offi- moral domain, making everything in the heav- cial voice to express a “universal” Islamic opin- ens and on earth subject to humans (31:20; ion. The closest Islam has to such a voice comes 16:14), and entrusting to humans from pre-eter- from the ulama, who are learned in law and nity (33:72) the well-being of all beings and public issues and who may, if called upon, give a things on earth (2:29). Unfortunately humans fatwa, or opinion/rendering on an issue. have a very limited perspective on their respon- However, these opinions are not always accepted sibilities, and they are prone to selfishness by all other authorities. (70:19-21). Therefore, a proper relationship with Since Islam moved across nations almost God and concomitant attitudes of gratitude are from its inception, its conception of health was the ingredients for universal well-being, since it informed by many different perspectives. Not all is only God that can assist humans in getting of these perspectives have been given equal beyond their self-centeredness (17:100). place in the writing of histories of Islamic health This ethical-integrative worldview is expand- care; rather, literary sources have often privi- ed in several directions in the hadith, the texts leged the more formal system derived from the that record the sayings and actions of the Greeks over other systems, such as those inher- Prophet. These sources regard health as a bless- ited from Persia and India. ing from God. For example, they set out specific If we begin with the Qur’an, it is clear that physical and spiritual guidelines for cleaning health is considered one of God’s blessings, for oneself before prayer, practices believed to help God created humans both beautifully and in an maintain a well-rounded society. In general, the environment of general well-being. Qur’an 40:64 hadith stress that the life God gives is one to says explicitly, “He [Allah] formed you and enjoy, so long as one lives within moderation. formed you beautifully,” while all humans are Thus personal well-being is once again elaborat- recognized as being children of a common ed in terms of a well-balanced, upright stance ancestor, Adam. Moreover, God created each before God. Vigilance becomes an ingredient, human as a “package,” that is, each person indi- then, by which one examines one’s daily experi- vidually is a creation of God. Human formation ence for evidence of activities and attitudes is comprised of a process begun in the womb, unacceptable to God. The community is and incorporating a spiritual essence at some enjoined to embody the same kind of religious point in the process (23:13-14). Thus an indi- vision. vidual is a “whole” person, integrating both OVERVIEW OF RELIGIOUS MORALITY AND ETHICS s Islam developed, it took particular care concerned with the everyday spiritual health of A not to form an intermediary between the community. Instead, locally-defined authori- human beings and God. Thus there is no role ty systems have evolved. These systems, which for a priesthood or a related institutional entity rest on Islamic law mediated by the ulama THE PARK RIDGE CENTER 3 and/or the imams, embrace norms held to be illness, an argument that never became widely Islamic either because they bear the imprint of accepted but which nevertheless caused some scripture or tradition.
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