Faith

Some Asian Muslims Giving Up Western Meds for Islamic Exorcisms & Treatments

Some Muslims in Southeast Asia Turn From Western Meds to Alternative Cures

In this photo taken on Aug. 20, 2011, Suratmi, left, receives a treatment at Insani Herbal Clinic in Depok on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Irwin Ferdiansyah)

JAKARTA, Indonesia (The Blaze/AP) — A 47-year-old housewife who recently started using Islamic alternative cures emerged tearfully from an exorcism, speaking of newfound tranquility after a turbulent time in her life. Also, her abdominal pains are finally easing.

Suratmi, who suffers from an ovarian cyst, has been taking a mix of herbal treatments harking back to the dawn of Islam, as well as undergoing exorcisms at a clinic in Jakarta.

She is among a growing number of Muslims in Southeast Asia turning away from Western medical care in favor of al-Tibb al-Nawabi, or Medicine of the Prophet, a loosely defined discipline based on the Quran and other Islamic texts and traditional remedies. Below, watch a video that provides more information on these practices:

“I heard that so many people have been healed, so I hope Allah can help me. I followed His path here,” said Suratmi, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

The trend in Islamic treatments, cosmetics and toiletries is often associated with fundamentalists who charge that Western, chemically laced prescriptions aim to poison Muslims or defile them with insulin and other medicines made from pigs. Members of terrorist groups have been involved in Islamic remedies as healers and sellers, while some clinics are used as recruiting grounds for Islamist causes.

But the bulk of those seeking out Islamic clinics, hospitals and pharmacies appear to be moderate Muslims, reflecting a rise in Islamic consciousness worldwide.

“Islamic medicine carries a cachet that, by taking it, you are reinforcing your faith – and the profits go to Muslims,” says Sidney Jones, an expert on Islam in Southeast Asia with the International Crisis Group.

These Islamic products have become a big business with a customer base in Southeast Asia alone of roughly 250 million Muslims.

The industry’s advertising is as gimmicky as any in the West.

Capitalizing on the popularity of U.S. President Barack Obama, who spent four of his childhood years in Indonesia, one company produces a popular anti-stress concoction called Obahama – in a corruption of an Indonesian phrase for herbal medicine.

Siwak-F, also exported to the Middle East, is hailed as “toothpaste just like the Prophet used to use.”

The industry also is going high-tech. Below, see a video about a procedure called hijama, during which practitioners take blood from various parts of the body. Below, see a proponent discussing the practice through a YouTube video (a free electronic book is also offered):

Malaysia’s Petronas University of Technology is also developing an application for mobile devices to query what Islamic remedies are recommended for anything from toothaches to depression, says Hanita Daud, one of the developers.

Like much of Islamic medicine, it’s grounded on the saying that “Allah did not create a disease for which he did not also create a cure.” This is taken from Prophet Mohammed’s teachings known as hadiths, which along with the Quran make frequent references to diseases, remedies and healthy living.

What is termed classical Islamic medicine developed in medieval times when it far outshone that in Christian Europe, and exerted a significant influence on it.

Practitioners say many ingredients in today‘s treatments were used in Mohammed’s time, including honey, olive oil, bee pollen, dates and black caraway – which one ad claims is “a cure for every disease but death.”

In Indonesia, Islamic alternative healing really took off after a government promotional campaign in 2009, says Brury Machendra, owner of the Insani Herbal Clinic in suburban Jakarta where Suratmi and up to 400 other patients per month seek treatment.

Only one such clinic existed in the Depok suburb two years ago, but now there are 20, with 70 others waiting for government permits.

Machendra, who also is secretary-general of the Traditional Herbal Medicine Association of Indonesia, says most Indonesian Muslims don’t doubt conventional medicine. But he says Indonesia’s health services are so poor and expensive that many people seek out alternatives.

His clinic offers herbal medicine, a bloodletting treatment known as bekam and exorcisms in which a white-gloved therapist places a hand on a patient’s head while chanting verses from the Quran.

An exorcism costs about $12, while Machendra’s government-certified herbal products such as the purportedly anti-cancer BioCarnoma and anti-diabetes BioGlukol go for no more than $5 for 60 capsules.

He acknowledges that clinics such as his benefit from traditional Muslim rules forbidding certain ingredients and that many fundamentalists “tell people not to go to infidel doctors and say that buying Western medicine is forbidden.”

Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaida-linked militant network that is essentially banned in Indonesia, is believed to have links to some herbal manufacturers and operate many of the country’s Islamic medicine clinics, International Crisis Group says.

But Jones says the clinics are aimed more at building solidarity among Islamists rather than recruiting militants.

