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| Application Of Tibb-i-Nabi
To Modern Medical Practice Hakim Moinuddin Chishti (Robert Thomson, N.D.) Bismallah Ir-Rahman, Ir-Rahim Medical practice in the United States is
facing its most serious challenge in the past 100 years. While no medical
system can be expected to have a monopoly on cures, to day allopathic
medicine is facing an ever- growing number of unorthodox assaults, on top
of the malpractice increase. And, these charges are being lodged despite
the outstanding advances and cures which can be attributed to scientific
medicine. The chief complaints against the orthodox
system are that it is often harmful, often ineffective, and often too
expensive. Modern hospital medicine is vulnerable on all three counts. It
uses techniques and drugs that are productive of many adverse reactions,
cost too much and frequently do not cure. Indeed, Dr. Lewis Thomas,
President of the Sloan-Kettering Memorial Cancer Center in New York,
confessed in a recent interview, that all internists know that ninety
percent of all illnesses get better by themselves. In the late 1979's in modern and scientific
America (and much of the rest of the developed world), there need be no
concern for the plagues and diseases which leveled civilizations in the
past: smallpox, poliomyelitis, cholera, measles, and especially systemic
bacterial infection are simply not a threat to life. In one sense, then,
men and women and children are much healthier than they have ever been in
human life; yet, they are much more apprehensive and disappointed about
their lives than ever before. The reports of unnecessary surgeries,
suicides, drug abuse, sexual perversion, alcoholism and a wide array of
"nervous" disorders, affect the entire population. What is more
the causes of death for most people cancer, heart disease contain a clue
as to the true source and cause of the problem, the gradual withering away
and withdrawal of the life Force itself. Still, women abort their
children, everyone seems quite willing to ingest substances known to
shorten their life span, and engage in life habits and patterns which
demonstrably build disease. Coincident with this growing lack of true
health, there is an assault upon the very integrity of the physician, and
the substantial proportion of malpractice suits are rooted in the common
misunderstandings about medicine and responsibility for health. Patients
feel that the doctor has all the answers and the patient is but a passive
participant in the relationship. Such an expectation is beyond the ability
of medical science to satisfy. Physicians themselves have difficulty
overcoming the psychological and financial temptations involved in
assuming such a role. Thus, they too fall into the traps inherent in
relationships based upon unjustified dependency. It is at this critical juncture, when Man
seems to be losing the physical and psychological underpinnings necessary
for rational life-that we must turn to our Gracious and Merciful Creator,
Allah t'ala, for the infallible remedy and vital prescriptions for our
time. Insha Allah, in this presentation, I would
like to suggest some conceptual framework within which we can begin to
utilize the most Complete and thorough Medical Tradition, that of the Holy
Prophet Muhammad (AS), and arrive at a renewed view of man as healer and
man as patient. Allah t'ala tells us in Surah An'am, verse
17: And, again, in Surah Yunus, verse 57, we
learn: And, once again, in Surah Bani Isra'il,
this idea is even made more clear: Similar revelations are contained in other
verses in Qur'an, notably in Surah XXVI, verses 80 and 81; XLI, verse 44;
Surah XVI, verses 53 and 69. These are the specific references to guide
mankind to the revelation of the latest and complete code for the fit
conduct of human life on earth, in order to maintain or regain health. As Muslim physicians, there is a very
special obligation upon us, to become models of human life lived in
harmony with these commands of our Creator. To accomplish this, let us
look for a moment at the very excellent and perfect example left to us by
the Prophet Muhammad (AS), and conveyed to us in the Sahih Traditions of
Muslim and Bokhari. The first Appendix shows a preliminary listing of
those topics having a direct bearing and relationship upon health, which
is given with a specific instructions from our beloved Prophet (AS), It is clear that far from being a general
and vague guide to health, the Qur'an and Hadith of Islam, on the
contrary, gives us most specific ordering of matters of healthy living,
