Conclusion
Since the history of the Muslim Umma started with an Arabic imperative Iqra'
(Read), the community emerged as an Iqra-community with a passion for acquisition
and dispersion of knowledge in sciences and humanities. In the field of medicine
a similar zeal continued. The Arabs assimilated and Islamised all traditions,
which they received from the pre-Islamic sources. The world view
of Islamic beliefs was never ignored. Their original works as well as the
Greek works were translated and transmitted to Europe through Syria, Spain
and Sicily, which dominated the medieval European thought. Had the researches
of Galen, Aristotle and Ptolemy been lost to posterity, the world would have
been deprived of those works as if they had never been produced.
The Orientalists unfortunately, willingly or unwillingly, failed to draw
a line of demarcation between the original and the translated works and regarded
the original contributors as merely translators.
The Arabs, being inspired by the Qur'an and the Sunna to seek ever more
knowledge, and to conquer the forces of nature for the benefit of man, did
not hesitate to gather knowledge from any quarter. The Holy Prophet set the
minds of the believers towards medical research by saying 'For every disease
there is a medicine' (Li-Kulli Dain Dawaun). The following Ahadith, among
many others, urged the believers to strive for knowledge ('Ulum).
'He who desires knowledge adores God'.
'The study of a science has the value of a fast, the teaching of it has
the value of a prayer'.
'Science lights the door to paradise'.
'Wisdom is the goal of all believers, acquire it from anyone'.
'Take the knowledge even from the lips of an infidel'.
'The ink of a scholar is holier than the blood of a martyr'.
'Whoever is asked about a piece of knowledge and he hides it, shall be bridled
with the bridle of fire'.
'Whoever wishes to have the benefit of this immediate world let him acquire
knowledge. Whoever wishes to have the benefits of the world hereafter, let
him acquire knowledge'. And finally:
'An hour of meditation is better than sixty years of worship'.
All these clearly reveal the Islamic attitude towards knowledge. It was
due to the Qur'anic and the Prophetic injunctions that Muslims respected
the knowledge of other nations and did not destroy or burn the Greek works.
The Orientalists spent the last ounce of their energies to prove that the
Library of Alexandria was burnt by the orders of Hadrat 'Umar, the second
Caliph of Islam. But the historical records, as cited above, show how the
library was burnt and how the academies or research centres were closed.
On the contrary the Crusaders and the Mongols destroyed and burnt the library
of Baghdad and used the remains of the great library, after it was burnt,
as materials to build a bridge over the Tigris. After the capture of Southern
Spain in 1236 by Ferdinand of Castile, no less than one million Arabic volumes
were burnt or destroyed by the Holy Office. Cardinal Ximines cast 5000 copies
of the Holy Qur'an into flames. Paracelsus (d.1541), burnt the Canon' of Avicenna
publicly before inaugurating his course of medical lectures. Korona Kasmans
collected Arabic Manuscripts in large heaps from and around Granada in 1511,
which were the results of research of the Muslim scientists and scholars
of centuries and set them on fire. The Government held it illegal to possess
any book written by a Muslim scholar and all such books were confiscated.
The destruction of books, libraries and manuscripts continued in Spain for
more than 50 years. Phillip, the ruler of Spain, issued an order in 1526 that
nobody should utter Arabic words and those who had Arabic style names should
either change their names or leave the country. Thus millions of Arab Muslims
were exiled. All this happened in the centre of knowledge (Spain).
No Arab scholar showed dishonesty by claiming the Greek works as his own,
like Constantine Africanus, who according to Cunston 'wrote nothing original
and that all his books are plagiarisms or skillfully disguised translations.
He took special pains to eliminate in his translations anything that might
identify the original books. He eliminated all proper names which were too
oriental and substituted his own name in order to prevent any other writer
from stealing the fruits of 'his' works'. The Arabic words were latinized
in order to change the oriental origin. Despite such evidential records the
Orientalists have not ceased from character assassination of the Muslim scholars
and from brainwashing the Muslim youth who have been taught that the Muslims
have borrowed everything either from the Greeks or from modern Europe and
they have nothing of their own.
(ii)
Since the medical philosophy in Islam remained faithful to the Islamic belief
system, it never separated the body from the soul. Man, being related to the
total cosmic environment, was a single entity, in whom body and soul are
united. The Islamic ideals still dominate the daily life of a Muslim in dietetics,
health, cleanliness, etc. Man, being a vicegerent of God, is responsible
for the stewardship of nature, including human body and soul, and their health.
