Reflecting Upon our Presence in This Country
By Sheima Salam Sumer
Sep/Oct 2024
Emergency Rooms and hospitals are filled with people. Doctors’ offices have long wait times. Pharmacies are brimming with medication in every color, size, and shape. Yet some people are still chronically ill. All the medical and pharmaceutical advancements are still not providing complete comfort and cure. That is making some turn to natural medicine that focuses more on a mix of a nutritious diet, exercise, herbs, massage, and acupuncture. Islamic Horizons asked some Muslim doctors and patients about their experiences with natural medicine.
Mohammad Ayubi, a board-certified psychiatrist in Jacksonville, Fla., believes that Muslims should consider using natural medicine, if it’s based on sound knowledge.
“I believe we’re now in a time when conventional medicines are the standard and override alternative medicine. The Prophet (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said that for every illness there is a cure (“Sahih Muslim” 2204). At that time there were no pharmaceutical companies. That means there was a cure in the natural world. Honey — even water if you blow on it and say Surah al-Fatiha — could be a cure.”
Salman Khan, an internal medicine doctor based in Richmond, Va., believes that alternative medicine should be considered only if its evidence based. “It needs scientific rigor,” he stated.
“Muslims should consider alternative medicine because it is the way of the Prophet,” said Jawad Bhatti, a medical doctor and an alternative medicine practitioner from Midlothian, Va., who has studied natural medicine. “Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s “al-Tibb al-Nabawi” [Prophetic Medicine] recommends natural medicines from different plants and foods.”
Some Success Stories
One of Dr. Ayubi’s patients is a 40-year-old army veteran. He had major pain issues — chronic pain which started in the military after extensive abdominal surgery. He had complications, so the doctors gave him a lot of opioids and conventional medication. He got dependent on them and then was discharged from the military while addicted to these pain killers. He also had bipolar disorder from childhood.
“When he came to me, he was always depressed, even suicidal,” Dr. Ayubi said. “He’d overdose accidentally or intentionally on his opioid medications and then would end up in the hospital. I looked at his chart and realized that he had never been given a good trial of lithium. Lithium is a metal and it’s natural. It’s the lightest metal in the periodic table. It comes as a salt — usually lithium carbonate, lithium chloride — and so in my book it’s an alternative medicine because it’s totally natural. Lithium is one of the most abundant substances on earth. So, we gave him a trial of lithium and he had unbelievable results.” After 10 years of being suicidal and depressed and going in and out of hospitals, within a month he was in a stable mood — no more suicidal thoughts. He was able to avoid opioid medication and move on with his wife and his children.
Yasmine Ilham* from Columbia, S.C., found relief in natural remedies for her painful hemorrhoids caused by childbirth. “The doctors prescribed me multiple expensive medications for my issue, but they did not solve the problem. When I saw an infomercial about natural cures on TV, I decided to do more research. I found an all-natural ointment that worked much better than the expensive prescription ones.”
Dr. Bhatti also shares a success story. “Depression is a main cause of many diseases. Depression is caused by a malfunction of the gut microbiome/bacteria. Bacteria are important synthesizers of hormones for the brain and body. Hormones are the power plants for the body. They fight against diseases. So, if the bacteria are not making hormones for the brain, you get depression and anxiety. The conventional solution is to increase selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), but I believe that more hormones need to be made in the first place. We need to give proper nutrition to those bacteria.”
He relates a story about a Muslim woman who was depressed for years. She couldn’t work because of depression and was always quarreling with her husband. They were on the verge of divorce.
“Doc, I tried everything in conventional medicine,” she said. She was desperate, unemployed, and about to divorce. I suggested that she take one tablespoon of Metamucil 2-3 times daily. After one week she was able to get back to work. After two weeks, she was no longer getting a divorce. After 3 to 4 weeks, she was on vacation with her husband. And after 6-7 weeks she was pregnant, even though she’d had endometriosis. She now has four kids.”
The psyllium in the Metamucil fed the good bacteria in her microbiome. Dr. Bhatti is not against conventional medicine either. “I’m saying take the full treatment. Take the medication you need, but you must also feed your microbiome. You must work on the source of disease.”
Some Disappointments
Not everyone however, achieves such great results. Hamza Ahmed*, in Virginia is currently struggling with a disease about whose origin’s doctors are unsure. After trying various options, he shares, “Regrettably, alternative medicine has not helped. Acupuncture has a very narrow Medicare or insurance coverage. Also, diet-based medicine has not done anything for me.”
However, he’s not pleased with conventional medicine either. After a new set of chemotherapy sessions, he lost the ability to talk clearly and even to walk with stability. The doctor keeps insisting that they are not side effects. His toddler grandchild thinks that he is not talking because he is sleeping, and goes around telling everyone, “Don’t talk to Grandpa, he is asleep.”
Dr. Bhatti believes that major diseases stem from the stomach, so fixing the microbiome in the gut can solve many health problems, such as cancer. For cancer specifically, he recommends pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (PEMF), drinking hydrogen water and stopping all sweets — including fruits — for 12-14 weeks.
He remarked that a lot of stomach issues are related to acid. “Heartburn meds are not helping. They stop the production of acid, but people with heartburn already have low acid, so if you stop the production of acid, it impedes digestion. You have to look at the mechanism of the whole thing. Supplement your food with raw apple cider vinegar. It helps digest food, improves overall health, and helps brain health. In my opinion, you need to change your dietary habits a lot. Medicines are chemicals. They have side effects on the liver and kidneys. The body is not designed to take all those chemicals. You can’t patent natural remedies, but you can patent chemicals and medicines, so there’s a financial agenda here.”
Cure is From the Almighty
Dr. Ayubi encourages patience because most natural medicines take time to work. “The bottom line with natural medicines is that they take time. You have to be patient — they do work. They’re slow, but with fewer side effects.”
He reminds us that it all starts with God. “Only Allah can cure. He’s your Creator and He can take care of it. Also, you should give charity regularly– it’s very important. The charity confirms your belief in the Creator and that only He can cure. The Prophet said charity will protect you from afflictions and illnesses. Also, we believe that you shouldn’t be drinking alcohol or smoking. Both are very dangerous. These are the four important principles that I encourage Muslims to know when they take alternative medicine: belief in Allah the One Creator, giving charity specifically for that medicine and for that illness, and no alcohol or smoking.”
He shared a story about Prophet Musa (alayhi salam) where he had a headache. His ummah brought him medicine and he wouldn’t take it. Then Allah sent Jibreel (alayhi salam) to him who said, ‘You have to take something — if you don’t, you’re not going to get cured of this headache.’ So then he was inspired to take the medicine. They brought him a plant and he took it and was cured. “Allah wants you to take something from what He has created in the natural world, but the bottom line is that only Allah can cure, and so you should never fall into the belief that medicines cure. It can be considered a sin.”
“One of the most important things I’ve learned as a Muslim doctor is that it’s a sin to believe that medicines cure, or even alternative medicines cure,” Dr. Ayubi said. “We believe only Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) can cure, but through the medicines that He created on Earth.” This echoes a hadith, “If a cure is applied to the disease, it is relieved by the permission of God Almighty” (“Sahih Muslim,” 2204).
Sheima Salam Sumer is the author of “How to be a Happy Muslim Insha’Allah” and “The Basic Values of Islam,” as well as a tutor and life coach.
*Some names have been changed for privacy
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