250613P - BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF PROPHETIC MEDICINE

Paper presented at The International Conference in Conjunction with AFKSI and the 33th Anniversary of the Medical Faculty of University Muslim Indonesia, held at Makassar Indonesia on Friday 13 June 2025 at 6.60am Makkah time by Prof Omar Hasan Kasule MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard).

DEFINITION OF PROPHETIC MEDICINE-1

• Tibb Nabawi refers to the words and actions of the Prophet for the prevention and treatment of disease, as well as the maintenance of balanced physical and mental health
• Tibb Nabawi, thus, also includes words of the Prophet on medical matters, medical treatments practiced by others on the Prophet, medical treatments practiced by the Prophet on himself and others, and medical treatments observed by the Prophet with no objections. 
• Tibb Nabawi encompasses medical procedures that the Prophet was aware of and did not prohibit, or medical practices that were so common that the Prophet could not have failed to be aware of them.  

DEFINITION OF PROPHETIC MEDICINE-2

• The prophet's medical teachings were specific to place, population, and time. They, however, also included general guidance on physical and mental health that applies to all places, all times, and all circumstances. 
• Tibb Nabawi is not one monolithic or systematic medical system, as some people would want us to believe. It is varied and circumstantial. 
• Tibb Nabawi covers preventive medicine, curative medicine, mental well-being, spiritual cures or ruqyah, and medical and surgical treatments. It integrates mind and body, matter and spirit.
• Tibb nabawi has several sources: revelation, wahy; empirical experience of the prophet, folk medicine of that time in the Arabian Peninsula; and it is possible that some medical knowledge of other communities could have been known in Makka or Madina at the time of the prophet. 

SEARCH FOR DISEASE CURE AS THE FOUNDATION OF PROPHETIC MEDICINE

• The Prophet enunciated a basic principle in medicine that for every disease there is a cure 
• ما أنْزَلَ اللَّهُ داءً إلَّا أنْزَلَ له شِفاءً. البخاري كتاب الطب
• This is an impetus for us to look for remedies. 
• Thus, the prophetic medical tradition does not stop at only the medical teachings of the prophet but goes beyond to encourage humans to search and experiment with new treatment modalities. 
• This implies, among other things, that prophetic medicine is not static. There is room for growth and even breaking new ground. Al Habba al Saudaa was recommended by the Prophet as a general treatment and has been studied and used extensively by modern medical scientists. 
• Another implication of this hadith is that seeking treatment does not contradict qadar (pre-determination). Thus, both the disease and its treatment are part of qadar. 

QUR’AN AS A SOURCE OF TIBB NABAWI

• Tibb Qur’ani refers to verses of the Qur’an that relate to diseases of the body and the mind and their treatment.  
• The Qur’an talks about physical ill health (24:61)
• لَّيۡسَ عَلَى ٱلۡأَعۡمَىٰ حَرَجٞ وَلَا عَلَى ٱلۡأَعۡرَجِ حَرَجٞ وَلَا عَلَى ٱلۡمَرِيضِ حَرَجٞ 
• Quran and mental ill-health or diseases of the heart 
• The Qur’an itself is a cure. It contains supplications for good health as well as guidance on specific therapy, such as honey, eating only halal food, avoiding unhealthy haram food, and not in excessive amounts. 
• Tibb Qur’ani is more appropriately related to general principles of a balanced life style that the Qur’an enunciated rather that specifics of scientific explanations for Qu’ranic verses related to medicine (such as contagion, adwah; alcohol, creation, and saum) or establishing medicinal value of plants (zaitoon, tiin, dates, milk, and fruits) mentioned in the Qur’an as food but not as cures. 
• Unless clearly stated in the Qur’an itself or by authentic Sunnah, the reasons behind Qur’anic injunctions are unknowable to us with certainty.  All we can do is research and make Ijtihad; we could be right or wrong. 

HADITH AS A SOURCE OF TIBB NABAWI

• The total number of hadiths on medicine is about 300. 
• Bukhari, in his Sahih, narrated 129 hadiths directly related to medicine. He devoted two books to medicine: Kitaab al tibb and kitaab al mardha
• Hadiths on physical remedies are either wahy or based on empirical experience. In most cases, we cannot distinguish between the two sources unless there is a specific indication that Wahy is involved 
• The hadith on using honey in treating an abdominal ailment of a brother of a companion was clearly wahy narrated in Bukhari.  
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• جَاءَ رَجُلٌ إلى النبيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عليه وسلَّمَ فَقالَ: إنَّ أَخِي اسْتَطْلَقَ بَطْنُهُ فَقالَ رَسولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عليه وسلَّمَ اسْقِهِ عَسَلًا فَسَقَاهُ، ثُمَّ جَاءَهُ فَقالَ: إنِّي سَقَيْتُهُ عَسَلًا فَلَمْ يَزِدْهُ إلَّا اسْتِطْلَاقًا، فَقالَ له ثَلَاثَ مَرَّاتٍ، ثُمَّ جَاءَ الرَّابِعَةَ فَقالَ: اسْقِهِ عَسَلًا فَقالَ: لقَدْ سَقَيْتُهُ فَلَمْ يَزِدْهُ إلَّا اسْتِطْلَاقًا، فَقالَ رَسولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عليه وسلَّمَ: صَدَقَ اللَّهُ، وَكَذَبَ بَطْنُ أَخِيكَ فَسَقَاهُ فَبَرَأَ.
• Hadith that are not specifically wahy are not binding, ghair mulzimat. 
• However, all hadiths on spiritual cures of disease are wahy and are binding, mulzimat.  

