A summary of Shaykh Amin Kholwadia’s khutbah delivered on May 30th, 2025 in Chicago at the invitation of the Crescent Oncology group.
Resetting the Muslim Physician
Medicine is a wonderful field and you are all doing important work to battle cancer. But for a moment, I would invite you to consider who are the role models for physicians? One exemplar, that I daresay even non Muslims recognize, is ‘Īsā (Jesus) عليه السلام. If we consider how he healed, he was able to heal completely and without side effects. Indeed, Rasul Allah ﷺ also cured the sick with his mubarāk hands and du’ās, and in a way that left no side effects or lingering illness.
So this is the prophetic standard for healing, cures that are without side effects and leave no trace of the sickness behind. It is a high bar, but this is the standard to which the Muslim physician must aspire!
Let’s look for a moment at how the Prophet ﷺ conceptualized disease and cure by looking at the ḥadīth
حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عَبَادَةَ الْوَاسِطِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا يَزِيدُ بْنُ هَارُونَ، أَخْبَرَنَا إِسْمَاعِيلُ بْنُ عَيَّاشٍ، عَنْ ثَعْلَبَةَ بْنِ مُسْلِمٍ، عَنْ أَبِي عِمْرَانَ الأَنْصَارِيِّ، عَنْ أُمِّ الدَّرْدَاءِ، عَنْ أَبِي الدَّرْدَاءِ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم “ إِنَّ اللَّهَ أَنْزَلَ الدَّاءَ وَالدَّوَاءَ وَجَعَلَ لِكُلِّ دَاءٍ دَوَاءً فَتَدَاوَوْا وَلاَ تَدَاوَوْا بِحَرَامٍ ” .
Narrated Abu al-Darda: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Allah ﷻ has sent down both the disease and the cure, and He has appointed a cure for every disease, so treat yourselves medically, but use nothing unlawful.
Sunan Abi Dawud 3874 – https://sunnah.com/abudawud:3874
Do you see how the Prophet ﷺ informs us that it is Allah ﷻ who sends the illness, whether it is to forgive us, to guide us back to Him, or whatever reason He chooses. But at the same time that He sends the illness, the Prophet ﷺ also gave us hope by informing us that Allah ﷻ also sent down the cure for the illness.
Not only that, he instructs us to use medicine, which is good news for the doctors, but to use nothing unlawful. What does this mean? Every illness has a halal cure waiting to be discovered by Muslim doctors! This is your challenge and opportunity. Islam, and our Islamic civilizational values, encourages all projects to be devoid of sin, and not to seek cure through ḥarām, even if it’s there. Imagine if you came up with treatments that do not require the mufti, for which no fatwa is needed because it is completely halal. Our Prophet ﷺ promises us that it is there, and this should animate our efforts and give us confidence that the solution is waiting to be found.
But more importantly, is the connection to Allah ﷻ. This is what separates you from the atheist physician. The atheist may be a great humanitarian, scientist, but he doesn’t see Allah ﷻ. A Muslim scientist and physician will always attach the Creator to the creation and not be stuck in the creation! This is the intention that you must make in your profession, to serve Allah ﷻ, to follow the Prophet ﷺ and to bring this intention into your work. If you make this intention, you will change the practice of medicine. Removing sin is a goal that the Muslim must incorporate into the treatment. If we seek reward from Allah ﷻ, in our work, then we have great hope for the future of medicine, and the Muslim physician!