"Perfect health" is a wish that humans crave for. They know that they
can never attain this state of perfection, if only because they cannot conceive
what is "perfect". Accordingly, they satisfy themselves with a relative
"good health", where the individual would be living without imminent
suffering or pain. As living organisms, humans are subject to genetic and
environmental influences that affect the functioning of their organs. Any
negative effect would cause a disease.
The force of life inexorably urges living organisms to resist disease
which constitutes by definition an obstruction to the fulfillment of the
ultimate objective of the ailing organism. Not only humans who live for
some purpose in life but one dare say every particle has a role and is
commissioned to undertake it to the best of its ability. This innate tenacity
in all organisms to function in accordance with their respective eternal laws
ministering their roles and missions is a part of what the Qur'an terms as
"Tasbeeh".
(XVII-44)
Both words "glorifying" and "praising" in the above verse have been used by translators to imply "Tasbeeh", but they should be construed to mean the conformity with the laws enacted by Allah to administer the ideal relationships among all beings in course of their functioning and performance. When there is any disturbance to our deviation from the inherent discipline of Tasbeeh, then there is a disease. In humans, such a disease can be pure moral (psychological), pure pathological, or moral-cum-pathological. When a person goes astray in his behavioral conduct, or when he contracts a virus infection, or where the cholesterol in his blood increases to the extent that affects his meditative faculties and behavior, this person is accordingly considered sick. To cure him, an appropriate course of treatment must be followed. The person who is qualified to judge whether a person is suffering from a "disease" as such, and who assumes the functions of healing is called a medical "doctor".(X-57)
The "direction" in this verse to the Qur'an itself, it is considered a sure cure to any moral or psychological disease that may afflict true believers.(XLI, 44)
There is no doubt that genuine belief in god can be the best cure for most of our psychological disturbances. It brings peace to our hearts as one reckons to his Creator and resigns in Him.(XIII, 27-28)
Moral disease has been frequently expressed as disease in the heart. For instance, depicting the psychological picture of the Hypocrites (Munafiqeen) God says:(II, 10)
Transgressors, unbelievers and ill-intentioned individuals suffer from a moral weakness - a disease in their hearts. This term has been repeated about thirteen times in the Qur'an.(XXVI, 80)
However, Allah insinuates the need for treatment by ascribing a healing potentiality to honey produced by bees:(XVI, 69)
The Hadith, as usual, gave us striking revealing facts concerning disease and cure. Our Prophet (P.B.U.H.) informed us that the general rule is that there is a cure to every disease, whether we are aware of it or not. We know at present that our cells produce antibodies to fend against the agents of disease: the viruses and virulent bacteria. Homeopathic philosophy is based on helping the body to overcome the disease by giving the sick very small doses of drugs that would stimulate the same symptoms in a healthy person if given in large doses. In simple words, the well established Hadith narrated on the authority of Ibn Maso'ud "God has not inflicted a disease without prescribing a cure to it, known to whoever knows it, and unknown to whoever does not know it." (cited by Ahmad of Nayl-al-Awtar, V. 9, p. 89), this Hadith is a confirmation of the natural law of auto-resistance of self-defense. It indicates as well the necessity for discovering cures to our diseases. He (P.B.U.H.) said - on the authority of Usama Ibn Shuraik - when a Bedouin asked him whether be should seek treatment: "Yes, servants of God seek treatment; God has not set a disease without setting a cure to it, known to whoever knows it and unknown to whoever does not know it" (cited by lbn Majah, Tirmizi and Abu-Dawood). And again, on the authority of Abu-Huraira, the Prophet (P.B.U.H.) said, "God has not sent any disease without sending a cure to it" (cited by Ahmad, al-Bukhari and Ibn Majah). Every human being is bound to feel ill sometime and somehow. A
Muslim does not panic when afflicted with any sickness because his belief
in the mercy of God, his faith in destiny and his faith enjoining forebearance
and patience, all these elements give him strength to stand fast and endure
his ordeal. However, he is supposed to seek treatment in response to the
Prophet's (P.B.U.H.) order. By accepting the Prophet's (P.B.U.H.) statement that there is a cure to every disease, the Muslim patient builds up a
strong hopeful attitude that helps him and his doctor to resist the disease and
overcome it.
The Muslim doctor shares with the Muslim patient the two main
characteristics: the faith in God and destiny, and the conviction that there
is a cure for every disease But the doctor must have something more; he is
supposed to know, or at least try to know, the proper diagnosis and the
proper cure. He must be aware of his mission or commission entrusted to
him in his capacity as the agent of healing. Being an agent, he believes that
the act of healing is not entirely his, but it depends on God's will. It seems
to me that medical doctors are more aware than others of the divine power
and God's will. They meet every day with cases where destiny plays the
major pan and they encounter the most unexpected results. Our Prophet
(P.B.U.H), on the authority of Yasir, says: "For each disease there is a cure;
and when the (fight) treatment is given, the disease is cured by the Will of
Allah", (cited by Ahmad and Muslim).
