Islamic Medicine and Evolutionary Medicine: A Comparative Analysis

Authors

  • Arthur Saniotis School of Medical Sciences. The University of Adelaide

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5915/44-1-8780

Keywords:

tawhid, fitra, microcosm-macrocosm, mismatch, integration

Abstract

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5915/44-1-8780

The advent of evolutionary medicine in the last two decades has provided new insights into the causes of human disease and possible preventative strategies. One of the strengths of evolutionary medicine is that it follows a multi-disciplinary approach. Such an approach is vital to future biomedicine as it enables for the infiltration of new ideas. Although evolutionary medicine uses Darwinian evolution as a heuristic for understanding human beings’ susceptibility to disease, this is not necessarily in conflict with Islamic medicine. It should be noted that current evolutionary theory was first expounded by various Muslim scientists such as Al-Jahiz and Tusi centuries before Darwin and Wallace. In this way, evolution should not be viewed as being totally antithetical to Islam. This article provides a comparative overview of Islamic medicine and Evolutionary medicine, as well as, drawing points of comparison between the two approaches which enables their possible future integration.

Author Biography

Arthur Saniotis, School of Medical Sciences. The University of Adelaide

Arthur Saniotis received his PhD in social anthropology at The University of Adelaide. Currently, he is a Visiting Research Fellow in the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Adelaide. He is a trained medical anthropologist. His research interests include medical anthropology, evolutionary medicine, medical science, bioethics, public health, shamanism, comparative religion and futures studies. He is also part of climate change research team in the Discipline of Public Health at The University of Adelaide where he has contributed in research projects and collaborative publications.

Downloads

Published

2012-06-29

Issue

Section

Islamic Perspectives