for all manner of public and private health, even to the contamination of
food by pets! As Muslims we are well aware of a fact kept
hidden from the general public in the West, and this is that the most
complete system of "natural medicine" ever devised has been
extant for 1,400 years, presented in the fullest and miraculous order of
Divine Commands from Allah, and lived out in example by the most profound
human being in history. And it is by this example that the present health
crisis may be met. For this is, above all, a crisis of faith, of faith in
the physician, of faith in the human mechanism as healing process, of
faith in the patient, but above all, a cynical loss of faith in God
Himself. We have learned from the Hadith of the Prophet (AS), "We did
not send down any disease, unless we have sent down the remedy with
it." And so, as the disease is "loss of faith" in the
ultimate sense, the cure is therefore "iman." This does not allow for any incurable
disease, including the so-called "terminal" cancers, for, by
giving up hope and informing a patient of such "hopelessness" of
their faith and hope. Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi has said in Fihi Ma Fihi,
that "faith is superior to prayer", even, for faith is
continuous, cannot be omitted for any excuse, and has its own benefit with
or without prayer. The main tenets of Tibb-i-Nabi, or
"medicine of the Prophet," of course Proceed from this iman, and
are contained first of all in the usual religious in-junctions known as
the "Five Pillars of Islarn". We wish to review them briefly. 1. Shahadat. "Lailahailallah;Mohammadd-ur-rasoulallah."
Imam Al-Ghazzali has Said, "Illness is one of the forms of experience
by which man arrives at a knowledge of God; as He says, 'Sicknesses
themselves are My servants, and are attached to My chosen. ' "If one
is unable to have faith in the soul, in Allah, and in the seen and unseen
worlds, then how could one expect to have any wellness in the fight with
other "unseen" things, like microbes and viruses. It is in the
first place precisely because people have turned away from the nurturing
and feeding of the soul, that disease has taken hold and overpowered that
pitiable and shrunken soul. 2. Salat. The five daily obligatory prayers
are the most magnificent form of food for our soul, as well as being a
practical set of physical exercises which, if conducted regularly will
banish so many of the common ailments such as lower back pain, arthritis,
cervical misalignments, headache and other complaints-or at least greatly
reduce their severity if they occur at all. The recitation of prayers in Arabic
language conveys an added benefit which can be described under the Science
of Breath (nafas), which holds that the heart is the seat of manufacture
of the breath, and the storehouse for the divine potentialities (sifat).
These potentialities are conveyed about the body by various humours (akhlat),
which must be kept in harmony. The transmission of sound is important for
maintaining or building health. After all, the Command for the Qur'an was,
and is, "Recite!" For example, the long sound of aleph ('a' as
in father) is known to vibrate the heart plexus and stimulate the feelings
of power, concentration, majesty and so forth. The sound of "ya" or long 'c' in
English (as in seen), travels up the nasal septum and stimulates the root
of the pineal body, acknowledged by most Western biologists to be a
vestigial remnant of a third eye, or light- sensitive organ. Even though
its specific function is not known to science, a quick review of words and
phrases in salat will show the place Allah t'ala has found for stimulation
of this body throughout the day. 3. Ramadhan. "Fasting (sawm) is the
best medicine", is the claim of the latest natural food faddists, but this
statement too comes from the comprehensive Tradition on Medicine of the
Holy Prophet Muhammad (AS). The burden upon the digestive organs, stressed
further by addition of so many chemical additives to food, stress toxins
and consistent dietary indiscretion, places a very great labor upon the
detoxifying systems for the body-primarily upon the liver-which may
ultimately be seen to be the leading cause of degenerative disease. 4. Zakat. Every physician knows that if the
subject of disease is looked into deeply enough, nearly all diseases can
be said to originate in the mind. The psychological fears associated with
not knowing if, or how, one is going to provide for one's dear ones, often
leads to excessive drinking, depression, and suicide, among other things.
