Greco-Arab and Islamic Herbal Medicine: A Review

Abstract

Traditional Greco-Arab and Islamic medicine continues to be practiced within the Mediterranean as well as most Islamic countries. This medicine was developed during the Golden Age of Arab-Islamic civilization, which spanned from the seventh to fifteenth century and extended from Spain to Central Asia and India. During the Islamic Golden Age, there was a huge enlightenment in the Arab-Islamic world at a time when Europe was in the grip of the Dark Ages, stifled by Church authority. Greco-Arab and Islamic medicine has influenced the fates and fortunes of countless human beings. It also influenced Europe where it formed the roots from which modern Western medicine arose. There is no doubt that the earlier Greco-Roman scholarly medical literature was the stem from which much Arab-Islamic medicine grew, just as, several centuries later, Arab-Islamic medicine was to be the core of late middle ages and early European medical education. As will be seen in this review, however, Arab-Islamic medicine was not simply a continuation for Greek ideas but it was a venue for innovation and change. Medical innovations introduced by Arab and Muslim physicians included: The discovering of the immune system, the introduction of microbiological science, and the separation of pharmacological science from medicine. The high degree of development achieved in Greco-Arab and Islamic medicine is observable in a statement of Rhazes who said: "when the disease is stronger than the natural resistance of the patient, medicine is of no use. When the patient’s resistance is stronger than the disease, the physician is of no use. When the disease and the patient’s resistance are equally balanced, the physician is needed to help tilt the balance in the patients favour”. This article provides a comprehensive overview on traditional Greco-Arab-Islamic herbal medicine including the historical background, medical innovations introduced by Arab physicians, methods of therapies, and a state of the art description of traditional Arab herbal medicine.