Bismillahirrahmaninrrahim....
I was browsing through websites and i came across this really interesting article pertaining Medicine, its current stipulation and the healthcare economic outlook . It was a speech text delivered at the 28th Annual Convention of the Islamic Medical Association of South Africa and it took place last year. the first part of the speech relates the current phenomenon in healthcare, how there is limited access for the people, moral hazards practiced by pharmaceutical companies, and how 'poverty become a sentence of sickness and misery'.
the latter part of the speech contrasts the Islamic and the Western health care system. very interesting, how Medicine was practiced during the times of Abbasiyah ruling, when Harun al-Rashid was the ruler.
There are other facets of health care being compared like the Islamic and Western medical ethics and other current health issues, like HIV/AIDS etc. But it appealed to us, that Islam places high value on the tawakkal concept in it's medical practices. Everything relates back to the Greatness of Allah as a Healer.
Read this piece:
"When Harun al-Rashid built the splendid hospital in Baghdad, Muslims were in charge. They imported everything on their own terms. They assimilated it into their value system.
The hospitals in Baghdad as those throughout the Muslim world were Islamic institutions. At these hospitals they had separate wards for men and women. The treatment and stay was free as was the medicine for the outpatients. They even gave a gift of money to the patient upon discharge so he would not have to immediately start working after leaving the hospital. The doors of these hospitals were open to all: rich and poor, Muslim or non-Muslim, local or foreigner. These free hospitals maintained a very high standard of care. They were clean and large. There were lecture halls, libraries, and masajid in every hospital. Food was plentiful and prepared under the physicians instructions for each patient. The rulers visited the hospital to learn first hand how they were running. " (Baig, 2008)
Islamic World View
- The greatest and the least discussed attack was on the worldview of the Muslim physician. In Islamic medicine the physician turned to Allah to seek cure for the patient. He wrote huwa al-Shafi (He (Allah) is the healer) on every prescription and while writing that he said,
Glory be to You, we have no knowledge except what You have taught us. Indeed You are the Knowledgeable, the Wise. [Al-Baqarah, 2:32]The act connected both the patient and the physician to Allah, for He alone can cure.“When I fall sick, He heals me.” Al-Shu’ra, 26:80" (Baig, 2008)
"There are things our physicians can do individually.Our physicians need to recognize the great and unique opportunity that they have for doing good not only for the body but also for the soul of their patients. Doctors are in the best position to promote Islamic lifestyle, which is the best protection against the diseases brought on by our modern lifestyles. This refers to diseases of all kinds--- physical, mental, and spiritual, although the last one is not always recognized. Today we are more concerned about the hardening of the arteries than we are about the hardening of the hearts. But Muslim physicians can furnish treatments for both." (Baig, 2008)
Intricacies of the sciences of human anatomy indeed is not all about what is on the operation table and what new discoveries being made every day. A part of it lies deep inside, our Faith in the Creator and our dependence on His Healing. That is why Islam is very, very, beautiful...SUbhanallah...
full text available:
http://www.albalagh.net/food_for_thought/0094.shtml
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