250906P - ISLAMIC WORLD VIEW ON MEDICINE

Presented at an Islamic Chaplaincy Training Program in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on September 5, 2025. By Dr Omar Hasan Kasule Sr MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard), Chairman of the Medical Ethics Committee, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz University Hospital, Riyadh.

1.0 ISLAMIC WORLD VIEW

• Based on the Qur’an and Sunnah, and given practical expression through the sharia and is not an ivory tower concept
• The source of the worldview is the doctrine of tauhid al rubuubiyyat, which implies one creator for the universe and its contents. Thus, everything relates to tauhid.
• The worldview has many branches and ramifications. We cannot cover all of these, but we will discuss a few that have a direct relation to disease treatment.

‘AQIDAT AL TAWHID IS THE ISLAMIC WORLD-VIEW, TASAWWUR ISLAMI, THAT UNDERLIES ISLAMIC CIVILISATION - 1:

• Tawhid is the oneness of the creator-God that implies the oneness of the created universe.
• The testament of tauhid is 'there is no god but one God, la ilaha illa al llaahu, ' which consists of a negation followed by an affirmation. 
• Tawhid encapsulates the Islamic worldview and is the basis of Islamic culture and civilization.
• Tawhid is an intellectual challenge since the concept of one God above and beyond humans and the whole universe is an intellectual and abstract reality that can be only grasped at the highest levels of intellectual competence.
• Tawhid provides an integrating framework for the whole universe, in whose absence there would be irreconcilable contradictions.

AQIDAT AL TAWHID IS THE ISLAMIC WORLDVIEW, TASAWWUR ISLAMI, THAT UNDERLIES ISLAMIC CIVILISATION - 2:

• Tawhid is the basis for physical and social laws that govern science, technology, and society. The perfection, order, and harmony of the universe and the human body are empirical proof of the oneness of the creator. 
• Tawhid, as belief in one creator and sustainer, gives purpose and a sense of direction to human civilization. 
• Belief in tawhid guarantees eventual entry into paradise with a short stay in hell as punishment for unforgiven major sins.
• Tawhid has implications for our daily life based on issuing from one creator: brotherhood and equality, physical laws of science and technology, social laws, economic organization, and political organization.

2.0 CONCEPT OF TAWHID AL RUBUUBIYYAT

• The concept of rubuubiyyat is the assertion that there is a creator and sustainer of the universe and all its contents.
• The creator cannot be created and has neither a beginning nor an end.
• The concept of auto-creation, existence without a creator, is untenable because it leads to the logical absurdity of an object 'existing' before it existed. 
• Belief in the oneness of the creator-God, tauhid al rubuubiyyat, is inborn. Any normal human being will innately and instinctively know that there is one creator for the universe.
• Tawhid al rubuubiyyat is a logical imperative. The harmonious and well-coordinated universe can't have more than one creator. No two creators could agree so perfectly without any contradiction – Surat Anbiya: 22. 

• لَوْ كَانَ فِيهِمَا آلِهَةٌ إِلَّا اللَّهُ لَفَسَدَتَا ۚ فَسُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَرْشِ عَمَّا يَصِفُون

• Tawhid al rubuubiyat also explains the harmonious interactions in the ecosystem, the food chains, and the food webs. 

3.0 TAWHID AL RUBUUBIYYAT IS THE BASIS FOR FIXED PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL LAWS - 1:

• Tawhid al rubuubiyyat is the basis for fixed and constant laws (sunan) that make the world predictable and enable the development of science and technology.
• The laws or sunan are signs of Allah in the universe because they are constant and universal
• The sunan may be physical. 

• الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ . الرحمن ٤ 
• وَآيَةٌ لَّهُمُ اللَّيْلُ نَسْلَخُ مِنْهُ النَّهَارَ فَإِذَا هُم مُّظْلِمُونَ (37) وَالشَّمْسُ تَجْرِي لِمُسْتَقَرٍّ لَّهَا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ (38) وَالْقَمَرَ قَدَّرْنَاهُ مَنَازِلَ حَتَّىٰ عَادَ كَالْعُرْجُونِ الْقَدِيمِ (39) لَا الشَّمْسُ يَنبَغِي لَهَا أَن تُدْرِكَ الْقَمَرَ وَلَا اللَّيْلُ سَابِقُ النَّهَارِ ۚ وَكُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ . ياسين ٣٧-٤٠ 

4.0 TAUHID AL RUBUUBIYYAT IS THE BASIS FOR FIXED PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL LAWS - 2

• The sunan may be social. 

• سُنَّةَ ٱللَّهِ فِى ٱلَّذِينَ خَلَوْاْ مِن قَبْلُ ۖ وَلَن تَجِدَ لِسُنَّةِ ٱللَّهِ تَبْدِيلًا. أحزاب٦٢ 
• سُنَّةَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلُ ۖ وَلَن تَجِدَ لِسُنَّةِ اللَّهِ تَبْدِيلًا. فتح ٢٣ 
• سُنَّةَ مَن قَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا قَبْلَكَ مِن رُّسُلِنَا ۖ وَلَا تَجِدُ لِسُنَّتِنَا تَحْوِيلًا. الاسراء ٧٧

• Humans obey the physical laws involuntarily, but they can disobey the social laws because Allah gave them the intellectual ability to make choices and that is why they are rewarded and punished.

2.0 THREE BASIC ISLAMIC WORLDVIEW CONCEPTS THAT RELATE TO MEDICINE

• We will discuss the following concepts and relate them to medical practice
• Purposive care (gha’iyyat): all medical interventions must have a definite purpose and goal. This goal is quality of life and not quantity of life because quantity is in the hands of Allah, who determines the ajal. The healthcare worker aims at 
• Holistic care (shumuuliyyat): medical care should be comprehensive, covering the body and the mind as well as other factors that affect health: social, family, spiritual, etc.
• Balanced care (tawazun): Medical care should aim at balancing extremes and adopting the moderate and middle path. 

3.0 PURPOSIVENESS

• Each discovery leads to another automatically, and every new innovation is accepted without questioning; nobody wants to be left behind.
• No overall vision of where we are going. Technology has become an automaton that cannot be stopped as long as it generates revenue for the owners.
• The Qur’anic term ‘abath = no wisdom, play.
• Building an elevated place to sit and make fun of those passing Surat Al Shuara: 128.

•  اتبنون بكل ربع آية تعبثون. سورة الشعراء ١٢٨

• Humans were created for a purpose and wisdom Surat Muminuun: 115.

• افحسبتم انما خلقناكم عبثا. سورة المؤمنون ١١٥

4.0 HOLISM

• The human being is a balanced mixture of the material body (jasad) and the spiritual (ruh, nafs).
• Medical care should be comprehensive, covering body and spirit
• Disease can be treated with materials (medicines and surgery) and spiritually (dua, ruqya) 

5.0 BALANCE

• Humans are so engrossed in the immediate material reality that they have lost the natural balance that Allah enjoined for their lives as individuals or as families.
• Balance in dealing with wealth. Surat al Furqan: 68. 

• والذين اذا انفقوا لم يسرفوا ولم يقتروا وكان بين ذلك قواما الفرقان ٦٧.

• Balance in the rights of the body and the family: the story of Salman and Abudardau was the background to this hadith. Bukhari 1968. 

• ان لربك عليك حقا ولنفسك عليك حقا ولاهلك عليك حقا فاعط كل ذي حق حقه. رواه البخاري ١٩٦٨.

• Loss of emotional balance. Artificial emotions of happiness and anger can be caused by virtual reality, with anxiety and depression being more common than elation and happiness.
• In medical care, we need to carefully balance benefits (maslahat) and harm (mafsadat).