Islamset - Ibn Al-Nafis: Introduction


	Ibn Al-Nafis

INTRODUCTION

Dr. Ahmad Rajai El-Gindy
Secretary General Assistant
Islamic Organization for Medical Sciences,
KUWAIT

Thanks to Allah, the Almighty; the thanks of the grateful, the obedient, and the desirous of His forgiveness and retribution, beseeching him, to guide us to the right deeds, with praying and blessing his illiterate prophet who said, "When Adam's son dies, everything is separated from him except for three things, a current charitable deed, a righteous boy praying for him, and a useful science."

We pray to Allah that these series of publications will be of scientific use to the Muslims in particular, and to humanity in general. This introduction will be included in all the publications of this series in order to acquaint the reader,

who wishes to acquire one or more parts of it, with the objectives of the Organization, and the reasons behind its being established. We wanted to put down these words to the readers concerned about what we did, while the second part of this introduction will be specifically written for each book including a summary of the researches therein. Since the emergence of the idea of the Islamic Medicine fifteen years ago, the discussion of the meaning of "ISLAMIC MEDICINE" did not stop; the people argued: Is there an "Islamic" and "a non-Islamic" Medicine? and we found ourselves in front of three opinions:-

The first opinion:-Medicine is a human heritage; inherited successively by generations, and it is a human experience, acquired by technical and scientific practice, and religion as no role in it, and there is no need to indulge Islam in this subject to protect it from human practices.

The second opinion:- Islamic medicine means nothing to them except it is a past heritage, and we do not need it now because the world is talking about organs transplantation, genetic engineering, Lazer beams... etc. They even considered it a call of underdevelopment, and we have to put it behind closed doors; those are who don't want Islam to be mentioned at all.

The third opinion:- Although medicine is human practices and experiences, but every religion and every heavenly message has its own nature, ethics and practices which are derived from its teachings, and which adds to it its own style. The Islamic era was characterized with a comprehensive change in both the concepts and practices of the people; these concepts and practices were derived from the Holy Quran and the honored Sunna, and were followed by the Orthodox Caliphs, which produced a good harvest, with which they ruled the world, east and west with a civilization - Man was its master, good science it way and the strong belief its pillars. This civilization lasted for five complete centuries, and it was never stingy with its knowledge and arts on humanity.

For there is no favor of an Arab on a Persian, nor of a white man on a black man except by piety and good deeds, this was said by the enemies before the friends; and (Sarton's) testimony in his encyclopedia, the history of sciences, is the best evidence; (Sarton) divided the world into eras of civilizations like the Pharonic, the Babylonian, the Somarian, the Chinese the Greek, then the Islamic Civilization which flourished in all walks of Arts and Sciences for five consecutive centuries and in it were eminent scientists, thinkers, philosophers, physicians, pharmacists, engineers, Algebra's, Astronomers, Agriculturists, and people of thoughts who were distinguished with their excellence in the Divine Law, besides the cosmetic sciences.

To all these we say, our view of this topic is derived from Islamic Law, which came with its five goals, which are sustaining the religious, the mind, the self, the honor an the wealth. If we studied these goals, we'll find that three of them are concerned with Man' s well being; that is the mind, the self and the honor, as for the other two, they are concerned with man' s health, as there is no keeping of religion, nor of wealth without a strong good Muslim (The best one to hire is the strong and honorable). The prophet defined three main points, if provided in any MAN, he will lead a very happy life, as he says

"The one who sleeps secured in his bed, healthy in body, well provided for his day's food, ...he is like the one who owned the entire world."

In other words, he has got social, health and psychological security. Thus the Islamic Law talks about well being in its widest range. "The strong believer is more loved by Allah than the weak one, and both are good." The Islamic Law did not speak about medicine in its narrow sense, through which the others are trying to attack us, but medicine is the means of health, and Al-Ghazaly, a Muslim religious leader, considered medicine as a religious ordinance in all Muslim homes.

