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THE PHILOSOPHY OF MEDICAL
TREATMENT IN ISLAM

Man has been created in the best of moulds (Ahsan-i-Taqwim). According to the Prophetic Tradition (Hadith) Allah has created man in His own image (Khalaqa-Allah

Adama 'Ala Suratihi). Thus, being the climax and the crown of the creation, man is an all-embracing theatre of Divine Hierophany and a source of ultimate effusion of Truth. Being the vicegerent of Allah (Khalifat-Allah) on earth and being a celestial archetype on earth lie has to bear and discharge the Divine Trust (Amana). An ideal creature like man cannot discharge his Amana without perfect and sound health-both physical and spiritual.

The concept of Original Sin and the treatment of man as a primary sinner, neither existed in Islam nor was disease ever regarded as the result of Original Sin, unworthy of any medical treatment. The rapid disintegration of his personality, according to Islam, is the result of his forgetfulness of the mission assigned to him as the representative of Allah on earth and because of his total identification with the world of passion and greed. He then loses the Divine Form and his theomorphic nature and he falls from the position of his vicegerency.

This was the philosophy which dominated the thinking of the Muslims through the centuries in every walk of life and in every field of knowledge, including Medicine. Eminent Muslim doctors and physicians, also being great scholars of the Qur'an and the Sunna, regarded medical service as a religious duty, incumbent upon them to sustain the health of the vicegerent of Allah in dynamic shape and function.
 
Index Notes and References Conclusions The Process of Reception Arabic Medical Literature Latin Translation The Rise of Arabic Medical Literature Tibb-An-Nabawi Quranic Imperatives on Dietetics Philosophy of Medical Treatment Preface Introduction Foreword