The Role of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) and the Shia in the Development of Medicine

The purpose of the laws and ordinances in divine religions, especially in the religion of Islam, is the material and spiritual prosperity of human beings, and the achievement of proximity with the divine as the ultimate aim and goal of human actions and deeds. This requires the difficult test of assessing the quality of deeds in order to find the best of them. The performance of actions and exercising of deeds by humans also has its own conditions therefore, a complete religion must have a complete program to cater for these preconditions. It is not possible to perform all acts in a perfect manner, in complete
conformity with divine orders and human nature, except in the shade of good health and wellbeing, both physical and spiritual. Since the Qurʾān and the pure progeny [of the Prophet (s)] are recognized as the sources of knowledge and guidance on the path to the divine, we must look for the roots and origins of the science of physical and spiritual wellbeing in these two sources, because the guides of every path must be those who are most aware of the needs of the people who travel on that path. The wellbeing of the body and soul with all its dimensions is given the title ‘Islamic medicine’, as a sign of [its origins from an] Islamic civilization, and its flag bearers are, according to the Shīʿa school of thought, the Imams and Shīʿa scholars and sages. The present article seeks to provide a proper definition of Islamic medicine, explain the position of the religion of Islam in relation to medicine, and show the superiority of Islamic medicine over other schools of
medicine. The role of Islamic medicine in the prosperity of the Islamic civilization, the unmatched position and opinions of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) regarding medicine, and the role of the Shīʿa school in spreading this divine science are also propounded.