Islam considers enjoying a good health one of the biggest blessings of Allah; as mentioned in the wise saying of the prophet, "Two blessings many people are not endowed with,' health and leisure time ", These two blessings are two of the very important duties that must be kept by man as the Islamic rule says, "Whatever is not perfect without a duty, is itself a duty", thus man is not allowed to neglect his health, as it should not be neglected, because this is considered an aggression on the whole nation as it is so mentioned in the Holy Quran:-

" FOR THAT ACCOUNT WE ORDAINED FOR THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL THAT IF ANY ONE SLEW A PERSON UNLESS IT BE FOR MURDER OR FOR SPREADING MISCHIEF IN THE LAND -IT WOULD BE AS IF HE SLEW THE WHOLE PEOPLE, AND IF ANY ONE SAVE A LIFE, IT WOULD BE AS IF HE SAVED THE LIFE OF THE WHOLE PEOPLE"

(Al-Maeeda: 32).

Abu-Bakr, said "I heard the prophet of Allah, saying, "Ask Allah for certainty and health, for they are the best blessings bestowed on man is being healthy after being certain "; thus self-relief is the true gate to health; either psychological or bodily health, their only true gate is strong belief, belief in slavery to Allah, whatever inflicts you was not to wrong you, and whatever to wrong you, was not to inflict you.

The belief in the acts of worship which are prescribed by Islam are:-

Prayer is secret talk with Allah Almighty, and self purification five times a day standing in front of the Creator,

Fasting is self restrain from evil desires, and true feeling of the hunger of the Muslim brother who is deprived of a morsel of bread,

Zakat or Alms is a sacrifice, self cleanliness, and development,

Haj is a migration to Allah and his prophet, leaving everything- power, wealth, prosperity and leaving in complete humbleness and slavery , equal with your kin Muslim... as it is said; "No Arabic is better than a non-Arabic, nor a white is better than a black man except by piety", and these acts of worship protects and restrains man from evil doings, thus leaving them will lead to the spread of evil deeds and man will gain nothing but punishment for what he had done.

In order to complete the building of man and society , and to achieve the goals of Islamic Law, the doctrines of law and unlawful were put down to guide man to the right road and bestow happiness on him; as the in lawful deeds man will find his happiness, and in unlawful deeds he will be perished thus the prohibition of drinking alcoholic drinks, and all ways leading to it, as prescribed by Allah was for the protection of man' s mind and body, the society from diseases and the consequences of the absence of his mind, the prohibition of adultery, and all ways leading to it, wanton display of beauty, solitude with a woman, and libertinism... etc, was prescribed to protect the family and the whole society from dissociation and mixing of lineage which destroy the society, thus the philosophy of prohibition in Islam is meant for the prevention of human himself and to others as well.

Thus, it is clear that the goals of Islamic Law (Sharia) can not be achieved without good health and well being, as Abu-Al- Dardaa said to the prophet, "To be healthy and grateful, is much more better than to be ill and endure patiently " the prophet answered him by saying, ..Allah loves healthy people, as you do ".

That is not all, but Islam's view of the sick and sickness has overrun all that preceded it and whatever followed from laws or social systems, as Islam does not see sickness as an anger of Allah, or a touch of the devil, but a trial, and the Muslim has to be patient and bear it with patience as the Prophet said,

"Any kind of sadness or grief or even the prick of a thorn that inflicts man is a blessing from Allah as He raises him a degree higher or takes from his bad deeds instead".

The Holy Quran came to the world with statements about the inner self, this was fourteen centuries ago and it put to it four marvelous divisions in various parts of the Holy Quran thus the world knew about the peaceful innersoul, the lamenting innersoul, and the authoritative innersoul. Abu-Hamid Al- Ghazally, has delved deep in the inner-self in his encyclopedia "The Revival of religious sciences", under the heading" Fear and Request", as the Holy Quran talked about the ailments of the heart, and their different kinds, as it was mentioned by Imam Al-Zahaby in his book "The Prophetic Medicine".

