Episode 13: 3 Accomplishment of Islamic Medical Revolution
The Quran has another name; it's called 'Al shifa.' It's a cure for every ailment, physical or spiritual, for an individual or a civilization. This attribute of the Quran will be manifest when we explore the biggest International Medical Revolution and see how the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam and the Quran directly influenced this greatest landmark in human history. In order to bring this to light, we'll concentrate on three accomplishments of the Islamic medical Revolution:
The emphasis on experimental and observational medicine.
The hospital becomes an important public institution.
Health care becomes a truly noble philanthropic practice.
If there's one thing that sets Islamic science apart from science developed in other civilizations is that Muslim scientists emphasized observation and experimentation. The question is why would they do that? Take the case of Imran bin Fis, a 13th-century Muslim physician who was a Shafi jurist and a Hadith scholar as well. He's the first to discover the minor circulation of the blood. How did he do that? He took the famous Greek physician Galen's theories that blood flows between the left and the right ventricles through holes in the walls of the heart and put it to the test of observation. He concluded that the great Greek physician was wrong and that blood reaches the left ventricle through the lungs, thus providing the first explanation of the minor circulation of blood 300 years before William Harvey.
Another example comes from the 12th-century physician Abdul Latif al-Baghdadi. He wrote a description of a famine that occurred in Egypt in the 1200s and, after examining a large number of skeletons and asking others to conduct their own independent examinations, he arrived at the conclusion that Galen's description of the bones of the lower jaw was erroneous, demonstrating the Muslim approach of questioning great scientists and their theories on the basis of experimental examination.
The big question is why did Muslim scientists emphasize observation and experimentation? This is the central pillar of modern science, and what inspired Muslim scientists to become the founders of this approach? The answer is simple: Muslim scientists were, for the most part, even religious scholars as well, and Islamic science developed on the basis of the general Islamic Quranic worldview of the Muslims of that era. The Quran almost on every page directs the reader to observe and contemplate nature. Throughout the Quran, human observation of nature is preferred numerously over hypothetical theories. The Quranic emphasis on careful observation of physical phenomena led Muslim scientists to lay down the principles of what we now call modern science.
Medicine was one of the few sciences, along with astronomy, that developed very early on in the very lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. A new kind of medicine emerged known as prophetic medicine, a collection of hadiths that had general outlines for certain hygiene practices, recommended treatments for certain diseases, and also certain rules related to eating, drinking, and other activities. The famous scholar compiled all of these in his book prophetic medicine, which is the primary source of Islamic homeopathy.
But one of the greatest achievements of Islam and its significant contributions to the modern world is the hospital. The United States National Library of Medicine credits the institution of a hospital as being an invention and vision of the Islamic civilization. But did you know that the first hospital in Islam was the mobile hospital located in a tent during the Battle of Khandak, set up by the instruction of the Prophet himself? Quickly, the idea of mobile hospitals evolved into fully functional hospitals in all big cities of the Muslim world between the 9th and the 13th centuries. Five hospitals were built in Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo, Ray, Mecca, and Medina.
These were called 'bimaristans,' resembling the modern hospital complex. These bimaristans were the first to require medical diplomas to license doctors. Medical students were given rigorous training, both in theory and practice, by the chief physician of the bimaristan, and it was only after they passed the final exam were they allowed to practice medicine. It was during this period that specializations also began to emerge, such as general practitioners, surgeons, ophthalmologists, gynecologists, psychiatrists, dentists, and even something niche like biomedical engineering. Al-Zaharavi was the first biomedical engineer.
The bimaristans had separate wards for different diseases, a library for doctors, a pharmacy, and even a laboratory within the building. Every department had an officer in charge and a supervising specialist. By the 10th century, laws were passed to keep hospitals open 24 hours a day. Baghdad was also known to have a separate hospital for convicts.
Now, how did this concept of a hospital go on to become the global necessity it is today? It was not until the 13th century that Europe finally began to adopt the Islamic hospital. In the words of historian George Sarton, 'We have reason to believe that when, during the Crusades, Europe at last began to establish hospitals, they were inspired by the Arabs of the Near East. The first hospital in Paris was founded by Louis IX after his return from the crusade of 1254.'
But while the hospital may be a Muslim invention, there is a big difference between the Islamic hospital and the modern hospital and healthcare in general. The Islamic hospitals or bimaristans were 100% free, complete philanthropic institutions. Even though the budgets were high for the maintenance of these complexes, the salaries of the doctors, etc., were all taken care of by state endowments. On the contrary, modern healthcare is a big money-making machine.
For instance, a simple procedure like the extraction of a tooth in the U.S. would cost an average of around $700. In the Golden Age of Islam, complicated treatments like removing tumors, gynecology, and treatment of contagious diseases were done for no cost. All this because the Prophet, sallallahu alaihi wasallam, in many of his sayings, emphasized that care for the patient was one of the most noble acts in Islam, and the alleviation of any physical harm from people was indeed most beloved to Allah.