Standards for medical practices as mirrored in Hisbah treatises

Hisbah treatises were administrative manuals for official supervision of a wide range of activities in Muslim societies in the past. Medical practices were one of these activities. Relying mainly on bisbah treatises, this paper explores and discusses some medical standards which the profession of medicine in the past Muslim societies was to follow and uphold. The explored standards are discussed under five categories namely entry requirements (qualification of a physician, test of competence and oath taking), medical instrument, treatment procedure, accountability, and moral norms (maintenance of privacy and classified fees). A reflection on these standards reveals that the profession of medicine, an organized economic pursuit though, had transcended the mundane calculation of economics.