The humane system of community preservation provided for by zakat, is a
necessary component of any truly humane society, and therefore is
incumbent upon all Muslims. In addition, there is the added benefit of
increasing one's humility and preventing one from becoming selfish and
greedy, characteristics so prevalent in modern society, which harm others
by withholding something from the less fortunate peoples' needs and
affections. 5. Hajj. The pilgrimage for every physically and financially able Muslim usually is performed by adults who have met their responsibilities in life, and have in one sense "earned" this final religious journey, It gives the mature in life a hope for the future, a very great and exalted final Purpose and direction, a final re-ordering and re-affirmation of iman as one approaches the transition from human life on earth. While it is surely the best provision against senility, even the young who are fortunate to perform the Hajj, the benefits are perhaps still greater. Any interested person can go much deeply
into these topics, and they are repeated here only to suggest a mere
glimpse of the superior benefits to be gained from following the
injunctions of the way of life known as Islam. Advanced study of Islam
yields rich source material in any field of human thought and behavior. What needs to be stressed here, is that
even if all of these acts were not called by the name "Islam",
they would, if prescribed and enforced as a mode of treatment, produce
profound effects entirely beneficial. In my own work, I often suggest to
non-Muslims who come for health guidance, the movements of salat,
cleanings of wazu, and certain elements of fasting, under the rubric of
"health building". The results under such a regimen, which is
nothing more than suggestion Islam, have been truly astonishing, with
recovery of many serious chronic and degenerative diseases recorded. The Appendix I gives the list from Hadith
on health-related topics, but from a broader perspective we can gain even
more, to include some of the giants of Islamic medicine as it has
developed from the example of the Prophet Muhammad, when applied by the
advanced Muslim minds to fields of scientific endeavor during various
periods of human history. While there are many physicians who command
our utmost respect there is one man who stands out above all others, who
is responsible for nearly all of today's pharmacology methodology, much of
the nature therapeutics, and whose medical theories have maintained their
authority through seven centuries of medical practice. Abu Ali Al-Husayn ibn Sina-known in the
West as Avicenna was one of the illustrious physicians in recorded
history. He was born in 980 A.D. near Bokhara in present-day Afghanistan.
Though that was the center of learning of the time, he had exhausted all
teachers of the day by the time he reached his teens, and in fact
explained logic to his master. He received no formal education in the
sciences or medicine, but had physicians working under his direction at
the age of fourteen. He is perhaps less known for his medical
genius than for his philosophy. His book Kitab-ul Ansaaf (The Book of
Impartial Judgement), in which, at the age of twenty-one, he answered
28,000 questions on theology and metaphysics, remains a significant and
undisputed contribution to human thought. Avicenna was extremely active in all realms
of life, serving several times as a court minister and on more than one
occasion was caught up in intrigues which led him to flight or to prison.
He wrote whenever he could- in prison, on horseback, or in the wee hours
of the night after working all day. He wrote in verse to instruct his
pupils, and produced important works on Sufi doctrines and behavior. He
never had a library and wrote primarily from memory. He is (credited by
scholars with an astounding outpouring of 276 works, touching on all
aspects of human endeavor-medicine, natural history, physics, chemistry,
astronomy, mathematics, music, economics and oral and religious questions.
