Journal of - International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine

Islamic Medicine and Future Western biomedicine:
Potential Areas of Integration
Arthur SANIOTIS
ment of new ways of learning and understanding different
cultures. Muslims also believed that their political and
military power should be complemented with scientific
knowledge in order to foster mature authority (21). Moreover,
for Muslims a sound scientific base would prove beneficial
as a method of protecting Islam against other ideologies.
Therefore, the appropriation of science was a way of
strengthening faith amongst Muslim lay and expanding the
theoretical scope for Muslim philosophers.
The basis of Islamic philosophy and medicine was largely
informed by the Greek scientific and philosophical traditions.
Muslims found in the Greeks ideas and methods
that promoted logic and science through investigation and
analysis. An understanding of Greek knowledge also gave
Muslims an ideological bulwark against Christians where
the former found themselves in Hellenised countries (27).
Galenic and Aristotelian ideas were incorporated in Islamic
philosophy and medicine. The Aristotelian model proved
significant as it provided an explanatory tool for the separation
of the soul from the body after death (26). Aristotelian
logic and taxonomy of natural phenomena also provided a
viable analytical and experimental method for Muslim scientists.
Muslim philosophers like Al-Kindi (800-870 C.E)
and Al-Farabi (d. 950) attempted to merge Platonic and
Aristotelian lore with Quranic revelation, thereby providing
an ideological bridge between faith and reason (28). Al-
Farabi had attempted to demonstrate that the correct use of
logic could assist in explaining religious ideas (29).
Galen’s medical ideas which used Hippocratic concepts,
as well as, his own innovations elucidated a humoral theory
of the body which was taken up by Muslim physicians.
Furthermore, Galenic medicine proposed an explanatory
model of body, spirit and soul that melded with Islamic
theology to the production of a religious based model of
medicine (26). For this reason many Muslim physicians
excelled at both medicine and philosophy as befitted by the
term ‘hakim’ (Arabic: ‘wise’) which was conferred on physicians
(30). According to Elkadi, Islamic medicine should
comprise the following criteria: It must adhere to Islamic
teaching; must be comprehensive and benefitting society;
utilise logic in practice through scientific analysis and experimentation;
be universal in its approach; be superior as
a healing art by observing a holistic approach (13).
It would be a misnomer to suggest that Islamic science
and medicine was a copy of previous and extant civilisations.
Muslim science and medicine excelled at re-synthesising
ideas into a comprehensive system that was based on
religion. Religious based Islamic medicine further refined
Hippocratic and Galenic ideas as characterised by Islamic
medicine’s major figures: Al-Razi (865-925 C.E), Al-Zah-
rawi (936-1013 C.E), Ibn Sina (980-1037 C.E), Ibn Rushíd
(1126-1198 C.E), and Ibn Nafis (1213-1288 C.E). Each of
these physicians created specialisations including surgery,
epidemiology, virology, orthopaedics, ophthalmology, psychology,
pharmacology, public health, anatomy and physiology.
For example, Al-Zahrawi developed over 200 surgical
instruments and expedited various surgical techniques
and understandings of the body. Similarly, the polymath
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) wrote a fourteen volume medical
treatise called ‘The Canon of Medicine’ (Al-Qanoon fi al-
Tibb), a masterful compendium of medical lore that was a
principle medical text for Muslim and European physicians
for six hundred years. Some of the key areas of Ibn Sina’s
Canon included experimental and clinical trials, the concept
of quarantine, evidence based medicine, clinical pharmacology
and neuropsychiatry (31) (32) (33). Al-Razi was
a pioneer of experimental medicine and ophthalmology,
and made substantial contributions towards understanding
smallpox, measles, and immunology. He also instructed
in medical ethics and advised physicians to advance their
medical knowledge and making medical improvements.
Al-Razi continued the Hippocratic tradition in benefitting
patients and practising beneficence.
Tawhid: The Central Principle of Islamic Medicine and
Concept of Health
Islamic science and medicine are based on the concept
of Tawhid. Contained in this concept is the absolute
oneness of God as expressed in the first half of the
shahadah (testament of faith) (Lā ‘ilāha ‘illā Allāh: there
is no god but God). Tawhid is the underlying basis of all
universal phenomena since cosmic space and time submit
to the Divine being. Islamic cosmology emphasises that
the hierarchy of existence is dependent on the One by His
command (‘kun’ Arabic: ‘be’). The Divine command interconnects
all levels of time/space that contains the phenomenal,
angelic and archangelic realms (34). Creation is an
act of Divine mercy (rahma) and is characterised by al-fitra
(natural order) which is composed of the illimitable metapatterns
reflecting symmetry, harmony and beauty. All existence
possesses al-fitra in various levels and stages. For
example, the fitra of the human body alludes to its beauty
and perfection. Fitra also alludes to natural processes such
as blood flow in human and animal bodies and how certain
actions befit a ‘natural state’ such as circumcision, correct
parenting and showing proper respect to elders.
In Islam, nature is considered to be book of majestic
and wondrous design based on universal laws which
underlie Tawhid. Closely associated with Tawhid is the
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