Although health and wellness may be on everyone’s minds these days, attention to wellbeing is by no means a new concept. People have been searching for ways to ‘stay in the pink’ since the dawn of civilisation. In the Islamic world, early Muslim scientists and physicians played an essential role in developing healthcare practices, tools and ethics that continue to affect our lives to this day. Among the most significant developments in healthcare brought forth by the Islamic world was the introduction of hospitals. In the 8th century, Al-Walid bin Abd Al-Malik, a Caliph (chief Muslim civil and religious ruler) of the Umayyad Caliphate (Islamic system of government of the 7th and 8th centuries ruled by Prophet Muhammad’s descendants, the Umayyad dynasty), was the first to construct a purpose-built health institution, called the bimaristan. Derived from the Persian words ‘bimar’, meaning disease, and ‘stan’, meaning place, such institutions not only looked after the sick; they also actively pioneered diagnosis, cures and preventive medicines.


Healthcare for All

The Middle East and North Africa had a large number of bimaristans, which were sometimes mobile and would often fulfil the role of medical schools and libraries. Among the most esteemed were Bimaristan Al-Nouri in Damascus, built in 1154 by Sultan Nour Aldeen Zanki; Bimaristan Marrakesh in Marrakesh, built in 1190 by Caliph Al-Mansur Ya’qub Ibn-Yusuf; and Bimaristan Al-Mansouri in Cairo, built in 1248 by Sultan Saif ad-Din Qalawun as-Salihi. These bimaristans were known to open their doors 24 hours a day and had hundreds of beds to receive patients, regardless of race, religion or background. Some were even known to provide patients with special attire: one kind for winter and another for summer. They not only offered their services free of charge, but also gave money to patients when they were discharged, to help make up for the wages they had lost while in hospital – a concept completely unheard of today.

Medical Discoveries

The field of medicine would not have gone far in the Islamic world without the dedication of Muslim scholars who made numerous advances and discoveries that have enhanced our understanding of healthcare. Muslim physicians, for example, were among the first to differentiate between smallpox and measles, as well as diagnose the plague, diphtheria, leprosy, rabies, baker’s cyst, diabetes, gout and haemophilia. While Europe still believed that epilepsy was caused by demonic possession, Muslim doctors had already found a scientific explanation for it. Muslim surgeons were also pioneers in performing amputations and cauterisations. They also discovered the circulation of blood, the use of animal gut for sutures and the use of alcohol as an antiseptic. Other Muslim innovations include surgical instruments and glass retorts, as well as the use of corrosive sublimate, arsenic, copper sulphate, iron sulphate, saltpetre and borax in the treatment of diseases.

At the forefront of Muslim discoveries in medicine was Ibn Sina. His discovery that tuberculosis was contagious and could be transmitted through the air earned him a position as one of the greatest physicians of all time. Even to this day, the quarantine methods he introduced have helped to limit the spread of infectious diseases. The one thing that Muslim doctors did want to spread, however, was their knowledge, which is why manuscripts became so important. Illustrated in colour and sometimes illuminated in gold, manuscripts served as a fascinating visual record that provided useful information about the human anatomy, including the skeletal system, nervous system, veins, arteries, intestines, organs and muscular system.

Natural Remedies

Scribes would copy these treatises on medicine and healthcare, including ones on botany and traditional medicines. They would then be disseminated far and wide, including to Southeast Asia. It is obvious that these manuscripts were used extensively. Many show signs of considerable wear and tear, as well as extensive margin notes that demonstrate interactivity between the book and user. In this part of the world, people who studied and acquired knowledge of plants and their uses were sometimes described as the bomoh (traditional physician) or bidan (midwife). As experts on ubat akar kayu, or medicines made of herbs, roots, bark and other natural products, they would prescribe their home-brewed remedies to patients, often in the form of ready-made tablets known as jamu or majun.

Such time-honoured knowledge of herbs and natural ingredients has now been revitalised via biotechnology, as modern consumers looking for natural and alternative ways to maintain their wellness are increasingly turning to traditional treatments. In other parts of the Islamic world, the dispensing of remedies was often carried out by apothecaries. They were medical professionals who formulated and dispensed medicines to physicians and patients, very much like today’s pharmacists. Among the tools of their trade were apothecary boxes, which went beyond their medical utility. Often beautifully decorated with floral motifs and sometimes featuring Qur’anic verses, they frequently contained the practical components of weights and balances.