As for the medicine of the heart, it is only found in the sayings of the benevolent and kind Prophet, when he quoted Allah, the only source of all knowledge, he says that for the hearts to be righteous, it must know its creator, His names, characteristics, deeds, orders, and prohibitions and anger, as there is no way of being righteous except by doing this, and no way of getting these advice except from Mohammed.

Imam Ibn Kerium Al-Jozeiah has divided the hearts into two divisions: suspicion and doubt, and desire and error. He quoted the Holy Quran as saying,

"IN THEIR HEARTS IS A DISEASE; AND GOD HAS INCREASED THEIR DISEASE".

(Al-Baqarah: 10), and:

[O CONSORTS OF THE PROPHET! YE ARE NOT LIKE ANY OF THE OTHER WOMEN; IF YE DO FEAR (GOD) BE NOT TOO COMPLAISANT OF SPEECH. LEST ONE IN WHOSE HEART IS A DISEASE SHOULD BE MOVED WITH DESIRE]

(Al-Ahzaab: 32).

The Quran described the inner-self when horrified or frightened, and how to make it peaceful again in His very simple and clear words:

"TRULY MAN WAS CREATED VERY IMPATIENT; FRETFUL WHEN EVIL TOUCHES HIM; AND NIGGARDLY WHEN GOOD REACHES HIM; NOT SO THOSE DEVOTED TO PRAYER: THOSE WHO REMAIN STEADFAST TO THEIR PRAYER; AND THOSE WHOSE WEALTH IS A RECOGNIZED RIGHT FOR THE NEEDY WHO ASKS AND HIM WHO IS DEPRIVED ( FOR SOME REASON FROM ASKING) AND THOSE WHO HOLD TO THE TRUTH OF THE DAY OF JUDGMENT; AND THOSE WHO FEAR THE DISPLEASURE OF THEIR LORD. FOR THEIR LORD'S DISPLEASURE IS THE OPPOSITE OF PEACE AND TRANQUILLITY."

[Al-Maarij: 19-28].

This is how Islam considers health, which was defined by the prince of Islamic physicians: Ibn-Sina by saying: "Medicine is the science by which the human body is known, and what is good and what is not for being healthy or otherwise." This comprehensive definition which was introduced more than one thousand years ago, is nowadays adopted by the WHO, that health is the state of the healthy body, mind and society , not only the lack of diseases or inability.

In spite of this definition of the WHO, during the forties, it ignored the spiritual side, which shows the lack of a comprehensive view of Islam about health, as Islam defines health from all domains, bodily, spiritually, psychologically and socially, and this last definition came 14 centuries ago, by the Muslim physicians.

To reach these noble goals, and great objectives for the Lord's heir on earth, there had to be a way to keep man healthy, and this is by the science of medication which was considered by the Muslim religious scientists an ordinance in the Islamic world, and Imam Al-Shafeiy said about it; "There is no knowledge, better than the prohibited, and non-prohibited acts, to my knowledge, except the science of medication". Dawood Al- Antaky in the introduction to his famous prescription say that there is no science that can do without the science of medication, because no acquisition of any knowledge is perfected without a sound body, senses, and mind.

Islam has taken good care of the different branches of medication; protective, preventive, and rehabilitative; in the protective, many sayings of the prophet, called for protection, in order to keep health in all its branches - cleanliness, food organization, and many healthy habits, as well, the researches in this domain is varied and all are derived from the prophet's wise sayings, no need to repeat them here.

As for the treatment side Islam legalized medication, and the prophet ordered medication and looking for it when he said:

"Ye believers, get treatment, the Lord created no disease without its medicine, known to those who know and ignorance to those who don't know".

As for rehabilitation, we are asked to look for it, he allowed one of his disciples to put a piece of gold on his lost nose during his invasions.

