Islamic Medicine

Islamic Medicine
Contemporary Definition of Islamic Medicine
Conference Proceefcmss
Contemporary Definition of Islamic Medicine
Ahmed Elkadi, MD
Institute of Islamic Medicine for Education and Research
Panama City, Florida
Abstract
Islamic Medicine is a medical science that is in full submission to the will of
God. It is the most up-to-date healing art guided by and in full compliance with
the Divine teachings. It must submit to Islamic teachings and ethics; must be
logical in its practices and be comprehensive in its concerns, universal in its
approach, and excellent and distinguished. Adherence to the above criteria in an
experimental clinical program, Multimodality Immunotherapy Program (MIP),
for the last 9 years has led to very promising and exciting results. The evaluation
of the MIP is ongoing in Florida and in Dhubai, United Arab Emirates.
In addition to achieving real clinical improvement in conditions that were
hitherto nonresponsive to modern medical therapies, this 9-year experience re
sulted in a better understanding of the following: the link between chronic dis
eases and immune abnormality and harbored negative emotions, the Qur'anic
statements and Prophet's teachings, the basic features of the healing effect of a
variety of modalities referred to in Islamic teachings (the oneness of the person,
the mechanism of communication with one's own immune cells), the broad-spec
trum effect of negative and positive emotions, the comprehensive meaning of the
word "pollution" of electricity as the spark of life, some physical mechanisms of
"Ruqyah" or the "laying on of hands," and the concept of reverse initiation.
Based on the above experience, the definition and understanding of Islamic Medi
cine given in this paper appear to be appropriate.
Key words: Islamic Medicine, holistic medicine, alternative therapy, unconven
tional therapy
From the Institute of Islamic Medicine for
Education and Research
Panama City, Florida
Reprint Requests: Ahmed Elkadi, MD
Institute of Islamic Medicine for
Education and Research
340 West 23rd Street
Suite E
Panama City, Florida 23404
Tfiere are many views and opinions as to what Is
lamic Medicine is and is not. It is a medical science
that is in full submission to the will of God. It is the
healing art of Muslims at its best when Muslims are at
their best. It is the most up-to-date medicine that is guided
by, and in full compliance with the Divine teachings. Spe
cific criteria, however, are needed for better standardiza
tion and unified understanding. Six basic criteria are sug
gested for Islamic Medicine: 1. It must submit to Islamic
teachings and ethics; 2. It must be logical in its practices;
3. It must be comprehensive in its concerns giving equal
attention to body, mind and spirit, and to the individual as
JIMA: Volume 28, 1996 - Page 163
well as to society; 4. It must be universal in its approach,
considering all resources and making its benefits available
for all; 5. It must be scientific in its methodology, basing its
logical conclusions on proper observation, accurate statis
tics, and honest experimentation; 6. It must be excellent
and distinguished, achieving what other healing arts failed
to achieve.
Fifteen years ago, it was a theoretical proposition that
the sixth criterion will automatically take place if the first
five criteria are complied with. Now, after 9 years of at
tempted adherence to the above criteria, this proposition
seems to be a reality. The ideas presented at the first Inter
national Conference on Islamic Medicine in Kuwait in Janu
ary 1981 were logical, although still to some extent theoreti
cal and unproven.1 An experimental program for the treat
ment of so-called "incurable diseases" has been undertaken
since 1986. This program is currently being carried out in
Panama City, Florida, and Dhubai, United Arab Emirates.
The incurable diseases that are being treated range from ad
vanced metastatic cancer to all types of chronic degenera
tive diseases of the bones and joints; the cardiovascular sys
tem; the central nervous system; the liver,- such as chronic
active hepatitis and early hepatic cirrhosis; the respiratory
system, such chronic obstructive Pulmonary disease and
pulmonary fibrosis; a variety of autoimmune diseases, such
as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosus, scleroderma,
and others; bronchial asthma and allergies; and recently, a
most exciting group of children with mental retardation and
other genetic abnormalities. All of these patients have one
thing in common: their failure to respond to modern medi
cal therapies. Some of them were thought not to have any
curative therapy to start with.
The treatment program is called the Multimodality Immunotherapy
Program (MD*),24 which is an experimental
program comprising several alternative, mostly unconven
tional treatment modalities, including a nutritional program;
several nutritional supplements, i.e., medicinal herbs, vita
mins, minerals, and enzymes, either given orally or intrave
nously; fever therapy; ozone or hydrogen peroxide infusions;
chelation therapy; ultraviolet blood treatments; acupuncture;
physical therapy; exercise; and, above all, a comprehensive
emotional restoration program with, counseling to learn how
to eliminate negative emotions through biofeedback train
ing, guided imagery, and other visualization techniques.