Apothecaries and Aromatherapy

Apothecaries used medicine jars called albarelli (singular: albarello) to store dry drugs and medicines that were an essential part of the treatments they practised. The jars were sealed with a piece of parchment or leather tied with a piece of cord, and the waisted shape of the vessel made removal and replacement from crowded shelves easy. Originally devised in the Islamic world, the albarello was enthusiastically adopted by apothecaries throughout Europe, often paying tribute to its origins with Islamic designs.

Muslims were early adopters of aromatherapy as a form of alternative medicine and to promote wellbeing. Although the ancient Babylonians, Greeks and Egyptians had carried out early forms of distillation, it was Muslim chemists of the Abbassid caliphate who eventually perfected the process of pure distillation. The process was employed to purify chemical substances and also to develop attars, or perfumed oils. Incidentally, it is while distilling roses for attar that Muslim chemists discovered rose water, which is now used extensively throughout the Islamic world in religious ceremonies and in cuisine. The underlying factor behind the use of perfumed oils and rose water among Muslim communities is the appreciation that aromatic compounds can, in fact, positively affect one’s mind, mood, spirit and even health.

We have certainly come a long way in terms of healthcare. But in many ways, much has not changed. Viruses are becoming more resistant, toxins continue to be the scourge of modern living and each generation seems to develop eating habits even unhealthier than the one before. One thing on our side, however, is awareness – arguably the most important factor in health and wellness. Without it we would simply be ignorant. Let’s take a page from the Muslim scholars and physicians of yore and share what we know about living better and healthier lives in mind, body and spirit. As Ibn Sina once said, ‘Absence of understanding does not warrant absence of existence.’

http://www.aquila-style.com/focus-points/the-contributions-of-muslims-to-medicine/16873/

Interesting, these "Muslim scholars of yore" tend to have foresight and willing to explore more, and this seems lacking today, except in some few i think.

Cool.

Muslim apologists normally have a fetish for romanticising Arab history.

Please cite your historical sources for these claims.



Examples of sketch claims;

1) Healthcare for all; "Healthcare for all" is a very secular modern philosophy. A philosophy that is still challenged up till today by even both christians and muslims on the right (debate in USA).

Considering the slavery rampant in Arab societies of the past, it is very improbable that there was healthcare for all. Especially when you consider that millions of black slaves died (many without a trace) in the Arab-african slave trade.


2) Natural remedies
Every single tribe in the world has their own natural remedies.


3) Medical discoveries
While muslims/Arabs made some good medical discoveries, it is a lie that muslim physicians were the first to differentiate between smallpox and measles.
Upon reading on the histories of these diseases, there is no reputable source where this is claimed. Furthermore, smallpox has been well documented in history....long before islam was even formed

Logic007:


3) Medical discoveries
While muslims/Arabs made some good medical discoveries, it is a lie that muslim physicians were the first to differentiate between smallpox and measles.
Upon reading on the histories of these diseases, there is no reputable source where this is claimed. Furthermore, smallpox has been well documented in history....long before islam was even formed

Muhammad ibn Zakariyā Rāzī

Muhammad ibn Zakariyā Rāzī (Al-Razi) (865-925), was a Persian physician, chemist, alchemist, philosopher and scholar. He was the first to distinguish measles from smallpox. He also discovered the chemical kerosene, as well as several other compounds. He became chief physician of Baghdad and Rey hospitals.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/medicine/medieval-islamic-medicine.php

Logic007:
1) Healthcare for all; "Healthcare for all" is a very secular modern philosophy. A philosophy that is still challenged up till today by even both christians and muslims on the right (debate in USA).

Considering the slavery rampant in Arab societies of the past, it is very improbable that there was healthcare for all. Especially when you consider that millions of black slaves died (many without a trace) in the Arab-african slave trade.

The hospital was one of the great achievements of medieval Islamic society. The relation of the design and development of Islamic hospitals to the earlier and contemporaneous poor and sick relief facilities offered by some Christian monasteries has not been fully delineated. Clearly, however, the medieval Islamic hospital was a more elaborate institution with a wider range of functions.

