medieval islamic medicine

many, many moons ago i studied (briefly) islamic medicine, loved it, and have retained an interest in (specifically) medieval muslim medical activity ever since. much to the surprise of some of my muslim colleagues who assume that there's no education re islam in europe. if this sounds super pejorative i don't mean it so - there's good reason for this belief, even if it's wrong, and they were lovely about it. the last time i did it was with an egyptian guy who was doing some work on cupping (assuming firstly that i didn't know what cupping, nor that where or when it had originated in islamic medicine). but i was able to shed a bit of light on a couple of things, share a couple of up to date articles and point him directly at some primary sources down at the wellcome foundation. it was a lovely, synergistic interaction and great chat. how we would have laughed about this article re the ups and downs of life as a medieval physician!

that however is to compare and contrast with the recent hamline case which, rightly, is still rumbling on. interestingly enough the pic in the new lines article could be one i looked at back in the day! plus, i'd be very careful, as an anglophone, raising the spectre of cultural amnesia with anyone else! portrayals of mohammed are especially tricky but representation generally, in some circles, can be problematic. which, for some at the more polarised end of the spectrum, is going to make it pretty difficult to study primary source material that's much closer to when mohammed was actually alive! i feel a bit sorry for the girl who's originally raised her concerns, tho not as much as for the teacher she got fired, mainly because she's young and being idealistically stupid is something i took full advantage of when i was her age. that said, i like to think i'd never have been an advocate of that type of speech fascism that seems to be so in vogue in america these days. which, ironically, has her in direct conflict with actual right wing loopers! plus, if she wants to be that fundamentalist, there's issues much more apparent.

all of which virtue signalling, finger pointing etc gets in the way of actual study. i would argue that the study of the history of the middle east and central asia in particular, with its shift away from europe, especially in the so called dark ages, is just a great way to spend time and an ideal starting point to start counteracting a variety of cultural amnesias (as is study of precolonial africa and india but those are subjects for other posts).