Eighth to the Sixteenth Century - Rashid Islamic Center

68 • The Making of Islamic Scienceand the use of honey and other natural substances. This body ofHadith on medical issues was systemized by religious scholars whowere often practicing physicians. Thus literature on Tibb al-Nabawi(the “Prophetic Medicine”) is a distinct genre in Islamic medicalsciences and there exist numerous works dealing with variousaspects of this tradition. One of the most celebrated works of thistype is the Tibb al-Nabawi of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 1350). In hisbook, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya provides general principles of healthand sickness, reflects on the relationship between medicine andreligion, enumerates the sayings of the Prophet concerning medicineand discusses the role of Divine Revelation in medicine (Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya, tr. 1998). He also specifically mentions variousremedies recommended by the Prophet. Another related aspect ofthis tradition of Prophetic Medicine is the body of literature dealingwith pharmacological studies on various herbs and other naturalsubstances used or recommended by the Prophet. A whole branch ofscientific research has been inspired by the teachings of the Propheton the usage of these substances and these studies continue to thisday.In conclusion, it can be said with certainty that the enterpriseof science in Islamic civilization had numerous direct and indirectconnections with the Islamic worldview. In some branches of sciencethese connections were more obvious and identifiable; in others,Islam’s particular conception of nature played a more indirect role.The next chapter explores some of these connections.z