Islam's Attitude to Folk Medicine

Question:

What is the position of Islam regarding practitioners of folk medicine?

Answer:

It has been reported in a Hadith:
Allah did not send down a disease without sending down the cure for it; he who knows it knows it and he who is ignorant of it is ignorant of it.

These practitioners of folk medicine have learnt these medicines through experience and consulting the books of medicine which have compiled by scholars who were knowledgeable in such things. This is one of the many sciences since the time of the Prophets and before. Some people have specialized and learnt the composition of medicines and the properties of every medication and their uses, but they believe that they are a means to a cure and that it is Allah, the Most Glorified, Most High Who brings about the result. Based upon this, there is no objection to learning this (kind of medicine) and being treated by it. The questioner should read the book At-Tibb An-Nabawi by Ibn Al-Qayyim and (another book of the same title) by Ath-Thahabi and Al-Adab Ash-Shariah by Ibn Muflih and the book Tasheelul-Manafi and such like.

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