The art of healing, which is called the medical profession in modern
language, has been highly respected all through the ages.,For a long period
in human history this an was closely correlated with religious leadership
and quite often confluent with magic and miracles. Since the advent of Islam
1400 years ago, medicine has become a science subject to human intelligence and discovery. Nevertheless, the medical doctor has persistently
captured the appreciation and respect of his contemporaries, especially as
medicine was usually associated with other philosophical and social knowledge. In fact this close marriage between philosophy and medicine distinguished the medical history of Islam. The gist here is that doctor's prognosis
included the spiritual, psychological and social sides of the patient over and
above the pathological aspects. I earnestly believe that in an Islamic state,
all Muslim doctors in course of their every day practice, and when dealing
with Muslim patients in particular, should keep this traditional prognostic
attitude in mind. I am sure, if they do they will never regret the act.
But what is it that makes a Muslim doctor different from other non-
Muslim doctors? From the technological and scientific points of view, all
doctors fall in one category. However, when it comes to practice, the
Muslim doctor finds himself bound by particular professional ethics plus
his Islamic directives issuing from his belief. In fact, the Muslim doctor - and
I mean by this that doctor who tries to live his Islam by following its
teachings all through - such a doctor is expected behave differently in some
occasions and to meet greater responsibilities than other non-Muslim
doctors.
1. The Public Responsibility: A Muslim doctor is supposed to belong
to a Muslim community where there is some common cause, common
feelings and mutual solidarity. "Believers are brethren" (IXL, 10) God also
says:
(111, 103)
The implication is the Muslim doctor is a member in a Muslim
community where the same body of the individual is crucial for its survival
and development. T'he doctor has a big say and great weight in influencing
his patients and in righteously guiding their orientation. Besides, he should
be actively involved in propagating true Islam among Muslims and non-
Muslims. Almost all Christian missionaries depend on medical doctors
when approaching alien masses, taking advantage of the humanistic service
doctors render to poor diseased people. In a country like this where we live,
the best missionary service to be render-ed by a medical doctor is to behave
aU the time in accordance with his Islamic teachings, to declare his
conviction, and to feel proud of it. Then he serves a good model that would
convince others and gain their hearts.
2. Faith and healing: By accepting the fact that Allah is the healer - and
that the doctor is only an agent, both patients - irrespective of their creeds
- and their doctors, fight their battle of treatment with less agony and
tension. I think it is an established fact that such spiritual conviction would
improve the psychological state of the patient and boost his morale, and thus
help him overcome his physical weakness and sickness. There are many
examples where faith played a miraculous part in the process of healing. In
my opinion, a Muslim doctor must make of faith the backbone of his entire
healing procedure.
3. Reprehensible, Prohibited and Permissible Acts: More than any
other professional, the Muslim medical doctor is confronted more frequently with questions regarding the Islamic legitimacy of his activities.
There are almost daily controversial problematic issues on which he is
supposed to decide: e.g. birth control, abortions, opposite sex hormonal
injections, trans-sexual operations, brain operations affecting human personality, plastic surgery changing physionomy, extra-uterine conception,
etc. The Muslim doctor should not be guided in such issues merely by the
law of the country. He must also find the Islamic answer and rather adopt
it as much as he can. To find the answer is not an easy matter, especially if
the doctor himself has no reasonably solid background in the field of Islamic
teachings. Yet, to gain such knowledge is very simple and would not
consume much time as generally presumed.
In general, every Muslim must have a preliminary knowledge of what
is reprehensible and what is prohibited. One has to admit that our early
education as individuals is very deficient in this regard. But this does not
justify our ignorance of the essentials of our religion and our indifference
towards its injunctions. There is no difficulty nowadays to obtain a few
reference books about our Shari'ah and to find out the answers to most -
if not all - our medical queries. The most preliminary study to the Islamic
science of "Usul" would give the doctors the main principles of analogy,
'Qias', preferentical application Istihsan) and jurisdictic initiation (Istihsan). The importance of such knowledge becomes conspicuous when the
subject of the issue is purely technical and thus lies beyond the reach of the
normal religious scholar. Besides, there are many secondary questions that
arise in, the course of dealing with patients where the personal judgement of
the doctor is the only arbiter. There, as always, the doctor needs a criterion
on which he can build his code of behavior and the ethics of his medical
procedure.
To conclude, the role of the Muslim doctor is briefly to put his
profession in service of his religion. To this end, he must know both:
medicine and Islam.
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