As for the three opinions pre-mentioned concerning the definition:-

To the first group we say: Medication is a human heritage and contribution, but the human thinking has deviated from the right path, and religion is in the church and in the mosque or the temple, due to their Sufferings from the control of the church over medication and sciences, and making them only for the priests, medication did not develop, and the ship of science sank deep with its arsenal of destruction, thus they produced the microbial bombs, and medication turned into fatal poison; instead of relieving pains, and becoming a tool of the Lord's benevolence, it became devastatingly harmful, and the brother became keen on eliminating his human brother, and the call for killing substituted the call for mercy, the organs began to be sold, and man was transferred from the master of earth to a sample in labs, and source of trade etc. the list is endless.

The best evidence to be quoted here is the saying of Aben- haimar; the father of the atomic bomb, when he saw it explode in Hiroshima from a distance, he said his famous words. "Now, and now only, science has sinned".

As for the second group: which said "Islamic medicine is nothing but an ancient memory and a call for under-development.." we say to them that the heritage of any nation is like the roots of a tree, whenever it goes deeper and deeper in history , it becomes firmer and firmer and provides it with the means of living; the invention of genetic engineering , the nuclear bomb, and organ transplantation are not only signs of civilization, but they are the leaves of the tree and its fruits, as civilization is much more wider than that, and cares less with its achievements, but cares more for the achiever, MAN, and cares for the philosophy of his existence in this world and the here after, as well as his ethics and culture.. if he is separate from these, he will be lost for ever.

Now although the western man enjoys the highest per capita, and has got every means of prosperity, we find the percentage of suicide going up and up, as well as the addiction of narcotics, drugs... etc. became daily practice; to enable him to forget and escape from his worries... the western man neglected the spiritual side of feeding his inner-self, and instead tried to feed on earth's food, thus he failed, and was transferred to a cog in a big machine.

This is not only in the west, but it is now prevalent in the east, as well; family relations are severed, social relations collapsed, man changed into a wild beast in a jungle full of fierce animals, each is trying to eat the other. I don't want to say more, it is enough to remind you with the AIDS that is harvesting man's bodies... Nevertheless, no body talks about chastity, virtue or ethics.. but they began to distribute contraceptives, for males and females, as if saying "Do it however, and whenever you want.. ! but use these contraceptives to protect you from the AIDS.. !" Is this the Islamic way or attitude towards the man, whom it honored and asked to walk and learn and enjoy the fruits of life. Man asks, as many asked before about health and happiness, in spite of his materialistic progress and scientific development in all fields of medicine and protective treatments.

Islam gave due attention to man's environment, and warned him against corruption and doing mischief, as both affect his health, the Lord's words describe what happened all over world from corrupting the environment, which threatens man's life as He said "CORRUPTION HAS APPEARED ON LAND AND IN SEA ON THE HANDS OF MAN, TO MAKE HIM TASTE SOME OF HIS DOINGS, HOPING HE MIGHT RETURN TO RIGHTEOUSNESS", and He orders us not to do mischief by saying, "DON'T CORRUPT THE EARTH AFTER IT HAS BEEN RECLAIMED." Corruption here, I believe is both materialistic and ethical; as material corruption includes mischief on earth and around it, and ethical corruption means self and oral corruption.

To add to all these views that each civilization has its characteristics, its features, its morals, and its practices, Islam is unique in this, as Islam sees man as a whole, body and sou1 in full balance, none overweighs the other, as he did not worship the material, nor invented priesthood. Islam has taken care of man before he was born, when choosing a wife or a husband , at marriage, when he was a sperm drop, a baby, young, and old, Islam put to him a very accurate disciple system of life, taught him how to eat, drink, dress, treat himself, his Lord, his family, and his community. Islam has put to him goals in life -as it is a farm for the hereafter, to harvest from what his hands grew, and Islam was able to introduce a civilization to the world, with which Europe progressed from its dark ages with the help of the Islamic doctrines, but the Muslims slackened down and left Europe to lead the ship of scientific development.