This Islamic ethic dominated the scene of medical knowledge. Medical ethics
were never ignored either by ar-Razi, Ibn-Sina or Ibn-Rushd. Al-Ghazali's
writings were entirely based on ethical problems of Muslim society.
The dramatic medical progress made in Europe during the last half century
has created enormous ethical dilemmas for Muslim doctors as well as for Islamic
Medical Associations, who want to draw upon the inspiration of the teachings
of the Qur'an and the Sunna, in such a way as to find answers and solutions
to the present problems raised by modern medicine. Problems such as abortions
for convenience, organ transplantation, sterilization, amniocentesis (a diagnostic
method for determining whether the unborn child has some
physical or mental abnormality genetically caused - is
abortion justifiable in such cases in order to prevent further
suffering) etc., are only a few among many.
The question 'on what basis would a Muslim believer make such decisions'
is the greatest ethical dilemma. Does abortion for convenience
or as a method of population control not amount to infanticide
according to the following verse?
'Kill not your children for fear of want: We shall provide sustenance for
them as well as for you. Verily the killing of them is a great sin'. (XVII:
31).
Another great dilemma created for the Muslim doctors is in respect of the
fair distribution of scarce medical resources among the rich and the poor.
Medical treatment, getting more and more expensive, is now almost beyond the
access of the poor, suffering from terminal illnesses. It is unfortunate to
note that Muslim doctors all over the world are oblivious of Islamic medical
ethics. Often the intention in pursuing medical studies is not genuinely inspired.
Many of us embark on medical studies merely to earn fortunes. Thus the sense
of sacred duty for serving mankind - the Qur'anic ethics has been disappearing.
The Islamic medical ethics commands the vicegerents of God to take care of
the needy, the helpless, the weakened, the resourceless and save the life
of man, which is the greatest gift of God given to man on earth.
As modern science gets more and more technical and scientifically complex,
it has no solution to these problems. Neither has the situation ethics nor
the code ethics. Thus modern medical ethics has created many dimensions to
the decision-making process and has added an aura of crisis. Such crucial
problems in Islamic medical philosophy call for the highest level of human
and spiritual response by the vicegerents of God. The Islamic Medical Associations
all over the world has to find proper answers to such questions and solve
the problems as soon as possible. It is their duty to evolve the dynamic methodology
in Islamic medical ethics and method of diagnostic thinking (how and why).
Since jand brotherhood, care and cure of the sick are espoused in Islamic
medical philosophy, they can not be ignored any longer.
And above all it is the duty of Islamic Medical Associations all over the
world to re-establish historical justice in favour of Muslim medical scientists
of the past, so signally denied by the Orientalists. Mere verbal sympathies
or glorification of the past can not do any good either to the scholars of
the past or of the present. Serious researches are to be undertaken by dynamic,
young medical doctors in order to compile, edit, and publish the works of
scholars of the past in contemporary medical language so that medical knowledge
of the past is accessible to our youth. The blending of the old, that is,
gold, with the new and the fusion of the past with the present can alone stimulate
the renaissance of Islamic medical sciences. It is futile to expect any justice
from the Orientalists in favour of the Muslim medical scientists of the past,
who are regarded by them, with few exceptions, as magicians.
Conclusion
Since the history of the Muslim Umma started with an Arabic imperative
Iqra' (Read), the community emerged as an Iqra-community with a passion for
acquisition and dispersion of knowledge in sciences and humanities. In the
field of medicine a similar zeal continued. The Arabs assimilated and Islamised
all traditions, which they received from the pre-Islamic sources. The world
view
of Islamic beliefs was never ignored. Their original works as well as the
Greek works were translated and transmitted to Europe through Syria, Spain
and Sicily, which dominated the medieval European thought. Had the researches
of Galen, Aristotle and Ptolemy been lost to posterity, the world would have
been deprived of those works as if they had never been produced.
The Orientalists unfortunately, willingly or unwillingly, failed to draw
a line of demarcation between the original and the translated works and regarded
the original contributors as merely translators.
The Arabs, being inspired by the Qur'an and the Sunna to seek ever more
knowledge, and to conquer the forces of nature for the benefit of man, did
not hesitate to gather knowledge from any quarter. The Holy Prophet set the
minds of the believers towards medical research by saying 'For every disease
there is a medicine' (Li-Kulli Dain Dawaun). The following Ahadith, among
many others, urged the believers to strive for knowledge ('Ulum).
