<Home> <Ethics> <Topics in Islamic Medicine> <Foreword>

By
H.E. Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Awadi
Minister of Health, Kuwait, and
Chairman, Board of Trustees,
International Organization of Islamic Medicine.

This publication comes at a time when the term "Islamic Medicine" has so asserted itself to the extent that two International Conferences on Islamic Medicine have been held so far, during which enough thought and conviction lead on to the conception and generation of an "International Organization of Islamic Medicine", This was not an idea that fell upon people from higher authority, but rather a consensus reached after all had their say, including those who believed that there was nothing called Islamic Medicine and those who felt very strongly with the Islamization of the medical profession in Muslim countries as the only way of protecting medical knowledge and technology from being abused or applied in a way that is contrary to Islam and dangerous to humanity, Physicians, scientists, historians, moralists, medical educationalists and jurists each in their own fields saw the case for and the need of "Islamic Medicine".

The present time is also one of general Islamic revival. So many hard times and set-backs have seemed to shake the conscience of the Nation, which after long trial and error is looking to God again for help and to Islam for a way of life. This Islamic tide is certainly a welcome change that might be the remedy to the Nation's ailments, but like many a good remedy untoward side effects may occur and have to be monitored and tamed.

One of these, no doubt, is the emergence of religious phanaticism and pathologic emotionalism: both of which are in reality contradictory to the letter and the spirit of Islam. Any contribution to Islamic revival based on sound thinking and scientific approach would therefore be a most welcome effort.  It is my conviction that this book falls under this category. The assortment of topics that it discusses and the style of presentation carry a message to the reader about the "core topic", but also about Islam as a whole.

That the book is written in English does not mean that it addresses the non-Arab Muslims, who indeed constitute the large majority of Muslims. The non-Muslim reader is certainly at the heart of this book, whether he is the scholar studying comparative religion or the lay person seeking information about "the others". Centuries of targeted (or mistargeted) indoctrination has led to a mental portrait of the "Ugly Muslim" in the West. Unfortunately some of us, Muslims, contributed to this picture by their behaviour which is often anti-Islamic, but of ocurse is related to Islam because (so called) Muslims do it. Perhaps encountering Muslims who are better representatives of Islam, or reading more about Islam, may help dispel the falsities and with them the prejudices and hatreds even if time honoured. The present books is hopefully a step towards this aim.

During the seventeen years, so far, I have known and associated with the author, I came to acquire an in-depth knowledge of his person and his various abilities. In fact, I somehow feel that he is too close to me to write in his praise , which will help me shorten this "Foreword" And save the reader some time and effort. And yet one point is relevant in .the present context that should be mentioned. for it depicts a similarity between the author and our physician predecessors of the Muslim era who commonly proved their mastery in more fields than pure medicine. For the sake of readers who do not know the author, I would like therefore, to introduce him as clinician, teacher, scientist, writer, preacher, thinker and poet ( Arabic and English) , all with no small measure of success.   

                          
   Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Awadi