Among them is the greatest classic on medicine, the eighteen-volume
Qanun-ul-Tebb (Canon of Medicine), which covers and orders all medical
knowledge in the world up to his time. The Qanun has maintained its
authority in medical practice and teaching for more than seven hundred
years, and today remains the "bible" of medicine for
practitioners in India (both Muslim and Hindu) and throughout the Near and
Middle East. Large medical schools are devoted to teaching Avicenna's and
huge warehouse complexes are strategically located to dispense remedies
from the Qanun ... The London Dispensary revealed considerable
influence of Avicenna up until the end of the eighteenth century, and use
of his remedies continued widespread into the nineteenth century,
especially in rural parts of North America which rely upon "home
remedies". It remains for Westem medicine to become familiar with and
study this rich source of knowledge as one of the greatest sources of
rational medicine ever devised. Translations of Avicenna's Qanun remain
incomplete. A British doctor translated and provided a commentary for the
first volume, but the remaining volumes are locked in Arabic and Persian
with some translations into the Romanic languages. Western medicine, nor science, has not a
figure to compare with Avicenna, and it seems unlikely that one would be
produced from the present moulds, rather, a researcher becomes
"known" for some so-called discovery, which passes out of
fashion quickly, or the drug he devised becomes too dangerous for human
use. How many chemical drugs are in use today, that were in use 25 years
ago? Can we now construct-with the foregoing as
a foundations model for the Muslim spiritual physician, or simply, the
hakim in the fullest and deepest sense of that work, as a new, or reborn
figure who can function not only to meet the specific needs of the
ever-growing numbers of Muslims in the West, but also as a model for the
medical paraprofessional to work with modern doctors to the benefit of the
patient? To what extent can modern allopathic medicine be allied with such
a model? What are the educational and licensing criteria which can
reasonably be established for the modern hakim in the West? The first need is to establish a pilot
training program for Muslim hakims. This would include the primary areas
of Isclamic religious knowledge, of shariat, of the medical bases inherent
in the application of what as usually taken as religious duties, and to
present these subjects-these measures and rules for living-in a framework
which satisfies the highest standards of academic criteria in the American
model. This can be accomplished during a training period of two years of
class work, with the basic curriculum to include anatomy and physiology,
organic chemistry, botany and plant pharmacoloty (herbology), ligamentous
tissue adjustment, dietetics and training in first aid and acute
symptomology. To answer such a need, primary textual
materials must be developed from those already in use, but keyed to an
selected for the Islamic basis of the instruction. Translation of more
than one of the classic Islamic medicine tests is a sine qua non, which
may be easiest from the Urdu materials which are widely available and
already in use in hakimi curricula in Pakistan. Moreover, Works of such
import as Qarabaadin-e Kabir, Qanun-ul- Tebb, the Formulary of Al-Samargandy
and a few other works are an immediate need. Such texts could be available
within twelve months if funding were made available, Insha allah. In addition to the more or less hard
science aspects of such a curriculum, the ideal of Muslim physicians -
spiritual physicians - must be taught by example, by precept. For this
purpose, practicing hakims from predominantly Muslim countries can be
brought in as visiting professors on a one to four semester basis.
Likewise, it would be a value to the students, to visit and observe
traditional hakims at work in Islamic cultures. The second Appendix provides an outline for
just such a two year training program. It is suggested that following the
two year program of education in the hard sciences and other course work,
that at least three years be spent under direct supervision of a
practicing hakim, to ensure that each student has gained a mastery of
fundamentals before undertaking independent practice. The application of this training to
practice in and among, Muslim communities can best be effected in the
context of the Masjid, in each city. It is well-known that the mullah or
imam is the most frequently visited person in the pathway to health among
traditional Muslim cultures. A recent study in Afghanistan showed that for
each single visit to a modern pharmacy or medical doctor, the patient
visited the mullah ten times. There exists a very special role for those
Muslim physicians who have been trained in Western medicine, and are
licensed for its practice. For the ordinary American doctors reject
out-of-hand any religious basis for treatment, and the use of herbs are
considered in the realm of the "quack." But, there is
overwhelming scientific support for using herbs and natural religious
modalities for treating the sick. The intention of establishing a specific
Islamic modality in America, is not to compete with or disparage medical
doctors. It is rather to provide the supportive counseling and day-to-day
guidance as an integral part of one's deen, which cannot be practiced
under existing models of medicine. The diseases of alcoholism and mental
illness, for example, will respond well to natural herbs, detoxification
and spiritual counseling, but the requirements in terms of time are
severe. A hakim can fill this need better than any institutional form of
therapy, or any known drug therapy. For the diseases of today are the
diseases of the soul, and demand folly supportive environments and an
Islamic way of life to effect a true cure. Drugs can never remove the
causes of loneliness, estrangement of family members, lack of self-worth,
pressures of environment-but Islamic medicine can. Medical doctors must be
available for consultation by patient and hakim, whenever concern for
pathology arises. The question of licensing requirements for
hakims trained under this program arises. The first amendment to the
Constitution of the United States exempts the "practice of
religion", from regulation, and the Supreme Court has consistently
held that Congress shall make no laws regarding the practice of religion.