'He who desires knowledge adores God'.
'The study of a science has the value of a fast, the teaching of it has
the value of a prayer'.
'Science lights the door to paradise'.
'Wisdom is the goal of all believers, acquire it from anyone'.
'Take the knowledge even from the lips of an infidel'.
'The ink of a scholar is holier than the blood of a martyr'.
'Whoever is asked about a piece of knowledge and he hides it, shall be
bridled with the bridle of fire'.
'Whoever wishes to have the benefit of this immediate world let him acquire
knowledge. Whoever wishes to have the benefits of the world hereafter, let
him acquire knowledge'. And finally:
'An hour of meditation is better than sixty years of worship'.
All these clearly reveal the Islamic attitude towards knowledge. It was
due to the Qur'anic and the Prophetic injunctions that Muslims respected
the knowledge of other nations and did not destroy or burn the Greek works.
The Orientalists spent the last ounce of their energies to prove that the
Library of Alexandria was burnt by the orders of Hadrat 'Umar, the second
Caliph of Islam. But the historical records, as cited above, show how the
library was burnt and how the academies or research centres were closed.
On the contrary the Crusaders and the Mongols destroyed and burnt the library
of Baghdad and used the remains of the great library, after it was burnt,
as materials to build a bridge over the Tigris. After the capture of Southern
Spain in 1236 by Ferdinand of Castile, no less than one million Arabic volumes
were burnt or destroyed by the Holy Office. Cardinal Ximines cast 5000 copies
of the Holy Qur'an into flames. Paracelsus (d.1541), burnt the Canon' of Avicenna
publicly before inaugurating his course of medical lectures. Korona Kasmans
collected Arabic Manuscripts in large heaps from and around Granada in 1511,
which were the results of research of the Muslim scientists and scholars
of centuries and set them on fire. The Government held it illegal to possess
any book written by a Muslim scholar and all such books were confiscated.
The destruction of books, libraries and manuscripts continued in Spain for
more than 50 years. Phillip, the ruler of Spain, issued an order in 1526 that
nobody should utter Arabic words and those who had Arabic style names should
either change their names or leave the country. Thus millions of Arab Muslims
were exiled. All this happened in the centre of knowledge (Spain).
No Arab scholar showed dishonesty by claiming the Greek works as his own,
like Constantine Africanus, who according to Cunston 'wrote nothing original
and that all his books are plagiarisms or skillfully disguised translations.
He took special pains to eliminate in his translations anything that might
identify the original books. He eliminated all proper names which were too
oriental and substituted his own name in order to prevent any other writer
from stealing the fruits of 'his' works'. The Arabic words were latinized
in order to change the oriental origin. Despite such evidential records the
Orientalists have not ceased from character assassination of the Muslim scholars
and from brainwashing the Muslim youth who have been taught that the Muslims
have borrowed everything either from the Greeks or from modern Europe and
they have nothing of their own.
(ii)
Since the medical philosophy in Islam remained faithful to the Islamic
belief system, it never separated the body from the soul. Man, being related
to the total cosmic environment, was a single entity, in whom body and soul
are united. The Islamic ideals still dominate the daily life of a Muslim in
dietetics, health, cleanliness, etc. Man, being a vicegerent of God, is responsible
for the stewardship of nature, including human body and soul, and their health.
This Islamic ethic dominated the scene of medical knowledge. Medical ethics
were never ignored either by ar-Razi, Ibn-Sina or Ibn-Rushd. Al-Ghazali's
writings were entirely based on ethical problems of Muslim society.
The dramatic medical progress made in Europe during the last half century
has created enormous ethical dilemmas for Muslim doctors as well as for Islamic
Medical Associations, who want to draw upon the inspiration of the teachings
of the Qur'an and the Sunna, in such a way as to find answers and solutions
to the present problems raised by modern medicine. Problems such as abortions
for convenience, organ transplantation, sterilization, amniocentesis (a diagnostic
method for determining whether the unborn child has some
physical or mental abnormality genetically caused - is
abortion justifiable in such cases in order to prevent further
suffering) etc., are only a few among many.
The question 'on what basis would a Muslim believer make such decisions'
is the greatest ethical dilemma. Does abortion for convenience
or as a method of population control not amount to infanticide
according to the following verse?
