Islam - Hektoen International

Hunayn ibn Ishaq, Baghdad physician and polymath

December 21, 2022

Iluminure from the Hunayn ibn-Ishaq al-‘Ibadi manuscript of the Isagoge. Via Wikimedia. Arabic translation of Euclid’s Elements, 1270, by Ishaq Ibn Hunayn, a translator like his father before him. Google Arts and Culture. Via Wikimedia. Diagram of the eye by Hunayn ibn Ishaq. Cheshm manuscript, c. AD 1200. Cairo National Library. Via Wikimedia. Hunayn […]

Physical benefits of Salat prayers in Islam

September 19, 2022

Nicholas Ghantous London, United Kingdom The five pillars of Islam are the foundation of the religion. They define a practicing Muslim’s identity and guide Muslims towards communally shared values and service to Allah (God). The pillars consist of the profession of faith, pilgrimage, alms, fasting, and prayer. The pillar of prayer is known as […]

Plague epidemics and the evolution of language in England

July 6, 2020

Andrew P. K. Wodrich Washington, DC, United States Pierart dou Tielt’s illustration depicts the mortal toll of the Black Death in a Belgian town circa 1353. Similarly, the plague decimated the population of England, spurring the change from French to English as the country’s dominant spoken language. Via Wikimedia Commons here. Epidemics have had a profound impact […]

Faith, neuroscience, and “the thorn” in Paul’s side: Abrahamic interpretations of epilepsy

April 10, 2019

Christina Perri Stony Brook, New York, United States Despite the stigma surrounding epilepsy in the Abrahamic faith traditions, some Christian art uses the boy with epilepsy as a visual metaphor for the Passion. As the boy appears to die and rise from a seizure, so too Christ dies and rises to Heaven. The experience […]

Islamic medicine

November 19, 2018

During the expansion of the Empire of Islam and its ensuing Golden Age, physicians from Spain to Samarkand advanced the medical sciences by reviving existing Greek medicine and adding their own innovations.1 There were many prominent physicians, dating back to the days of the Prophet himself. Often associated with hospitals or schools of pharmacy, some […]

Mixing medicine – religion and science

March 24, 2017

Aneesa Bodiat South Africa A variety of dates, delicious fresh or as a dried fruit, are grown in desert areas. The ameer chewed on the dry date my husband had presented to him, saying a prayer and then placing the chewed fruit back into the container, sealing it for use in a few days […]

Is healthcare a right?

January 30, 2017

Ronald Pies Boston, Massachusetts, United States Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane. —Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Introduction In this paper, I examine the question of whether healthcare is regarded as a “basic human right” in the three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Though […]

Ibn Sīnā cures a prince who thinks he is a cow

January 29, 2017

Alan Weber Doha, Qatar Ibn Sīnā (980–1037 CE) Sifting through literature we recover strange grains of medical truth. The twelfth century poet Nizámí-i-‘Arúdí relates the following story about the celebrated physician Ibn Sīnā or Avicenna (980–1037 C.E.): One of the princes of the House of Búya was attacked by melancholy, and was in such […]

Rhinoplasty and the roosari from ancient Persia to modern day Iran

January 22, 2017

Ryan Cohen Boston, Massachusetts, United States A modern Iranian woman veiled by a roosari covering the nose. “Roosari” is the Farsi term used for a head-covering. The famed Iranian veil is the most conspicuous feature of a modern Iranian woman’s ensemble. Yet, wearing the roosari was not always the norm. Only one generation ago, […]