tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38085367.post1834899947594951453..comments2024-03-19T09:06:21.507-04:00Comments on Irtiqa: Muslims and Herbal MedicineSalman Hameedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04327330113822656571noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38085367.post-58462795061855125792012-02-18T08:55:26.860-05:002012-02-18T08:55:26.860-05:00I read your post and also the response of people a...I read your post and also the response of people and I totally agree with Dr.M.Akbar 'Prophetic Medicine' is being misused with impunity to promote quackery which is becoming a multimillion dollar business in countries like Pakistan where people have strong emotional affiliation with religion. Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) did mention about many natural herbs and medicinal products in his sayings (like black seeds and honey etc.<br /><br /><a href="http://herbalobsession.com/" rel="nofollow">Herbal Obsession</a>highstreet importhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02398031785889004966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38085367.post-38938914963647143212011-04-06T03:34:23.524-04:002011-04-06T03:34:23.524-04:00Thank you all (Yasser, Mohamed, and Akbar) for int...Thank you all (Yasser, Mohamed, and Akbar) for interesting comments and additions. <br />Just one or two quick comments regarding the placebo effect: a) this effect indeed has limited applications, but we don't really know its limits, perhaps it does help (not fully cure, but perhaps help) even in fractured femurs, more research needs to be done in this area as to how the effect functions and to what extent; b) it was recently reported (from a study) that this effect works (again, to some extent) even when the patient is told that they are being given a placebo... as long as he/she believes it will work!<br />It's really a fascinating effect from our mind, when one really thinks about it...Nidhal Guessoumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12638764091228065424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38085367.post-41355055543934183162011-04-05T22:38:24.153-04:002011-04-05T22:38:24.153-04:00I think the term 'Prophetic Medicine' is b...I think the term 'Prophetic Medicine' is being misused with impunity to promote quackery which is becoming a multimillion dollar business in countries like Pakistan where people have strong emotional affiliation with religion. Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) did mention about many natural herbs and medicinal products in his sayings (like black seeds and honey etc.). But most of the medicinal effects of these are based on the knowledge and wisdom about natural pharmaceutical ingredients found in natural products, not something divine. As a later example, the early antibiotic Penicillin was extracted from rotten oranges growing penicillium mold in the last century. Penicillin, still used and very effective, is no more extracted that way. Same with the vast majority of drugs originally extracted from plants and later on ways were discovered to mass produce the same from synthetic means. Like the chemotherapeutic agent vinca alkaloid from vinca rose and Atropine from atropa belladona. <br />'Going back' to traditional medicine is like saying going back to traditional travelling on donkeys and camels...doesn't need an explanation or does it?<br />Medicine is a field that has a history of taking baby steps and later gallops and strides forward for many thousand years based on trial and error, common sense, and knowledge. Contributions of early physicians based on herbal preparations is as important as present day high tech research. But there is no going back. And not all herbal methods of treatment are placebo effects. Yes placebo effect has some positive outcome but at a very very limited scale. You cannot heal a fractured femur through placebo...or can you? <br />Personally speaking, I am one of the strongest advocates against publicizing placebo or traditional treatments as it creates a false sense of safety for common people with disastrous consequences.Dr. M. Akbar Hussainhttp://www.amateurastronomers.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38085367.post-90338836633160457412011-04-05T14:43:54.987-04:002011-04-05T14:43:54.987-04:00I just read your article in The National and I hav...I just read your article in The National and I have to agree with you that traditional medicine works only when someone expects it to work (the placebo effect). I have many friends and family members that swear by the efficacy of herbs, acupuncture, bloodletting, etc. and I see no problem in that as long as they’re benefiting from it. But I’ve observed that they have to keep repeating their treatments or try other ones when the original benefits taper off. I have yet to hear that someone got completely cured using alternative medicine.<br /> <br />As for myself, I’m with you in that I don’t think alternative medicine will work with me if I know it’s based on the placebo effect. Maybe to be denied a therapeutic benefit is a curse of knowledge, but in the long run I prefer knowledge to ignorance.Mohamedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03713658577594814316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38085367.post-82056156006784587512011-04-05T08:58:55.461-04:002011-04-05T08:58:55.461-04:00Thanks for this interesting piece. I wish to note...Thanks for this interesting piece. I wish to note, however, that Herbal medicine had a much longer history and more scientific foundation than “Prophetic Medicine” (Al-Tibb al-Nabawiy). The Arabs developed it intuitively in Arabia but then considerably expanded it and systematized it, utilizing translations of Greek (Dioscorides and Galen) as well as Syriac (Ibn Bakhtishu') sources. During its heyday (9th-12th c.)it developed into a sophisticated science of pharmacology that rested on the conept of Gelenic humors. Later on, due to dogmatic pressures, it was subsumed (and perhaps reduced) under al-Tibb al-Nabawi, which is mainly what is practiced today.tabbaascohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02458192007354994476noreply@blogger.com