Lesser judicial bodies, and statutory laws, have also exempted religious
practice from medical practice acts. Since the hakims would be an integral
part of the Islamic religious community, in fact at its very core, there
would be no interference from regulatory agencies of the state. As the
training of initial classes proceeded, there may be developed some form of
recognition certificate from the IMA or similar bodies. In any event,
criteria for practice would be well established. A glance around the society we live in
compels one to realize that there must be developed some alternative
therapeutics to the allopathic model as it currently exists. There has
been a proliferation of a truly amazing array of "natural"
therapies, some of which are clearly based on wrong assumptions, and
mislead people into further degeneration of the mental and physical
health. As Muslims, we possess the latest and most complete Medical
Tradition and are rapidly approaching the time when we may be in error to
fail to actively promote this system and way of life. We cannot assume
that all of the edifice of research of Islamic Medicine is simply rank
superstition, based as it is upon the Holy Qur'an? There will no doubt
need to be some adjustments made in the time manner and places where we
choose to present this system, but can any excuse be offered as valid to
delay, when the cost is life itself, and the suffering- of so many people. In Tucson, Arizona, in conjunction with the
Chishti Mission and Masjid Tucson, we have successfully implemented a program
according to the outline given here, and it is an active and thriving
model in our community. This arose initially out of necessity, to serve
those whom modem medicine failed, and from small success, Allah the
Merciful has guided us along, Subhan Allah. We would therefore like to ask this 11th
Annual Convention of the Islamic Medical Association of the United States
and Canada, to take an historic and forward-moving role, and formalize a
program to implement the goals and ideals outlined heretofore in the field
of lslamic Hakimi medicine. Eventually, with a fully-functioning
Islamic Medical Research Institute, along with the many dozens or hundreds
of Muslim hakim practitioners, Muslims in America and the West can create
the model of medical treatment for the future, secure in the knowledge and
promise of Allah t'ala, that it is the only fit conduct for our lives on
this earth, to follow His commands, and nature this tendency in our fellow
men, in our children and in ourselves. The utilitarian social, and medical systems
pass out of vogue because they are based upon the ideas of man, and the
ideas of man can never be eternal, cannot cover the whole ground of man's
existence and nature. But ours is an Ideal, of true healing and remedy of
the, soul and body, exemplified by the last and greatest of prophets,
Muhammad (AS). Islamic medicine takes up the individual, but in his
relation to the Infinite. We therefore see that there is an
indisputable necessity for a religious basis to work in healing and
health, and this will continue to be so if mankind wishes to be successful
and happy. All else is a mirage, misleading and absurd, empty rhetoric. in
light of the matured experience of our ancestors in the faith of Islam. What is needed today, more than all the
advancements of science, is a return to the simple, eternal laws for
living, as shown in the way of life of Islam. Resurrection of our health,
of body, mind and soul, utilizing the medical traditions of Islam, as
shown by the light of Islam the Prophet Muhammad (AS), is the true need
for the salvation of the plagues which now disturb the souls of men. In this uphill task, everyone will be
required to make concessions and sacrifices, to earn the goodwill of
mankind, and blessings of Allah. This paper was presented at the 11 th
annual convention of The Islamic Medical Association which was held in
Dearborn, Michigan during September 22-24, 1978. Ya Shafee! Ya Kafee! Zul Jalal Wal Ikram! Salaamm Alaikum! with permission from: http://www.islam-usa.com/im12.html |