In Islam there was generally a moral imperative to treat all the ill regardless of their financial status.. The hospitals were largely secular institutions, many of them open to all, male and female, civilian and military, adult and child, rich and poor, Muslims and non-Muslims. They tended to be large, urban structures.

Source: US National Library for Medicine
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/islamic_medical/islamic_12.html


More:

All the hospitals in Islamic lands were financed from the revenues of pious bequests called waqfs. Wealthy men, and especially rulers, donated property as endowments, whose revenue went toward building and maintaining the institution. The property could consist of shops, mills, caravanserais, or even entire villages. The income from an endowment would pay for the maintenance and running costs of the hospital, and sometimes would supply a small stipend to the patient upon dismissal.

Source: US National Library for Medicine
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/islamic_medical/islamic_12.html

Not only were they treated free, some were given a stipend upon dismissal, just like the article says.

Creeping Sharia!!!

tbaba1234:

The hospital was one of the great achievements of medieval Islamic society. The relation of the design and development of Islamic hospitals to the earlier and contemporaneous poor and sick relief facilities offered by some Christian monasteries has not been fully delineated. Clearly, however, the medieval Islamic hospital was a more elaborate institution with a wider range of functions.

In Islam there was generally a moral imperative to treat all the ill regardless of their financial status.. The hospitals were largely secular institutions, many of them open to all, male and female, civilian and military, adult and child, rich and poor, Muslims and non-Muslims. They tended to be large, urban structures.

Source: US National Library for Medicine
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/islamic_medical/islamic_12.html


More:

All the hospitals in Islamic lands were financed from the revenues of pious bequests called waqfs. Wealthy men, and especially rulers, donated property as endowments, whose revenue went toward building and maintaining the institution. The property could consist of shops, mills, caravanserais, or even entire villages. The income from an endowment would pay for the maintenance and running costs of the hospital, and sometimes would supply a small stipend to the patient upon dismissal.

Source: US National Library for Medicine
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/islamic_medical/islamic_12.html

Not only were they treated free, some were given a stipend upon dismissal, just like the article says.

As usual, you use sketchy sources.

1) The US National Library for Medicine's article on islamic hospital is dubious. First it doesnt even list its sources for the claims eg how does it know that it was free of charge and patients were paid stipends? Was there an accounts ledger or was it stated by "muslim scholars"?

2) It forgets to mention that these so called muslim hospitals were co-founded and headed by Christians


3) Such free healthcare was and still remains economically impossible (especially during medieval times)!!!!!!!!! Everyone falls sick once in a while. Public healthcare cost billions that taxes alone can not fund without eating deep into other government projects.

Upon the free treatment, there is also free money given to those who lost labour wages during sick time? LMAO. The "government" and rich people in that society would be broke in a matter of days.



---------------------------------
Please take note of number 2

The first prominent Islamic hospital was founded in Damascus, Syria in around 707 with assistance from Christians.[26] However most agree that the establishment at Baghdad was the most influential; it opened during the Abbasid Caliphate of Harun al-Rashid in the 8th century.[27] The bimaristan (medical school) and bayt al-hikmah (house of wisdom) were established by professors and graduates from Gundeshapur and was first headed by the Christian physician Jibrael ibn Bukhtishu from Gundeshapur and later by Islamic physicians.[28]

^^^
Although, I quoted this from wikipedia (a sketchy source), wikipedia provided further citations-

Guenter B. Risse, Mending Bodies, Saving Souls: A History of Hospitals,(Oxford University Press, 1999), p.125 [2]
Sir Glubb, John Bagot (1969), A Short History of the Arab Peoples, retrieved 2008-01-25
The Hospital in Islam, [Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Islamic Science, An Illustrated Study], (World of Islam Festival Pub. Co., 1976), p.154.






No doubt, the US National library for medicine's article was written by a fellow muslim "historian" like yourself

tbaba1234:

Muhammad ibn Zakariyā Rāzī

Muhammad ibn Zakariyā Rāzī (Al-Razi) (865-925), was a Persian physician, chemist, alchemist, philosopher and scholar. He was the first to distinguish measles from smallpox. He also discovered the chemical kerosene, as well as several other compounds. He became chief physician of Baghdad and Rey hospitals.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/medicine/medieval-islamic-medicine.php

A lie repeated often can become truth.

Again, sketchy sources.