Cancer patients also receive tumor antigen therapy and some
natural products with selective cytotoxic effect. The MIP is
either given by itself or with other conventional treatment
modalities as indicated for the patient's condition. The pro
gram requires a radical change in the patient's way of eat
ing, thinking, and living. It also requires the elimination of
any toxic deposits that may have resulted from long expo
sure to pollutants of the environment in which we live. In
short, MIP is promoting a life that is more in tune with the
revealed Divine guidance and is more conducive to health.
Although the program is still in development and is far from
being perfected, some early results appear to be impossible
according to modern medical standards. These patients who
were not expected to get any better all of a sudden start
showing signs of partial or total improvement. Early im
provement rates reach up to 80% in benign diseases, and
25-50% in malignant conditions that were previously
thought to be terminal. We cannot talk of healing or cure
rates until patients have been followed up for at least 5-10
years. Between the starting point of having a chronic con
dition thought to be incurable, and the end point of having
achieved the recovery thought to be impossible, there is a
long road of discovery, a road of exciting and refreshing
discoveries of new meanings of old facts and new ways of
understanding health and life. It is like walking through a
road lined with flower beds, watching the young rose buds
blossoming as one passes by. It is a new understanding of
certain familiar parts of the Qur'an and the Prophet's teach
ings and of various pathophysiologic responses and healing
mechanisms.
Understanding the link between chronic diseases and im
mune abnormality
All of the patients with chronic illnesses, whether be
nign or malignant, who were seen in Panama City or Dhubai
and who had their immune functions evaluated, had some
degree of immune deficiency or dysfunction. The details of
the immune abnormality may vary from one patient to an
other. However, there appears to be some pattern for certain
immune abnormalities to be more prevalent in certain dis
eases or group of diseases.3'5
Understanding the link between chronic diseases and har
bored negative emotions
All of the patients with chronic illnesses, whether be
nign or malignant, had excessive amounts of harbored nega
tive emotions before their illness was diagnosed or became
manifested. Once the illness took place, the level of their
harbored negative emotions usually increased.
New understanding of some of the Qur'anic statements
Allah says:
"We send down in the Qur'an that which is a heal
ing..."6
We know now from our earlier studies that listening to
the Qur'Sn has a direct stress reducing effectM and an indi
rect and possibly also a direct immune enhancing effect,
which definitely contribute to the healing process. This
Qur'anic effect was achieved by listening to the words of
the Qur'an, even without understanding their meaning, al
though the effect was more pronounced if the meaning was
added. Our later studies showed that certain Qur'anic con
cepts are very effective in helping the patients with the elimi
nation of harbored negative emotions, a major immune suppressive
factor always present in patients with chronic ill
nesses. l0 This aspect of the healing effect of the Qur'an has
Page 164-JIMA: Volume 28, 1996
a profound immune enhancing effect, and is routinely used
as part of the MIP in all our patients, Muslim and non-
Muslim alike.
Allah says about honey:
"... In it there is a healing for people..." "
Our studies as well as studies by others showed that
honey has an immune enhancing effect in addition to other
healing promoting effects.
New understanding of some of the Prophet's teachings
Prophet Muhammad said:
"...In the black seed there is healing for every illness
except death."12
This statement has two areas that could not be explained
initially. One was the healing effect for every illness. How
can it help with all types of illnesses that may have different
nature and different etiology? The second mystery was the
meaning of "... except death." If a person is already dead,
there is no need for black seed, or for that matter, anything
else. The first mystery was explained when our studies in
1986 and 1987 confirmed the immune enhancing effect of
the black seed.IWI Therefore, it can contribute to the heal
ing of all illnesses. Even the healing of a surgical condition
can be enhanced by improving the postoperative wound's
healing and repair and by reducing surgical complications.
The second mystery finally became clear after years of ob
servation that as long as there is some residual function (or
life) in the affected tissue or organ, there is usually a chance
of partial or total improvement and recovery. If, on the other
hand, the affected tissue or organ is completely dead with a
total loss of function, there is usually no more chance of
therapeutic response. Such an observation has a very im
portant prognostic value and is very helpful in the planning
for any treatment approach.