BOOKS ON TIBB NABAWI

• 3rd century: Abu al Qasim al Husain bin Muhammad bin Habiib al Naisapuuri (d. 206H),
• 4th century: Abu al Sunni Abu Bakar Ahmad bin Muhammad al Dainawiri (d. 364H),
• 5th century: Abu Nu’aim Ahmad bin Abd al llaah al Asfahani (d. 430H), Abu al ‘Abbaas Ja’afar bin al Mu’utazz al Mustansiri (d. 433H),
• 7th century: Dhia al Ddiin Muhammad bin ‘Abd al Waahid al Maqdasi (d. 643H),
• 8th century: Ibn al Qayyim al Jawziyyat (d. 751H / 1350 M), al Hafidh Abu Abd al llaah Shams al Ddiin Muhammad bin Ahmad al Dhahabi (d. 748H), 
• 9th century: Abu Abd al llaah Muhammad bin Yusuf al Sanuusi (d. 895H)
• 10th century: Al Manhaj al Sawi a al Manhal al rawi fi al Tibb al Nabawi by Jalal al Ddiin Abd al Rahman bin Abu Bakar al Suyuti (d.911H).

PREVENTIVE TIBB NABAWI

• Most of Tibb Nabawi is preventive medicine, which is a very advanced concept given the level of scientific knowledge at the Prophet's time and certainly must have been divinely inspired. 
• quarantine for epidemics, hijr sihhi, 
• forbidding urination in stagnant water, bawl fi mai raqid, 
• use of a tooth stick, siwaak, 
• precautions in the house at night: fire & pests, 
• leaving a country because of its water and climate, 
• marriage and mental health, marriage and sexual health, 
• dietary control to avoid excesses 
• cleanliness and avoiding filth. 

SPIRITUAL TIBB NABAWI

• Study of tibb nabawi reveals that there are spiritual aspects of healing and recovery. Prayer, dua, recitation of the Qur’an, and remembrance of Allah play a central role. 
• Psychosomatic diseases could respond to spiritual approaches. 
• The use of ruqyat (Surah al Fatiha, al mu’awadhatain) falls between physical curative and spiritual. 
• The curative part of ruqyat can be understood in modern terms in the way the psyche can modulate immune mechanisms that protect against disease.

CURATIVE TIBB NABAWI

• Ibn Qayim al-Jawziyat listed many diseases with their recommended treatments from tibb nabawi. Diseases in tibb nabawi treatable by natural remedies: fever, humma;  bowel movements, istitlaq al batan; dropsy, istisqa; wounds, jarh; epilepsy, sar’a; sciatica, ‘irq al nisa; temperaments, tabau’; skin itch, hakk al jism; pleurisy, dhaat al janb;  headache and hemicrania, sidau and shaqiiqat; inflammation of the throat, ‘adhrat;  enlargement of the heart, al maf’uud; ophthalmia, al ramad; catalepsy, khudran al kulli; pimples, bathrat; skin eruptions, awraam;  food poisoning, sum;  witchcraft, sihr; and head lice. 
• He also mentioned other diseases like: plague, leprosy, eye diseases, throat and tonsils, diarrhea, abdominal disease, fever, plague, snake bite, scorpion bite, food contamination by a fly, headache, nose bleeds, teeth, cough, dropsy, sprain, fracture, bite by a rabid dog, and the evil eye. 
• The medical treatments mentioned were honey, al 'asal; cold water for fever, al mau al barid; diet, ghadha;  milk, al laban;  camel milk; camel urine. The black seed, al habba al sauda,  was especially emphasised. 
• The surgical treatments mentioned were: cupping, al hijaam;  cauterization, al kayy;  venesection with cauterization, qatiu al uruuq wa al kayy. 

APPLICATIONS OF TIBB NABAWI TODAY

• Is tibb nabawi part of the sharia? 
• What is the scope of tibb nabawi? 
• Spatio-temporal changes 
• Empirical research on tibb nabawi.

TIBB NABAWI AS PART OF THE SHARI’AT:

• We can therefore distinguish two parts of the shariat: (a) fixed موقوف and immutable and applicable to all places and times, and (b) fixed general principles whose details of application change with place and time. 
• If we take the meaning of shariat in (b) above, we can conclude that prophetic medicine is part of Islamic shariat that can change and grow using ijtihad and empirical research to apply general shariat principles to changing circumstances. 