'Kill not your children for fear of want: We shall provide sustenance for
them as well as for you. Verily the killing of them is a great sin'. (XVII:
31).
Another great dilemma created for the Muslim doctors is in respect of the
fair distribution of scarce medical resources among the rich and the poor.
Medical treatment, getting more and more expensive, is now almost beyond the
access of the poor, suffering from terminal illnesses. It is unfortunate to
note that Muslim doctors all over the world are oblivious of Islamic medical
ethics. Often the intention in pursuing medical studies is not genuinely inspired.
Many of us embark on medical studies merely to earn fortunes. Thus the sense
of sacred duty for serving mankind - the Qur'anic ethics has been disappearing.
The Islamic medical ethics commands the vicegerents of God to take care of
the needy, the helpless, the weakened, the resourceless and save the life
of man, which is the greatest gift of God given to man on earth.
As modern science gets more and more technical and scientifically complex,
it has no solution to these problems. Neither has the situation ethics nor
the code ethics. Thus modern medical ethics has created many dimensions to
the decision-making process and has added an aura of crisis. Such crucial
problems in Islamic medical philosophy call for the highest level of human
and spiritual response by the vicegerents of God. The Islamic Medical Associations
all over the world has to find proper answers to such questions and solve
the problems as soon as possible. It is their duty to evolve the dynamic methodology
in Islamic medical ethics and method of diagnostic thinking (how and why).
Since jand brotherhood, care and cure of the sick are espoused in Islamic
medical philosophy, they can not be ignored any longer.
And above all it is the duty of Islamic Medical Associations all over the
world to re-establish historical justice in favour of Muslim medical scientists
of the past, so signally denied by the Orientalists. Mere verbal sympathies
or glorification of the past can not do any good either to the scholars of
the past or of the present. Serious researches are to be undertaken by dynamic,
young medical doctors in order to compile, edit, and publish the works of
scholars of the past in contemporary medical language so that medical knowledge
of the past is accessible to our youth. The blending of the old, that is,
gold, with the new and the fusion of the past with the present can alone stimulate
the renaissance of Islamic medical sciences. It is futile to expect any justice
from the Orientalists in favour of the Muslim medical scientists of the past,
who are regarded by them, with few exceptions, as magicians.
Conclusion
Since the history of the Muslim Umma started with an Arabic imperative
Iqra' (Read), the community emerged as an Iqra-community with a passion for
acquisition and dispersion of knowledge in sciences and humanities. In the
field of medicine a similar zeal continued. The Arabs assimilated and Islamised
all traditions, which they received from the pre-Islamic sources. The world
view
of Islamic beliefs was never ignored. Their original works as well as the
Greek works were translated and transmitted to Europe through Syria, Spain
and Sicily, which dominated the medieval European thought. Had the researches
of Galen, Aristotle and Ptolemy been lost to posterity, the world would have
been deprived of those works as if they had never been produced.
The Orientalists unfortunately, willingly or unwillingly, failed to draw
a line of demarcation between the original and the translated works and regarded
the original contributors as merely translators.
The Arabs, being inspired by the Qur'an and the Sunna to seek ever more
knowledge, and to conquer the forces of nature for the benefit of man, did
not hesitate to gather knowledge from any quarter. The Holy Prophet set the
minds of the believers towards medical research by saying 'For every disease
there is a medicine' (Li-Kulli Dain Dawaun). The following Ahadith, among
many others, urged the believers to strive for knowledge ('Ulum).
'He who desires knowledge adores God'.
'The study of a science has the value of a fast, the teaching of it has
the value of a prayer'.
'Science lights the door to paradise'.
'Wisdom is the goal of all believers, acquire it from anyone'.
'Take the knowledge even from the lips of an infidel'.
'The ink of a scholar is holier than the blood of a martyr'.
'Whoever is asked about a piece of knowledge and he hides it, shall be
bridled with the bridle of fire'.
'Whoever wishes to have the benefit of this immediate world let him acquire
knowledge. Whoever wishes to have the benefits of the world hereafter, let
him acquire knowledge'. And finally:
'An hour of meditation is better than sixty years of worship'.
All these clearly reveal the Islamic attitude towards knowledge. It was
due to the Qur'anic and the Prophetic injunctions that Muslims respected
the knowledge of other nations and did not destroy or burn the Greek works.
The Orientalists spent the last ounce of their energies to prove that the
Library of Alexandria was burnt by the orders of Hadrat 'Umar, the second
Caliph of Islam. But the historical records, as cited above, show how the
library was burnt and how the academies or research centres were closed.
