How to Address Modern Medicine?

In the Name of God/Allah, The Compassionate, The Merciful

Well it’s been quite a long time since I’ve posted on this blog. I tried working on this post here and there whenever I had the time and inclination and now I’m posting an “introductory thought” about a topic that may resurface quite often. This will set the stage for future discussions (as the last post did). I wanted to write more however I have exams coming up and don’t have the time currently, so here’s what I wrote so far. If you have any questions you can post them in the comments. [Note: this is completely unedited so if you find any mistakes or the thought progression is off, please let me know – I’ll go back eventually and take a look at it anyway, but until then comments are appreciated].

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I have done my studying for the day. It is 10:54pm. I will not be studying anymore tonight, I have prayed my 'Isha salat (night prayer) and now what I intend to write here is essential for me to think about as a Muslim in medical school. It may help save me from living a great portion of my life as an "incongruous human" (hmm... otherwise known as a hypocrite) - or at least it may help start the process that may eventually lead me to answers that I need to be a wholesome Muslim doctor. Perhaps you will see what I mean soon. The last post ended with two statements that were meant to be reflected upon. The second one is what I need to address to start:

There is no god but God.

Six words. Six words that describe everything. It describes reality as it truly is. No understanding of the world is accurate without looking through its lens. It is all encompassing, penetrating, illuminating. It is Tawhid: declaring the absolute unity and uniqueness of The Reality - of God, of Allah Most High.

Wait just a moment. I'll explain as best I can.

The Arabic word tawhid literally means, "the declaration of God's unity". It explains the nature of God and the relationship of the rest of creation to God. The discussion here will be focused not so much on God and His relationship to personal human lives and societies, but rather to the universe and all of natural phenomenon.

Since tawhid is the central and fundamental truth, it is reflected throughout the universe. The phrase states that God is the only Absolute Reality. Thus, it follows that all other levels of reality reflect this Absolute Reality in some way or the other. If God, the Absolute Reality, is One, and is unified in His Essence, Attributes and Qualities, then this unity will be reflected in the rest of the world. As Professor Osman Bakar states in Tawhid and Science, [italics inserted by myself], "one important consequence of affirming this central truth is that one has to accept the objective realty of cosmic unity... ...the cosmos is made up of many levels of reality, not just the physical. But it constitutes a unity because it must manifest that oneness of its metaphysical source and origin religiously called God."

Now, given that God is One, and given that affirming this truth means acknowledging the unity of the cosmos, then it follows that in order to know and understand our world we must study it within the framework of unity, of tawhid. If we do not examine our world within this framework we quite simply will not understand our reality as it really is, and a faulty understanding of the world will lead to a faulty application of any knowledge we gain. How does this relate to medicine? If our worldview affects how we study and understand the universe, then it also affects how we study and understand our selves.

Currently, the worldview of academia (and consequently of medicine) is that of materialism. Materialists claim that the physical level of reality is the only level that exists, and that the "Primary Mover" of the universe is simply causality. Using my own words, their central tenet could be stated as follows, "There is no god but causality". By the nature of worldviews, for the materialist, everything from stars to rocks (note: only physical objects) must reflect the fundamental understanding of materialism and can only be understood in terms of its central tenet. Answers to questions about the world are only accepted within its framework. Given this, what sort of understanding of the human being will have developed from these peoples’ studies? Just as important, what sort of remedies will they procure to address the various health problems they diagnose? Furthermore, how will they define health? What methods will they use for diagnosis?

That's all I have for now, hope to put more up after exams (late November). Thank you for your patience.

>Saleem