Basic features of the healing effect of various modalities
referred to in Islamic teachings
Various Islamic practices such as fasting, prayers, man
nerisms, or emotional attitudes; and specific items that were
mentioned as having a healing effect such as the Qur'an,
honey, black seed and others, all have two things in com
mon. One is that the effect deals with the underlying disease
mechanism, such as an immune deficiency or dysfunction
rather than dealing with the superficial symptoms. Conse
quently, the effect is truly curative and not just symptomatically
palliative in nature. The second feature is that the thera
peutic effect is restorative in nature, regardless of direction
of the abnormality. This means, for example, if the number
of certain cells was lower than normal, the treatment will
result in an increase of number of the affected cells. If the
number of the same cells was higher than normal .the same
treatment will result in a decrease in the number of the af
fected cells. Besides, the corrective change, whether up or
down, will go only to the normal or near-normal level and
not beyond. This is usually a common feature of natural
herbs and other natural therapeutic modalities, unlike syn
thetic pharmacological preparations where their effect is usu
ally in one direction and progressive with increasing doses
beyond the desirable normal range.
Understanding of the oneness of the person
The oneness of the patient becomes very clear when
dealing with chronic therapy resistant illnesses. The physi
cal component of the person cannot be separated from his
or her emotional and spiritual components. The treatment
of these challenging conditions will not be fully effective
unless the restoration is achieved at the physical, emotional,
and spiritual levels. Failing to correct irregularity at any of
these three levels may .greatly reduce the effectiveness of
the treatment.2-5
Understanding the mechanism of communication with
one's own immune cells
The immune cells can read the mind of their owner with
their built-in receptors registering and responding to the elec
tromagnetic energy waves and impulses going through the
mind, i.e., ideas and emotions. w One can, therefore, very
much control the functions of his or her immune cells by
controlling his or her ideas and emotions. One can also
have an idea of the level of performance of the immune cells
under the influence of certain emotions by observing the level
of performance of the patient while under the influence of
the same emotions.
The broad spectrum effect of negative and positive emotions
Cleansing the heart of any hate or hateful feelings is
not only the road to paradise but also to better physical health
and better immunity. The same applies to many other nega
tive emotions and their opposite positive ones that can have
a profound effect, negative or positive, on the physical health
as well as the general performance of the person in this world
and the hereafter.
Understanding the comprehensive meaning of the word
"Pollution"
Emotional and intellectual pollution intoxicating the
heart and the mind is equally harmful as the chemical and
physical pollution intoxicating the body. Both can have a
disastrous effect on the health and performance of the per
son.
Electricity and the spark of life-the physical explanation
of the "Ruqyah " or the healing touch and the laying on of
hands
We do not know the nature of the spirit and how it af
fects life. We do know, however, some of the manifestations
of life and having the spirit in the body. One of these mani
festations is electricity. As long as the electrical charges are
in the body, the person is alive. When electricity leaves the
body, the person is dead. The same thing applies to plants.
J1MA: Volume 28, 1996 - Page 165
Live plants, i.e., raw, uncooked, and unprocessed plants have
measurable electrical charges, while dead, i.e., cooked or
processed plants do not. This is why live food has such a
healing effect, most likely, at least partially, due to its elec
trical charges that somehow positively affect the electrical
charges of the human body.2-1 Dead food may have a nutri
tious effect but not a healing effect, since it has no electric
ity.
The body, as an electrical machine, is surrounded by an
electromagnetic energy field, an invisible light field called
the aura. This light field can now be photographed with
electrophotography (Kirlian photography) and can be as
sessed this way. We know now that food as well as the emo
tional condition of the person can affect, positively or nega
tively, the aura of the person. In return, the state of the aura
can affect the condition of the body, again positively or nega
tively. Moreover, the aura of one person can affect the aura
of another person through physical contact or just proxim
ity. This, again, can be documented with electrophotogra
phy.16 Once we understand this mechanism, we can achieve
the healing effect of positive emotional attitude in infants by
counseling their parents.
Achieving improvement or correction of genetic disorders
with chromosomal defects without genetic engineering, but
by changing environmental and nutritional factors
The most exciting and puzzling observation we were
able to make during the past year was the improvement of
several children with a variety of genetic problems after us
ing some modalities of the MIR An example is a 5-year-old
boy with mental retardation and a documented diagnosis of
dysmorphic syndrome and abnormality of chromosome 10Q
plus, who was totally unmanageable, did not speak, and
would not respond to any commands. Within less than 6
months, he was responding to commands, saying a few
words, and continues to gradually improve. Another case
is a 6-year-old girl with thalassemia major who required a
monthly blood transfusion but has been on the program for
a year and has not required a blood transfusion for the past
4 months. Several other children with other genetic prob
lems, are showing various degrees of improvement. Ini
tially, we could not explain these, unexpected changes, then
we thought, if negative environmental factors can negatively
affect the genetic make up of the cell like in mutation, maybe
positive environmental factors can have a corrective effect
We plan to start a long-term genetic study in an attempt to
explain this situation and to see how natural therapeutic
factors can affect the transcription and whatever other fac
tors may be involved in this process.
