From the biomedical model to the Islamic alternative: a brief overview of medical practices in the contemporary Arab world

Following its climax in the 8th century under the Abbasids of Baghdad, the Arab world entered a prolonged period of division and decadence. “Western” medicine was introduced in the 19th century with the support of the general population. The historical participation of Arabs in the elaboration of that “Western” biomedical model and its apparently consensual re-introduction into the Arab world diffused any sense of cognitive alienation vis-à-vis practices promoted initially by non-Arab doctors. In the late 1960s, Islamist thinkers started proposing “Islamic medicine” as an alternative to the encroachment of the “Western” biomedical model within Arab and Muslim nations. In Islamic medicine, disease is attributed to lack of attention to the spiritual dimension of human beings, yet intermediate causal pathways are not provided. Alongside “orthodox” concepts, Islamic medicine promotes some herbal remedies, in addition to faith-healing through prayer and the recitation of holy verses. While most of those practices may be beneficial, they may cause some harm to patients if they entail delaying or denying timely recourse to “orthodox” medical care. There are currently no Islamic medicine training programs in any Arab country, and Islamic medicine has not emerged as a comprehensive health alternative comparable to other non-Western health models.