The wikipedia quote that claims he first distinguished measles from smallpox is without reference

Two encyclopaedias on him say nothing about him being the first to distinguish smallpox from measles

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/492607/al-Razi
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Abu_Bakr_Muhammad_Ibn_Zakariyya_Al-Razi.aspx



Yes Al-Razi had classic work on smallpox and measles but the claim that the was the first to distinguish the two is nothing more than a "feel-happy" exaggeration by muslim apologists.

tbaba1234: Creeping Sharia!!!

No one is complaining about creeping sharia. Please stay on topic

Abdulsleek, logicboy01, 02, . . .infinity, bigurban2, logicbwoy01 . . ., cheers, . . ., mazaje, , s e u n, (I feel like getting a ban), , cyrex, onetrack etc. @other hatetheist too numerous to mention,

vedaxcool: Abdulsleek, logicboy01, 02, . . .infinity, bigurban2, logicbwoy01 . . ., cheeers, . . ., mazaje, , s e u n, (I feel like getting a ban), , cyrex, onetrack etc. @other hatetheist to numerous to mention,

ù

Why is this deluded man stalking me? . . . .seems someone is having sleepless nights because of me. . .

Mazaje why are you sounding hurt?

Since you brought me into it, I'll have my say.

I have great respect for the scientists of the Islamic golden age. Like other advanced societies, they used existing hypotheses to develop new ones, and provided a major contribution to the societies that came after. They are the link between the Greco-Roman world and the European Renaissance. (I personally commend them for discovering how to make hard liquor )

However, you must realize that living and working in a religious society does not make one religious. Al Razi, who is specifically mentioned in a post above, and who made huge contributions to the field of medicine and rational thought, was clearly a religious skeptic:

"On what ground do you deem it necessary that God should single out certain individuals [by giving them prophecy], that he should set them up above other people, that he should appoint them to be the people's guides, and make people dependent upon them?" --al-Razi

Al-Razi was also critical of at least one behavior found among some of the Muslims of his day:
"If the people of this religion are asked about the proof for the soundness of their religion, they flare up, get angry and spill the blood of whoever confronts them with this question. They forbid rational speculation, and strive to kill their adversaries. This is why truth became thoroughly silenced and concealed."

onetrack: Since you brought me into it, I'll have my say.

I have great respect for the scientists of the Islamic golden age. Like other advanced societies, they used existing hypotheses to develop new ones, and provided a major contribution to the societies that came after. They are the link between the Greco-Roman world and the European Renaissance. (I personally commend them for discovering how to make hard liquor )

Ibn Sina was also a great revolutionary in the Islamic age and was deeply religious and rational. He actually wrote a book refuting Al-razi views. The vast majority of scholars were also very religious people. In fact, his theological views influenced many religious scholars

Also, those quotes attributed to Al razi are disputed. One thing is for sure, he did not disbelieve in God nor was he a non-muslim. He had controversial religious views.

Al biruni, also one of the greatest minds in that age was deeply religious and also refuted alrazi views.

You see, The Islamic age created intellectuals who were not only vast in the various sciences but also in the religion.

tbaba1234:

Ibn Sina was also a great revolutionary in the Islamic age and was deeply religious and rational. He actually wrote a book refuting Al-razi views. The vast majority of scholars were also very religious people. In fact, his theological views influenced many religious scholars

Also, those quotes attributed to Al razi are disputed. One thing is for sure, he did not disbelieve in God nor was he a non-muslim. He had controversial religious views.

Al biruni, also one of the greatest minds in that age was deeply religious and also refuted alrazi views.

You see, The Islamic age created intellectuals who were not only vast in the various sciences but also in the religion.

I don't dispute that there were many religious scientists of all religions. Many of the top Jewish scientists of today practice Judaism. But that doesn't mean that they have some superior truth about religion or God. And whether or not al-Razi made those statements or not, it is clear he was a freethinker who did not hold dogmatic views about religion. And as for me, I'm not atheist simply because many scientist today are atheists; I made up my own mind long ago based on my own conclusions.

onetrack:

I don't dispute that there were many religious scientists of all religions. Many of the top Jewish scientists of today practice Judaism. But that doesn't mean that they have some superior truth about religion or God. And whether or not al-Razi made those statements or not, it is clear he was a freethinker who did not hold dogmatic views about religion. And as for me, I'm not atheist simply because many scientist today are atheists; I made up my own mind long ago based on my own conclusions.