SCOPE OF TIBB NABAWI

• Tibb Nabawi, as reported to us, did not cover every conceivable disease at the time of the Prophet, nor can it cover all ailments today or in the future in various parts of the world.  
• The limited scope of Tibb Nabawi is easy to understand from the context that, although the Prophet practiced medicine, his mission was not medicine, and he was not a full-time physician.  
• The hadiths of the Prophet should not be looked at as a textbook of medicine.  They should be used for the diseases that they dealt with.  
• The proper way to get additional medical knowledge is through research and looking for signs of Allah in the universe.

SPATIO-TEMPORAL CHANGES-1

• Whatever the Prophet said or did was valid and must be followed because he never uttered any untruth, even when joking. The ijtihad of the Prophet, even in worldly matters, was protected, ma'suum. The Qur'an and hadith have records of divine intervention to comment on the Prophet's ijtihad on worldly matters, such as his advice on some aspects of agriculture that he later withdrew. 
• Thus, the record of authentic hadith that we have is valid whether in 'aqidat or worldly matters.  The attempt to distinguish between the medical teachings of the prophet-messenger and as a human living in Arabia at a particular historical epoch is not easy and is of no practical significance. 
• The question is whether all or some of the tibb nabawi should be used today.  If the diagnosis of a disease and all the circumstances surrounding it are exactly like those at the time of the Prophet, then we have no hesitation in saying tibb nabawi should be used. 

SPATIO-TEMPORAL CHANGES-2

• In actual practice, it is difficult to ascertain that the conditions are the same.  Changes in disease pathology, changes in the genetic pool of the patients, changes in the genetic pool of the medicinal plants, weather, and climatic conditions are among many variables that may make a particular remedy recommended by the Prophet not appropriate for a medical condition today. 
• The circumstances of time and place have changed. Indiscriminate use of the historical remedies could be using the right drug for the wrong disease. 
• There is even a more serious linguistic problem. The meaning of words has changed. What was called fever in the 1st century AH may not be the same as the meaning of the same word today. 
• Even medicinal plants like the black seed may not be exactly the same plant. 
• We can therefore conclude that the teachings of tibb nabawi can only be a foundation to guide and encourage scientific research for remedies that are suitable for our times.

EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON TIBB NABAWI:

• There is a lot of scientific interest in prophetic teachings on medicine. 
• Many medicinal plants, including the black seed, have been investigated extensively and have been commercialized
• The black seed (nigella sativa) is an example of a prophetic remedy that has been studied extensively by both Muslims and non-Muslims. 
• Because of its wide applications in disease treatment since ancient times, Nigella sativa is called the ‘plant that cures anything.’ 

MODERN RESEARCH ON THE USE OF NIGELLA SATIVA TO TREAT DISEASE

• diabetes and its complications       
• allergic conditions       
• Antimicrobial effects   
• Inducing lactation 
• Anti-cancer        
• Bronchial asthma 
• Anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory    
• Wound healing  
• New conditions yet to be defined 

CONCLUSION AND FUTURE CHALLENGES: 

• From the survey above, we can conclude that Tibb Nabawi is an authentic and valid medical system. 
• The general principles of this system are applicable at all times and all places. 
• The specific remedies taught by the Prophet (PBUH) are valid and useful. They, however, cannot be used today without undertaking further empirical research.
• We are now transitioning to the wider concept of ‘Islamic Medicine’ that we will discuss subsequently.

DEFINITION OF ISLAMIC MEDICINE IN 1995 - 1:

• A medicine seminar, organized by the Islamic Medical Association of Malaysia, discussed the issue of what Islamic medicine is.
• Muslim physicians in Malaysia at that time were going through turbulent arguments with practitioners of traditional medicine, who were convincing many patients not to go to hospitals (non-Islamic medicine) but to seek medical care from them.
• This had resulted in disease diagnosis being delayed, and a solution was needed.
• A paper presented at that conference offered a definition of Islamic medicine, and part of its abstract is reproduced here.

DEFINITION OF ISLAMIC MEDICINE IN 1995 - 2:

• Islamic Medicine is defined as Medicine whose basic paradigms, concepts, values, and procedures conform to or do not contradict the Qur'an and Sunnah.
• It is not specific medical procedures or therapeutic agents used at a particular place or a particular time.
• Islamic medicine is universal, all-embracing, flexible, and allows for growth and development of various methods of investigating and treating diseases within the framework described above.
• This definition calls for a basic transformation of medical systems. Islamic medicine thus becomes the result of an Islamic critique and reformulation of the basic paradigms, research methodology, teaching, and practice of medicine. This process of conceptual transformation, also called Islamization of medicine, is described in detail in the paper.