On the contrary the Crusaders and the Mongols destroyed and burnt the library
of Baghdad and used the remains of the great library, after it was burnt,
as materials to build a bridge over the Tigris. After the capture of Southern
Spain in 1236 by Ferdinand of Castile, no less than one million Arabic volumes
were burnt or destroyed by the Holy Office. Cardinal Ximines cast 5000 copies
of the Holy Qur'an into flames. Paracelsus (d.1541), burnt the Canon' of Avicenna
publicly before inaugurating his course of medical lectures. Korona Kasmans
collected Arabic Manuscripts in large heaps from and around Granada in 1511,
which were the results of research of the Muslim scientists and scholars
of centuries and set them on fire. The Government held it illegal to possess
any book written by a Muslim scholar and all such books were confiscated.
The destruction of books, libraries and manuscripts continued in Spain for
more than 50 years. Phillip, the ruler of Spain, issued an order in 1526 that
nobody should utter Arabic words and those who had Arabic style names should
either change their names or leave the country. Thus millions of Arab Muslims
were exiled. All this happened in the centre of knowledge (Spain).
No Arab scholar showed dishonesty by claiming the Greek works as his own,
like Constantine Africanus, who according to Cunston 'wrote nothing original
and that all his books are plagiarisms or skillfully disguised translations.
He took special pains to eliminate in his translations anything that might
identify the original books. He eliminated all proper names which were too
oriental and substituted his own name in order to prevent any other writer
from stealing the fruits of 'his' works'. The Arabic words were latinized
in order to change the oriental origin. Despite such evidential records the
Orientalists have not ceased from character assassination of the Muslim scholars
and from brainwashing the Muslim youth who have been taught that the Muslims
have borrowed everything either from the Greeks or from modern Europe and
they have nothing of their own.
(ii)
Since the medical philosophy in Islam remained faithful to the Islamic
belief system, it never separated the body from the soul. Man, being related
to the total cosmic environment, was a single entity, in whom body and soul
are united. The Islamic ideals still dominate the daily life of a Muslim in
dietetics, health, cleanliness, etc. Man, being a vicegerent of God, is responsible
for the stewardship of nature, including human body and soul, and their health.
This Islamic ethic dominated the scene of medical knowledge. Medical ethics
were never ignored either by ar-Razi, Ibn-Sina or Ibn-Rushd. Al-Ghazali's
writings were entirely based on ethical problems of Muslim society.
The dramatic medical progress made in Europe during the last half century
has created enormous ethical dilemmas for Muslim doctors as well as for Islamic
Medical Associations, who want to draw upon the inspiration of the teachings
of the Qur'an and the Sunna, in such a way as to find answers and solutions
to the present problems raised by modern medicine. Problems such as abortions
for convenience, organ transplantation, sterilization, amniocentesis (a diagnostic
method for determining whether the unborn child has some
physical or mental abnormality genetically caused - is
abortion justifiable in such cases in order to prevent further
suffering) etc., are only a few among many.
The question 'on what basis would a Muslim believer make such decisions'
is the greatest ethical dilemma. Does abortion for convenience
or as a method of population control not amount to infanticide
according to the following verse?
'Kill not your children for fear of want: We shall provide sustenance for
them as well as for you. Verily the killing of them is a great sin'. (XVII:
31).
Another great dilemma created for the Muslim doctors is in respect of the
fair distribution of scarce medical resources among the rich and the poor.
Medical treatment, getting more and more expensive, is now almost beyond the
access of the poor, suffering from terminal illnesses. It is unfortunate to
note that Muslim doctors all over the world are oblivious of Islamic medical
ethics. Often the intention in pursuing medical studies is not genuinely inspired.
Many of us embark on medical studies merely to earn fortunes. Thus the sense
of sacred duty for serving mankind - the Qur'anic ethics has been disappearing.
The Islamic medical ethics commands the vicegerents of God to take care of
the needy, the helpless, the weakened, the resourceless and save the life
of man, which is the greatest gift of God given to man on earth.
As modern science gets more and more technical and scientifically complex,
it has no solution to these problems. Neither has the situation ethics nor
the code ethics. Thus modern medical ethics has created many dimensions to
the decision-making process and has added an aura of crisis. Such crucial
problems in Islamic medical philosophy call for the highest level of human
and spiritual response by the vicegerents of God. The Islamic Medical Associations
all over the world has to find proper answers to such questions and solve
the problems as soon as possible. It is their duty to evolve the dynamic methodology
in Islamic medical ethics and method of diagnostic thinking (how and why).