It may be that our interest in calling medicine by the Islamic Medicine came as a symbol to awaken the Islamic world, and tell them that there is a lot in Islam in all fields; economic, architect , arts, cosmetic, medical... etc. and their commitment to Islam will bear fruits, too. One objective of choosing this name to medicine is the human deviations in practicing medicine in the West, but the East has to have a loud voice to awaken it and shake it; that is the voice of Islam, by providing the right opinion in these practices, especially when we lost the lead of materialistic science, but we can still provide it with what purifies the and saves them from deviation, this is by means of the enlightened Islamic views. Moreover, the communication revolution has made the world a small village, knowing what happens all over it by the second... these developments are knocking our doors, thus we must be aware of it and give the Islamic view point in it, showing the advantage of Islam which differentiates between what is right from what is not.

The Lord knows what the inner-self whispers, as He is nearer to him than his vein, and He is the maker of his self, and He directed him to his success, as He says'

"BY THE SOUL, AND THE PROPORTION AND ORDER GIVEN TO IT. AND ITS ENLIGHTENMENT AS TO ITS WRONG AND ITS RIGHT. TRULY HE SUCCEEDS THAT PURIFIES IT, AND HE FAILS THAT CORRUPTS IT".

(Al-Shams : 7).

The Almighty knows what the corrupt eye sees and what is hidden in the hearts.

Some people suggested that we call it THE ARABIC MEDICINE, in order not to distort the picture of Islam, a result of misdemeanor of some practitioners, but this name might lead to the understanding of the use of medicinal plants and ancient medication practices, and this has its shortages as well as its advantages, too, and because most of those who enriched the Islamic movement were not from the Arabic environment, like Al-Razy --from Al-Rey, Ibn-Sina -from Russia, and Al-Bukhary -from Tashkand... etc and thus we'll enter into the vertigo of apartheid, but Islam had engulfed them all. Moreover, if we want to discuss the point of view of Islam in modern things, on what ground shall we argue? Are there Arabic foundations? or, all the foundations taken from the Islamic Law (Shareeaa)? Thus the best name was.. "THE ISLAMIC MEDICINE", which is nearer to the fact, as for the fear of the misbehaviors, which might be alluded to Islam, wrongly, we know that all Adam's sons are sinners, and the best sinners are the repentants, we are in a stage trying to erase eras of Islamic decay and weakness, we want to contribute to Islam and to be affiliated to it again, as well as to revive its name and face all over the world, and to prove that its doctrines are applicable, and their consequences are guarantee for man's well being and prosperity.

The Organization aims, also, at retrieving the Islamic behavior which was defined to Man by Islam, and make art and parcel of his daily conduct; if cleanliness, for example, is part of the belief, as said by the prophet, we find our Islamic states are the least countries enjoying and abiding by this Islamic ordinance, although it is the main road to health, and there are many wise sayings which organize the life of the Christians as well as the Muslims in order to lead a healthy and clean life, in the same way the orders and prescriptions in Islam are all related to man's psychological, social and body health; like prayer, fasting, Zakat, Haj, and others of the ordinances that have spiritual meanings which invests in Man transquility and protects him form psychological and body diseases There are many researches reinforcing these hypotheses, and the things that Islam forbids us from doing are essentially or our sake, we are not far away from what the world is suffering from narcotics, alcoholic drinks and AIDS which Islam prohibited.

We also wanted to utilize the plants which we have as a gift from the Lord, and Muslims have surpassed the world in this field, thus they kept their heritage of plants for the future generations, moreover they added and developed it. They wrote many books from which the Europeans took and translated and utilized till the 19th century; all their experiments and observations built on high scientific standards: Al-Hawy is considered the first scientific clinical encyclopedia in the history of the medical sciences.

Islamic civilization, at that time, was able to open its arms welcoming every active worker, Muslim or non-Muslim, as Islam has no discrimination, and no coercion in religion, no one is better than the other except by worship and good deeds, thus scientists migrated to it from east and west to add to its sciences.