Some doctors are trying to bring Muslim elements into the Western tradition.

“We practice evidence-based medicine but we incorporate the spiritual for both our patients and staff,” says Dr. Ishak Mas’ud, director of Al Islam hospital in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

This approach, he says, allows such normally taboo practices as abortions and pig heart transplants if these can save lives.

“I don’t agree with some clinics which say that, ‘This is Islamic, so it has to be good,’ ” says Ishak, who was trained in Australia and Great Britain.

The 60-bed hospital, which attracts patients as far away as Somalia and Saudi Arabia, stresses holistic diagnoses, refrains from giving definite prognoses since “death is in the hands of Allah,” and believes it is wrong to practice medicine with profit in mind, he says.

Fees are 20 to 30 percent lower than at most Malaysian hospitals.

“I am just the instrument of Allah and doctors must tell their patients this,” Ishak says. “You know doctors can be arrogant. They will tell you that they can cure you in five days and five days later you can be six feet underground. It’s not me that is healing. We are not powerful. In Islamic medicine, this is the key, the main concept.”

Comments (83)

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  • SBR308
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 10:08am

    All Muslems please pratice Muslem healing. Give up the western ways it does not work. You will be disease free in no time using this method. This beats John Hopkins Hospital hands down.

    Report Post »  
    • vtxphantom
      Posted on September 26, 2011 at 10:18am

      Agreed, the old ways are the best ways. Western med. is a sham. It does not work. Faith healers are the way to go. Allah will cure you.

      Report Post »  
    • chazman
      Posted on September 26, 2011 at 11:02am

      … good idea, you Islamic morons! It’s about time you caught on to faith healing! Yeah, it’s the only thing that will ever cure you! Keep it up and may Allah be with you!! (butheads)

      Report Post »  
    • drattastic
      Posted on September 26, 2011 at 11:37am

      I’m sure this is going to be mandatory under obamacare , it’s probably buried somewhere in there.

      Report Post » drattastic  
    • Edct
      Posted on September 26, 2011 at 1:02pm

      God knows these murdering devil posessed terrorists are controlled by Satan so please try to exorcise every one of them and maybe they will become more civilized and learn to get along with the rest of us on this planet.

      Report Post »  
    • pavepaws
      Posted on September 26, 2011 at 4:08pm

      It’ll eventually either cure them or kill them. Time will tell. If they’re radical fundalmentalists, and it doesn’t work then good riddance.

      Report Post »  
    • Cesium
      Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:14pm

      Also If you truly give yourself to christ you would be a hypocrite to utilize modern medicine… Oh wait that is 90% of blazers… Yea, thanks to christ we have modern medicine right? Before modern medicine praying to christ was sufficient to cure infections during the plague so obviously people in the past were just as lucky to have god but no modern medicine. So nice god finally decided after 1000s of years to come down as jesus, then make us wait another 2000 before modern meds. We are blessed! Guess people in the past we’rent as much. They just suffered but probably not as bad as sick people now since they had god and he knew they had no “western medicine.” Yep, god hated them more so he made humans wait until after the Illuminati challenged god believers and begun the scientific revolution. Then begin the burnings and killings of the innocent blasphemers and wow., thanks god.. nothing evil about that, it got us to modern medicine for the alive people right now who deserve it more than those wretches in 1400:) If only muslims could see allah wants them to have western medicine.

      Report Post »  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on September 26, 2011 at 10:52pm

      I’ve got one of those WWW hats… helps me connect to the WWW telepathically.

      Report Post » The-Monk  
  • biohazard23
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 10:00am

    “I heard that so many people have been healed, so I hope Allah can help me. I followed His path here,” said Suratmi, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

    Soooooo, can Allah help Prince, Madonna, Sting, Bono, and Cher, too? I’m sure their liberal leanings would not preclude them from consulting a muslim exorcist to help with their aches and pains as they get older, eh?

    Report Post » biohazard23  
    • Space Cadet
      Posted on September 26, 2011 at 12:40pm

      Maybe it would make them do the US a big favor and move to Indonesia. Why is this a news item?

      Report Post »  
  • RodT82721
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:45am

    This is one way to thin the herd.

    Report Post »  
    • Blackhawk1
      Posted on September 26, 2011 at 10:48am

      Exactly what I was thinking. All Muslims need to practice Faith Healing.

      Report Post » Blackhawk1  
  • Apple Bite
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:43am

    Well, in all honesty, why should they be forced to subscribe to just western medicines? It’s been proven before that not all treatments in the west work. We can’t even trust the FDA to do the right thing by the citizens of this country….

    Report Post » Apple Bite  
    • Apple Bite
      Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:44am

      Basically, I’m not going to stop them from finding their own cure and truth. Why should any of you?