Since jand brotherhood, care and cure of the sick are espoused in Islamic
medical philosophy, they can not be ignored any longer.
And above all it is the duty of Islamic Medical Associations all over the
world to re-establish historical justice in favour of Muslim medical scientists
of the past, so signally denied by the Orientalists. Mere verbal sympathies
or glorification of the past can not do any good either to the scholars of
the past or of the present. Serious researches are to be undertaken by dynamic,
young medical doctors in order to compile, edit, and publish the works of
scholars of the past in contemporary medical language so that medical knowledge
of the past is accessible to our youth. The blending of the old, that is,
gold, with the new and the fusion of the past with the present can alone stimulate
the renaissance of Islamic medical sciences. It is futile to expect any justice
from the Orientalists in favour of the Muslim medical scientists of the past,
who are regarded by them, with few exceptions, as magicians.
Conclusion
Since the history of the Muslim Umma started with an Arabic imperative
Iqra' (Read), the community emerged as an Iqra-community with a passion for
acquisition and dispersion of knowledge in sciences and humanities. In the
field of medicine a similar zeal continued. The Arabs assimilated and Islamised
all traditions, which they received from the pre-Islamic sources. The world
view
of Islamic beliefs was never ignored. Their original works as well as the
Greek works were translated and transmitted to Europe through Syria, Spain
and Sicily, which dominated the medieval European thought. Had the researches
of Galen, Aristotle and Ptolemy been lost to posterity, the world would have
been deprived of those works as if they had never been produced.
The Orientalists unfortunately, willingly or unwillingly, failed to draw
a line of demarcation between the original and the translated works and regarded
the original contributors as merely translators.
The Arabs, being inspired by the Qur'an and the Sunna to seek ever more
knowledge, and to conquer the forces of nature for the benefit of man, did
not hesitate to gather knowledge from any quarter. The Holy Prophet set the
minds of the believers towards medical research by saying 'For every disease
there is a medicine' (Li-Kulli Dain Dawaun). The following Ahadith, among
many others, urged the believers to strive for knowledge ('Ulum).
'He who desires knowledge adores God'.
'The study of a science has the value of a fast, the teaching of it has
the value of a prayer'.
'Science lights the door to paradise'.
'Wisdom is the goal of all believers, acquire it from anyone'.
'Take the knowledge even from the lips of an infidel'.
'The ink of a scholar is holier than the blood of a martyr'.
'Whoever is asked about a piece of knowledge and he hides it, shall be
bridled with the bridle of fire'.
'Whoever wishes to have the benefit of this immediate world let him acquire
knowledge. Whoever wishes to have the benefits of the world hereafter, let
him acquire knowledge'. And finally:
'An hour of meditation is better than sixty years of worship'.
All these clearly reveal the Islamic attitude towards knowledge. It was
due to the Qur'anic and the Prophetic injunctions that Muslims respected
the knowledge of other nations and did not destroy or burn the Greek works.
The Orientalists spent the last ounce of their energies to prove that the
Library of Alexandria was burnt by the orders of Hadrat 'Umar, the second
Caliph of Islam. But the historical records, as cited above, show how the
library was burnt and how the academies or research centres were closed.
On the contrary the Crusaders and the Mongols destroyed and burnt the library
of Baghdad and used the remains of the great library, after it was burnt,
as materials to build a bridge over the Tigris. After the capture of Southern
Spain in 1236 by Ferdinand of Castile, no less than one million Arabic volumes
were burnt or destroyed by the Holy Office. Cardinal Ximines cast 5000 copies
of the Holy Qur'an into flames. Paracelsus (d.1541), burnt the Canon' of Avicenna
publicly before inaugurating his course of medical lectures. Korona Kasmans
collected Arabic Manuscripts in large heaps from and around Granada in 1511,
which were the results of research of the Muslim scientists and scholars
of centuries and set them on fire. The Government held it illegal to possess
any book written by a Muslim scholar and all such books were confiscated.
The destruction of books, libraries and manuscripts continued in Spain for
more than 50 years. Phillip, the ruler of Spain, issued an order in 1526 that
nobody should utter Arabic words and those who had Arabic style names should
either change their names or leave the country. Thus millions of Arab Muslims
were exiled. All this happened in the centre of knowledge (Spain).
