Pervez Hoodbhoy, a Pakistani nuclear physicist, once lamented in his book, Islam and Science – Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality that “numerous charlatans and sycophants…had seized the reins of society and set for themselves the task of ‘Islamizing’ everything in sight, including science.”
These words may be harsh, but they came immediately to mind when reading the news of an anti-hysteria kit has been launched recently at a local public university. This kit has been touted as an “innovation” and could perhaps join the list of peculiar scientific research projects that Hoodbhoy stated in his book.
Hoodbhoy listed some claims made in Pakistan in the 1980’s, which include calculating the speed of heaven using Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, finding the chemical composition of djinns, and extracting energy from these creatures to solve Pakistan’s energy problems – all of which are nothing short of controversial.
There are indeed a number of controversies surrounding the anti-hysteria kit. First and foremost is the effectiveness and efficacy in which it can be used to treat hysteria. It has been claimed by the researcher that the kit is effective in warding off evil spirits – the cause of hysteria – in 50 cases.
The main problem, as highlighted by the Malaysian Psychiatric Association, is “managing hysteria attacks without medical psychiatric treatment could endanger patients and the community.” Modern psychiatry over the last one and a half century has developed scientifically proven treatments for hysteria.
It must be remembered that any form of intervention involving patients must meet the code of medical ethics that govern medical treatment. Otherwise, patients are exposed to risks as a result of unethical (whether intentional or otherwise) conducts. The aim of this code of medical ethics is to safeguard patients’ rights and safety.
The problem with hysteria in that the understanding that the Muslim community in Malaysia has on the phenomenon differs to that of modern medicine. Many in the Malay-Muslim community equate hysteria with being possessed by evil spirits. This supernatural belief has its roots in animism, and predates the coming of Islam.
An academic paper written in 2014 by Intan Farhana Saparudin, Fariza Md Sham and Salasiah Hanin Hamjah of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia stated that, even after the coming of Islam, this animistic belief is strongly held even until today. This leads to a complex and complicated understanding of hysteria exists in the Malay-Muslim community.
As a consequence of this understanding, we find that the Malay-Muslim community could not differentiate between the animistic concept of being possessed by evil spirits and the modern psychiatric understanding of hysteria.
The understanding of modern psychiatry has its roots in the Islamic civilisation when scholars studied what is known as ilm al-nafs or the science of the psyche. Consequently, in line with studies of ilm al-nafs, history recorded thatspecialised wards, and later specialised hospitals, for treating psychiatric illnesses were established in the Islamic civilisation as early as the eighth century in Baghdad, Fez and Cairo.
Ilm al-nafs is an offshoot of medicine which was studied and developed by the likes of al-Razi and Ibn Sina. Al-Razi headed one of the earliest psychiatric wards in the world, and was one of the earliest to have written on mental illness and psychotherapy in his works al-Mansuri and al-Hawi. Ibn Sina discussed in his magnum opus, al-Qanun fi al-Tibb, remedies and medication for a number of psychiatric conditions.
Looking at modern psychiatry from this historical angle shows that this approach is very much Islamic in nature even though it is not labelled as “shariah-compliant.” Islamic medicine is not just about form, packaging or labels.
What is even more pertinent to understand is that Islamic medicine is primarily about providing solutions and solving medical problems. It does not create problems or attract unnecessary controversies.
Another issue of contention with regards to the anti-hysteria kit is the price attached to it. The kit, packaged in what looks like a fast food meal box for children, is priced at RM8,750.
It contains among others wooden chopsticks, pepper spray, ammonia salt and formic acid. The price also includes costs for training two users, expert treatment services if there is no improvement on the patient, supplementary treatment for chronic patients, three refills for the items in the kit, a ceramah session, risk management and online consultation.
The kit, along with the contents and services that come with it, is costly. Even Islamic medical practitioners are not happy with this cost. It has been noted that the Gabungan Persatuan Pengamal Perubatan Islam Malaysia (GAPPIMA) does not agree with the introduction of the kit.
GAPPIMA, which is an umbrella organisation of Islamic medical practitioners, collaborates with the Ministry of Health in introducing Islamic medicine as part of the traditional and complementary medicine (TCM) service at selected government hospitals.
TCM is viewed as a part of the holistic approach to healing. Nonetheless, the anti-hysteria kit is seen as a disservice to Islamic medicine in particular, and the TCM initiative in general, primarily because of the high cost that comes with it.
The other controversy is that the university and its researcher claim that the kit is a scientific innovation. The researcher maintains that the kit is “scientific” because no metaphysical or mystical elements are involved.
If the kit is indeed scientific as claimed, the “science” behind it should be scrutinised by experts in psychiatry. The methodology must be examined thoroughly. The finding of this research should then be peer-reviewed and published. Others should be able to reproduce the same results when the research is replicated elsewhere.
When news of the anti-hysteria kit was reported, it certainly caught the attention of many people, many of whom are sceptics. The researcher involved in producing the kit have asked the public to stop being sceptical.
However, scepticism is part and parcel of the process of research and development (R&D). It is one of the four norms outlined by Robert K. Merton, a professor in sociology of science, in 1942 to benchmark good scientific research. The four norms are communalism, universalism, disinterestedness and scepticism. Later thinkers added another principle to the Mertonian Norms, namely originality.
The principle of scepticism connotes that all scientific claims must be exposed to critical scrutiny before the claim is accepted. If one is not allowed to be sceptical when discussing an output of a “scientific research,” then how can the finding be accepted as true and trusted knowledge?
To be “scientific” is to undergo this rigorous process, and not just simply making a claim. After all, “science” is all about producing knowledge which can be trusted and accepted as true.
Some commentators have also argued that the kit is not an innovation in the truest sense of the word. This is because there is nothing novel by putting together a number of everyday items in a box. At best, this kit is a commercialisation enterprise arising out of a three-year research that has been conducted.
Islam is a very practical and pragmatic religion. There are rules set by this beautiful religion that governs the way in which mankind lives on this planet. One of the beauties of Islam is that there is no giving up when it comes to treating illnesses and diseases. This was the motivation for Muslims to be involved in, and develop the field of medicine.
Medical knowledge has progressed by leaps and bounds over the past 15 centuries. Many of medicine’s major contributors are Muslims. They carried out painstaking and meaningful research which led to the foundation of modern medicine.
It can be argued that modern medicine today has its antecedents from Islamic medicine. Much has been said about the need to learn from the glorious history of Islamic civilisation in order to recreate the success of the past.
Today, the race to conduct research, invent, innovate and publish is tensed. That is why we have to ensure that research outputs are tried and tested, efficient and effective, scrutinised and reviewed, reproduced and replicated by experts in the field, and more importantly, they must be meaningful and useful.
There is no short cut in research, lest we intend to court controversies. When these controversies are linked to what is perceived as Islamic, it unfortunately becomes a disservice to Islam.