I'll mention here, only, the testimonies of some Western scientists for the Islamic civilization:- "Froje Garoody" talks with sadness and grief about western Civilization; he said. "The Western civilization is dying and committing suicide because it deviated from following the natural disposition; the instinct, and its masters considered man the director of the nature which he ruled, but after five centuries of the experience we found out that Nature is the main store of the primary materials and the place for man's leftovers, this made us always destroy nature, and this is against what the Holy Quran decided, as it decided that man is the Lord's heir on earth, and man is concerned with keeping natural balance"; then he says; "Our present western civilization is dying, not because it is short of means, but because it lacks goals". Man began to threaten himself with annihilation, and the result is the destructive weapons that man possesses are enough to destroy the planet earth one hundred times, what poor creatures we are!

This civilization is carrying in its womb the causes of its destruction, on the contrary of the Islamic civilization because the Islamic civilization is coming from the Lord who made it, not man, nor is the Islamic civilization an extension of history, but a revelation from the Lord to His prophet through the Holy Quran, dictating a Holy Constitution satisfying the body and the spiritual needs of the human beings, then following this came the wise sayings of the prophet to explain the Quranic doctrine, thus everything became clear, the lawful is clear and the unlawful is clear, and the difference between them is clear. The world is about to face a crisis due to its losses from addictions, as the costs of these addictions reached 14 billion $ in one year in the USA only, and these losses were in work hours, accidents, family problems... etc. due to the addiction of narcotics or alcoholic drinks, which Islam prohibited. This big sum of lost money is more than the revenue of many countries, and the world will face more than 40 million individuals inflicted with AIDS by the year 2000, and 10 million orphans; the WHO estimates the number will be doubled, nevertheless, virtue is absent, chastity killed, and they don't know where they are going... and no body knows!

Max Mayerhoof testifies: "The Islamic medicine has reflected the sun shine which was setting in Greece, and the moon glittered in the sky of the dark ages, and other stars brightened by themselves and lit the gloomy dark sky, then the moon went down and the light of the stars waned in the revival age, but their traces are still there, to be felt in the civilization of today .."

Montgomry Watt said; "I'm not going to look at Muslims as a barbaric army invading Europe, but I'll consider them the representatives of a civilization which achieved great successes all over the world, spread them to their neighbors. The Europeans are not appreciating their debt to the Islamic Civilization!! They even try to find faults with the volume of the Islamic effect and its importance in our cultural heritage, forgetting, again, that our good relations with the Arabs and the other Islamic nations calls upon us to be aware, to the end, that we owe them, not to mention this truth, or its denial is not right..."

Montgomry Watt didn't stop at that, but he added, "Our following the Arabic: Medicine, which lasted till the 15th and the 16th centuries is evidently clear in the printed book, and the first of these books was explanations of the 9th chapter of the Principles of Al-Razy, then followed the printing of Ibn- Sina for three times, before Galinos, and till the year 1500 sixteen editions of "Al-Kanoon", the "Law". The statistics show that the quotations and extracts found in the early European writings are evidence that the impact of the Arabic books surpassed and surmounted the Greek one.

He says, too, "Islam in essence is not only a mere religious movement, but it is also a human value embedded in life of the peoples who embraced Islam, or joined it, it was a kind of unique human existence in the world as the conditions of the Islamic openings were to permit the other people to continue practicing their former habits, laws, and languages, for paying taxes (Jiziah), these Islamic rules strengthened the relations between the Muslims and the peoples of the countries they conquered, thus the people continued to practice sciences, arts and especially medication.

These three testimonies are only a sample, there are a lot of others for which there is no space to quote here, but in time we will.

In addition to this, the last WHO statistics mention that 25- 30% of the diseases from which man suffers nowadays are caused by the side effects of the chemical medicines, as well as their high prices, and the expertise which they need to manufacture. Contrarily, however, to that, our Islamic countries enjoy a suitable weather for the medicinal plants to grow and treat a lot of diseases. All we need are issuing political decrees as China and India and other nations which produce these medications in the most modern fashion.

This is a short synopsis about the idea of Islamic Medicine, and to reinforce this idea, we invited a group of Muslim thinkers to take part in many conferences to write in this field, and we have received a lot of their contributions which will be published in due course of time, under different headings.