FIMA Year Book 2009 - Federation of Islamic Medical Associations

Inculcating Islamic Inputbe eligible as His instrument of cure ,one needs to be perfect in knowledgerelated with his selected mode of therapyi.e. contemporary medicine, allopathic,homeopathic, herbal, acupuncture, etc.The doctor ought to strive for maximumknowledge and competence so thathe may qualify to be a source of thetransference of His cure. God suggeststhis in the Qur’an.” and say: My Lord! Increase me inknowledge.” (32)What is meant by the integration ofIslamic and modern medicine?The most important point here is tomake a clear understanding about theintegration of Islamic and modernmedicine. The three possibilities ofintegration are as follows:1. Introducing Islamic philosophy tomodern medicine2. Introducing Islamic methods ofhealing to modern medicine3. Introducing the contributions ofMuslims to modern medicineIn the first case, there is no need tochange the content and subjects ofmedicine. The only thing that needsto be done is to add some contentsregarding the Islamic philosophy andexpose students to these concepts. Theaim should be to change the thinkingof the trainers and trainees so thatthey clearly understand their role andstrive for divine guidance when treatingtheir patients. This is the most difficultprocess and needs lot of motivationfrom the trainers and traineesIn the second case, most of the contentsand subjects needs to be changed.Students should be taught variousIslamic methods of healing and theyshould learn about the qualities andmedicinal effects of various plants(herbs), honey and other naturalproducts to apply to their patients.This is easy but it will change the wholestructure of modern medicine.In the third case, nothing requires to bechanged. The only thing is to add somecontent about the Muslim scholars,especially physicians, to understandtheir role in modern medicine.The third option is not related to Islamicinput and hence we have only twooptions to consider. The second optioncan easily be achieved by improving`Traditional and ComplementaryMedicine` (TCM) or `Complementaryand Alternative Medicine` (CAM).The first option is the best way ofintegrating Islamic and modernmedicine and poses a great challenge toall Muslim medical scholars.Training of health care providers - AnIslamic perspective:Referring back to figure 1, the training ofhealth care providers should encompassall the three domains of educationi.e. Attitude (Affective domain),Knowledge (Cognitive domain) andskills (Psychomotor domain). HowIslamic input may affect these domainsis discussed below.FIMA YearBook 200936