Theory of Medicine

What is the prevailing theory of medicine in the Caliphate?  Balance of humors?  Meridians?  Miasma?  Germs? Is there an emphasis on preventative medicine? And if so, what are the beliefs about good health?

Physicians and laypeople alike subscribe to the theory of humors to explain good and ill health, and to devise ways to treat the latter. Bleeding and cupping to remove an excess of blood is one such practice in the caliphate, but this is only one technique in a fairly large arsenal. There is a great deal of emphasis laid on diet, both to maintain health and to treat illness, and environmental factors (air, soil, weather, etc.) are also frequently considered to be important factors in health and general wellbeing. Overall Sirdabi medicine tends to be holistic, and focused as much on preventive medicine as diagnosing and treating ills.

There remains considerable debate concerning the transmission of disease, and it is explained variously by miasmas and other environmental causes, divine will, the action of jinn or other malign spirits, and pure contagion from one individual to another. A strong emphasis on the value of a clean environment free of noxious odors has long been an aid to good health and an obstacle to contagious disease, though epidemics take their share of lives in the caliphate as elsewhere.

The relatively academic practice of physicians is not the only kind of medicine in the caliphate. Traditional herbalists have their place, especially in village and countryside, and while some physicians scorn the more rustic version of this knowledge, the professional apothecary is better esteemed. Talismans and amulets, often incorporating written verses from the Perfected Song of God or other powerful formulae, may be used by educated and uneducated alike to ward off disease and to cure it. Special bowls likewise inscribed with lines from the Song, and often filled with water taken from a local sirdab, are also important in healing. Since the stars, moons, and planets are believed to play their own role in influencing human health, medicine can have an astrologic component to it as well.

Good health itself is considered a blessing from Annur, but given the complex understanding of the causes underlying it, most people prefer to take some action to preserve and restore it, and not to leave everything to the will of God. As the old Azadi proverb says, "Put your trust in God, but tie up your camel first."

This might be gross, but I know that in some traditional Physician schools from this region, the analysis of urine was considered extremely useful in analyzing ailments.

Probably most of medical practice is gross, then and always! And yep, urine analysis is one important diagnostic technique in the caliphate.