Principles of Prophetic Medicine According to Mahmud Nazhim al-Nasimi

Abstract

Prophetic medicine describes various methods of treatment and prevention of diseases recommended by the Prophet SAW. The Prophet was seen suggesting the use of certain natural ingredients such as honey, tamar and al-habbah al-sauda' to the his companions as a solution to their health problems. Recently, this aspect of holiness that accompanies the Prophet's words has been exploited by some parties with the aim of promoting their products that contain the ingredients mentioned in the hadith. Some traders who sell these ingredients directly are also seen not to be left behind in publicizing the business with the same modus operandi. Not only that, some of the generality of the hadith phrases of the Prophet (SAW) are also used arbitrarily to gain the interest of the buyers without taking the understanding of Islamic scholars and modern medical experts as a backup in interacting with the relevant hadiths. The objective of this article is to highlight the principles of prophetic medicine as espoused by Mahmud Nazhim al-Nasimi in his work "Al-Tibb al-Nabawi wa al-'Ilm al- Hadith". The analysis is done based on deductive approach and comparison of the principles he has proposed with the comments of Islamic scholars in the works of hadith compilations. The results of the study found that the principles of prophetic medicine stated by al-Nasimi such as the incorporation of elements of revelation and ijtihad in prophetic medicine were found to be in line with the ideas that had been stated by some early Islamic scholars.