No Arab scholar showed dishonesty by claiming the Greek works as his own,
like Constantine Africanus, who according to Cunston 'wrote nothing original
and that all his books are plagiarisms or skillfully disguised translations.
He took special pains to eliminate in his translations anything that might
identify the original books. He eliminated all proper names which were too
oriental and substituted his own name in order to prevent any other writer
from stealing the fruits of 'his' works'. The Arabic words were latinized
in order to change the oriental origin. Despite such evidential records the
Orientalists have not ceased from character assassination of the Muslim scholars
and from brainwashing the Muslim youth who have been taught that the Muslims
have borrowed everything either from the Greeks or from modern Europe and
they have nothing of their own.
(ii)
Since the medical philosophy in Islam remained faithful to the Islamic
belief system, it never separated the body from the soul. Man, being related
to the total cosmic environment, was a single entity, in whom body and soul
are united. The Islamic ideals still dominate the daily life of a Muslim in
dietetics, health, cleanliness, etc. Man, being a vicegerent of God, is responsible
for the stewardship of nature, including human body and soul, and their health.
This Islamic ethic dominated the scene of medical knowledge. Medical ethics
were never ignored either by ar-Razi, Ibn-Sina or Ibn-Rushd. Al-Ghazali's
writings were entirely based on ethical problems of Muslim society.
The dramatic medical progress made in Europe during the last half century
has created enormous ethical dilemmas for Muslim doctors as well as for Islamic
Medical Associations, who want to draw upon the inspiration of the teachings
of the Qur'an and the Sunna, in such a way as to find answers and solutions
to the present problems raised by modern medicine. Problems such as abortions
for convenience, organ transplantation, sterilization, amniocentesis (a diagnostic
method for determining whether the unborn child has some
physical or mental abnormality genetically caused - is
abortion justifiable in such cases in order to prevent further
suffering) etc., are only a few among many.
The question 'on what basis would a Muslim believer make such decisions'
is the greatest ethical dilemma. Does abortion for convenience
or as a method of population control not amount to infanticide
according to the following verse?
'Kill not your children for fear of want: We shall provide sustenance for
them as well as for you. Verily the killing of them is a great sin'. (XVII:
31).
Another great dilemma created for the Muslim doctors is in respect of the
fair distribution of scarce medical resources among the rich and the poor.
Medical treatment, getting more and more expensive, is now almost beyond the
access of the poor, suffering from terminal illnesses. It is unfortunate to
note that Muslim doctors all over the world are oblivious of Islamic medical
ethics. Often the intention in pursuing medical studies is not genuinely inspired.
Many of us embark on medical studies merely to earn fortunes. Thus the sense
of sacred duty for serving mankind - the Qur'anic ethics has been disappearing.
The Islamic medical ethics commands the vicegerents of God to take care of
the needy, the helpless, the weakened, the resourceless and save the life
of man, which is the greatest gift of God given to man on earth.
As modern science gets more and more technical and scientifically complex,
it has no solution to these problems. Neither has the situation ethics nor
the code ethics. Thus modern medical ethics has created many dimensions to
the decision-making process and has added an aura of crisis. Such crucial
problems in Islamic medical philosophy call for the highest level of human
and spiritual response by the vicegerents of God. The Islamic Medical Associations
all over the world has to find proper answers to such questions and solve
the problems as soon as possible. It is their duty to evolve the dynamic methodology
in Islamic medical ethics and method of diagnostic thinking (how and why).
Since jand brotherhood, care and cure of the sick are espoused in Islamic
medical philosophy, they can not be ignored any longer.
And above all it is the duty of Islamic Medical Associations all over the
world to re-establish historical justice in favour of Muslim medical scientists
of the past, so signally denied by the Orientalists. Mere verbal sympathies
or glorification of the past can not do any good either to the scholars of
the past or of the present. Serious researches are to be undertaken by dynamic,
young medical doctors in order to compile, edit, and publish the works of
scholars of the past in contemporary medical language so that medical knowledge
of the past is accessible to our youth. The blending of the old, that is,
gold, with the new and the fusion of the past with the present can alone stimulate
the renaissance of Islamic medical sciences. It is futile to expect any justice
from the Orientalists in favour of the Muslim medical scientists of the past,
who are regarded by them, with few exceptions, as magicians.