      Report Post » Apple Bite  
  • jedidiah
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:42am

    And you say there’s nothing but bad news from the Muslim world.

    Report Post » jedidiah  
  • roadhog
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:40am

    Obamacare

    Report Post »  
  • Anonymous T. Irrelevant
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:33am

    So, if they live, it was the islamic way of practicing medicine, but if they die, it was the will of allah.
    Those darn evil-spirits. Maybe if they start an islam, evil-spirit, pest control, to rid houses of evil-spirits, they could proactively save people. Throw-backs.
    “toothpaste just like the Prophet used to use.” I wonder if Jeff Dunham can use THAT one?

    Report Post » Anonymous T. Irrelevant  
  • rdietz7
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:24am

    Demons excorsize demons. This is biblical, in the last day hell will war against itself. Repent for real Americans.

    Report Post » rdietz7  
  • BeingThere
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:20am

    Yes, go ahead, do that! LOL

    Report Post » BeingThere  
  • Mandors
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:19am

    The problem is that these quack doctors can have a real impact on global disease. Human beings were on the verge of wiping out polio from the planet. A few imams started to condemn the vaccines as Western evil. Now polio is making a comeback.

    Sounds great if its OVER THERE, but in a world where you can nearly fly anywhere in less than a day, OVER THERE doesn’t exist anymore.

    Report Post » Mandors  
    • EL Pazmanio
      Posted on September 26, 2011 at 12:37pm

      What about those Muslims that actually live here? Furthermore, more and more western parents are foregoing vaccines for their kids. That is selfish and dangerous. It is a recipe for disaster.

      Report Post »  
  • Constructionist
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:17am

    “Capitalizing on the popularity of U.S. President Barack Obama, who spent four of his childhood years in Indonesia, one company produces a popular anti-stress concoction called Obahama – in a corruption of an Indonesian phrase for herbal medicine”.

    In English, obama is a corruption of the word “President”.

    Report Post » Constructionist  
  • TRONINTHEMORNING
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:16am

    Good one GONZO! Better they would scrap their little cult that sends millions; perhaps billions to hell, and fall on the rock of Christ. But if not, well–have some boiled roots and good luck with that pesky, persisting, painful cough or whatever.

    Report Post »  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:15am

    So we are now on the path to a return of voodoo witch craft and phony exorcists doing the will of the devil in their own delusions of having the authority of God? May God have mercy upon them in the day of judgment.
    http://artinphoenix.com/gallery/grimm (cat folk art)

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • Walkabout
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:15am

    There is a silver lining.

    When there is a backlash against ineffectual treatment, the backlash will extend to the worst aspects of Islam.

    Report Post »  
  • Tom K
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:15am

    Wow, this is great news. Muslims might just solve our problem and de-populate themselves. The bad news is Obama might want to write this into ObamaCare.

    Report Post »  
  • starman70
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:13am

    By giving up modern medicines, they willl be hastening their meeting with Allah. If that’s what they want to do, so be it.

    Report Post »  
  • docmo
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:11am

    Culling the useless.

    Report Post »  
  • NuffSaid
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:10am

    BTW Smoking camel dung prevents a venereal disease.

    Report Post »  
  • RIGHTHOOK
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:03am

    Now we are talking! This will help to mitigate the shortage of prescription meds and assure many of these fools croak as a result of turning away from proven remedies!
    Bye, bye……..

    Report Post » RIGHTHOOK  
  • JMorcan
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:01am

    This isn’t about faith. It’s about poverty, ignorance and desperation.

    Report Post » JMorcan  
  • On The Bayou
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:00am

    Lets intruduce them to the medicine of Jim Jones.

    Report Post » On The Bayou  
    • atechgeek
      Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:26am

      How about the medical stylings of Dr. Jack Kevorkian ?

      Report Post »  
  • ares338
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:00am

    Well, this ought to take care of the Muslim overcrowding problem!

    Report Post » ares338  
  • randy
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 8:59am

    Wow! Great News!
    Looks like Muslims will be thinning out their own herds!

    Report Post » randy  
  • BrerRabbit
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 8:57am

    Fine with me. They way they procreate maybe things will balance out.

    Report Post »  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on September 26, 2011 at 8:56am

    I highly recommend all muslims give up Western meds.

    Report Post » Gonzo  
    • SREGN
      Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:20am

      I think I read these eastern methods are covered under ObahamaCare.

      Report Post »  
    • Cat
      Posted on September 26, 2011 at 10:01am

      @SREN

      No, Muslims are exempt from The Affordable Health Care Act.
      So are Native Americans.
      Read page 107.

      Report Post » Cat  
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