Just like I feel atheism as a concept is completely irrational.

The topic was about how the Islamic age and muslim scientists contributed to medicine and some of your brothers came here to dispute without valid evidences or references. Just to disagree because a theist said so.

tbaba12345:

Just like I feel atheism as a concept is completely irrational.

The topic was about how the Islamic age and muslim scientists contributed to medicine and some of your brothers came here to dispute without valid evidences or references. Just to disagree because a theist said so.

Fine. And one of your brothers called me here, so I gave my thoughts

empty

JAZAKUMU LAHU QAIRAN SIR........NICE THREAD
pls DONT MIND THOSE ANTICHRIST WHO CALL THEMSELF CHRISTIAN THAT IS THEIR ATTITUDE THEY DONT PRODUCE PROOF FOR THEIR CLAIM BECAUSE THEY SAY EVERYTHING OUT OF IGNORANCE

Peace to All.

The vast contribution of the early muslims to the field of science is partly due to collaboration with Jewish, Greek and Persian scientists whose base or territories were annexed into the Abbasid caliphate post Abbasid revolution and invasion. This provision is not available in today 's muslim world. Also understand that those Muslim Physicians, Chemists or Scientists were not hard line sunnis and shiites as we have today. Many of them were philosophers, free minded and rational monotheists who encourage continous research, use of reason and alteration of views when sound evidence is discovered. They weren't held back by cultural or religious dogmas of their time and hence some of them were deem heretic by the traditionalists of those days.

Am astounded that mainstream muslims fondly recall these icons and seek to replicate their era by calling for return to "Quran and Sunnah". Islam as a religion has undergone series of modifications over the centuries and hence, what Ibn Sina defines as Islam may widely vary from what mainstream ulema defines as Islam. In fact, there are reports that Ibn Sina wasn't even a Sunni/Shiite. Think am trolling? Take the case of 'Islamic' revolution in Iran(1979) and give me one significant contribution it has yielded for over 40 years. Also, did you catch on with another practical attempt to return to "Quran and Sunnah" by the Talibans who took over the reigns in Afghanistan in the late 90s? How civilised or modernised was society of the Talibans and their subjects? What were their contributions? Where are they today?


This will make a good topic to treat in future but go read brillant works like Benard Lewis' "WHAT WENT WRONG", from the Abbasids to the Ottomans and down to recent Saudi Salafis; the middle easterners never truely deserted the "Quran and Sunnah" as the fundamentalists reiterate. It just happened that the Westerners simply marched forth, reformed and sky rocketed beyond them.

As salam alaykum.

Everything belongs to muslims, John 10 10

Abdulsalam20: JAZAKUMU LAHU QAIRAN SIR........NICE THREAD
pls DONT MIND THOSE ANTICHRIST WHO CALL THEMSELF CHRISTIAN THAT IS THEIR ATTITUDE THEY DONT PRODUCE PROOF FOR THEIR CLAIM BECAUSE THEY SAY EVERYTHING OUT OF IGNORANCE

abi, muslims own everything. They invented all the technologies we use today, they own all the lands in the world, all Bible prophets are theirs, they own jewish land, anybody with beard is a muslim, any prosperous country belongs to muslims, anybody that bows to pray is a muslim, anywoman that covers her head is a muslim etc, but isi are nt muslims, boko harams are nt muslims, consequently, muhammad was not a muslim? Abba!

Ovacoma:
abi, muslims own everything. They invented all the technologies we use today, they own all the lands in the world, all Bible prophets are theirs, they own jewish land, anybody with beard is a muslim, any prosperous country belongs to muslims, anybody that bows to pray is a muslim, anywoman that covers her head is a muslim etc, but isi are nt muslims, boko harams are nt muslims, consequently, muhammad was not a muslim? Abba!

Here is a solution to your problem
Therapy for Haterz of Islam

vedaxcool:

Here is a solution to your problem
Therapy for Haterz of Islam

Give it to ISI and BOKO who are promoting islam.

vedaxcool:

Here is a solution to your problem
Therapy for Haterz of Islam

Give it to ISI and BOKO who are promoting islam. Im tired of reading lies.

Wao, this is an eye opener again for those who think it is all from the west..
jazakallah khairan op