070825P - DEFINITION OF THE CONCEPT ‘MUSLIM PHYSICIAN’

Presented at a Workshop on Islamic Medical Education organized by the Faculty of Medicine Universitas Muhammadiyah Jogjakarta and the Forum of Islamic Medicine (FOKI – Forum ke dokteran Islam) at Jogjakarta on 24-25^th August 2007 by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard) Professor of Epidemiology and Islamic Medicine University Brunei Darussalam and Visiting Professor of Epidemiology University Malaya.

A Muslim physician practices medicine that is characterized by integration (tauhid), holism (shumuuliyyat), balance (tawazun), excellent quality (ihsan), and fulfils the purposes of the Law (maqasid al shari’at).

A Muslim physician is active in solving root causes of disease in the community (jama’at).

A Muslim physician stives to research for new knowledge (ijtihad & talab al ‘ilm) to be a producer and not a mere consumer of knowledge

A Muslim physician follows professional etiquette (adab) and professional ethics (akhlaq).

A Muslim physician has consciousness of Allah (taqwa), responsibility (amanat), self accountability (muhasabat al nafs), and self-purification (tazkiyat al nafs).