Conclusion
The above-mentioned observations are a few glimpses
of light along the long road of discovery. There are many
more areas of the dark unknown. However, the direction
seems to be correct and very promising. Adhering to the
Divine guidance is paying off.
References
1. ElkadiA: What is Islamic Medicine? Presented at 1st
International Conference on Islamic Medicine, Kuwait,
January 1981. Published in Conference Proceedings. Pub
lications of Islamic Organization of Medical Sciences, Center
of Islamic Medicine, Kuwait
2. Elkadi A: Multimodality Immunotherapy Program
(MIP). A publication of the Institute of Islamic Medicine
for Education and Research, Panama City, Florida.
3. Elkadi A,' El-Menshawi A, Meloukheia A, Abdel-Ghany
N, Kaplan S, Ehnarassy M: Multimodality Immunotherapy
Program. Presented at the 6th International Scientific Con
ference of the Egyptian Medical Syndicate (Mcdicina 1994),
Cairo, Egypt, December 1994. Published in the Confer
ence Proceedings. Publication of the Egyptian Medical Syn
dicate, Cairo, Egypt.
4. Elkadi A, EMtfenshawi A: Recognition of immune defi
ciency as an etiologic factor in cancer. Presented at the 12th
Annual Convention of the Islamic Medical Association of South
Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, July 1992. Abstract pub
lished in Islamic Medical Association, South Africa 1992.
5. Afify, MAI, Goda, AA, Shaheen, W, Elkadi A: The
importance of immune function evaluation in patients with
chronic illnesses (other than AIDS). Egypt. Soc Pharmacol
ExpTher. 1994;13(1)
6. Glorious Qur'Sn, Chapter 17, Verse 82.
7. Elkadi A. Health and healing in the Quran. Presented at
the annual convention of Islamic Society of North America,
Louisville, Kentucky, September 1985. Published in J. Isl.
Med. Assoc. S. Africa (1989), 5:5-7.
8. Elkadi A: Documentation of the physiologic effects of
the Qur'an in man utilizing biofeedback monitoring tech
niques: a controlled study. Presented at the 3rd Interna
tional Conference on Islamic Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey,
September 1984. Published in Conference Proceedings.
Publication of the Center of Islamic Medicine, Kuwait
9. Elkadi A: Towards an understanding of the healing
effect of the Qur'an. Presented at the annual Convention of
the IMA of North America, Niagara Falls, New York, July
1985. Abstract published in JIMA (1985) Convention is
sue. Published in J Isl Med Assoc. S.Africa. l987;l:l-2.
10. Elkadi A: Qur'anic concepts for eliminating negative
emotions. Presented at the 5th International Conference on
scientific signs of Qur'an and Sunnah, Moscow, Russia,
September 1993. Published in the Proceedings of the Con
ference. Also published in the Proceedings of an Interna
tional Workshop on Traditional Health Systems and Public
Policy, Ottawa, Canada. Publications of the International
Development Research Center, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
1994; 148-67
11. Glorious Qur'an, Chapter 16, Verse 69.
12. Sahlh al-Bukari Vol. 7, Number 591, Kazi Publica
tions, Chicago, Illinois. 1981.
Page 166 -JIMA: Volume 28, 1996
13. Elkadi A, Kandil O: The black seed (Nigella saliva) as
a natural immune enhancer. Presented at the 1st Interna
tional Conference on Scientific Miracles of Qur'an and
Sunnah. Islamabad, Pakistan, October 1987. Published in
Conference Proceedings. Publications of the Commission
of Scientific Signs of Qur'an and Sunnah, Muslim World
League, Macca, Saudi Arabia.
14. Elkadi A, Kandil O: The black seed (Nigella saliva)
and its effect of human T-cell subsets. Presented at the 71st
annual meeting of Federation of American Societies for Ex
perimental Biology, Washington, D.C., March 1987. Ab
stract published in Fed Proc. 1987;46(4):1222.
15. Elkadi A, Kandil O, Tabuni A: Nigella saliva and cellmediated
immunity. Abstract published in Arch of AIDS
Res. 1987;l:232-233.
16. Elkadi A, El-Menshawi A: Electro-photography
(Kirlian photography): a new tool for the assessment of
health and the diagnosis of disease. Presented at the 25th
annual Convention of the IMA of North America, Istanbul,
Turkey, August 1992.
JIMA: Volume 28, 1996 - Page 167