Old-Fangled 'Medicine' in Hogtown

Feeling unwell? That high colonic just not doin' it for you anymore? Well, why not try some ISNA-style "holistic" healing? It involves an age-old process (bleeding a.k.a. "cupping," a specialty of a dude named Rasullullah--FYI that's the family name of Islam's founder) that's enjoying something of a revival:



Update: A real M.D. (who went to medical school and everything) endorses the holistic healer with the unfortunate last name (Nazi+h):

To whom it may concern:

I have known sheik Othman Nazih for the past six years as a friend, colleague and an Islamic holistic medicine practitioner . I have attended several lectures, seminars and treatment sessions he conducted over the years in different states. He emphasize proper nutrition and avoidance of pollutants and other impurities that pollute the body in order to balance the body, mind, spirit, and emotions I have seen him cure many patients with resistant spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical illnesses that were not able to be treated with western traditional medicine. He treats the symptoms of illness as well as looking for the underlying cause of the illness What fascinated me in what he does is him trying to bring the prophet's medicine into the present by utilizing modern diagnostic modalities (such as Electroencephalography EEG) in better understanding and supporting his treatments. Sheik Othman came to my clinic to receive training in EEG to pursue his research. According to him, he characterizes seizures as physical, spiritual, and false seizure. He wants to document the effect of Quran, and his treatment on patients' brains by recording their EEG activity while they are listening to Quran and/or while receiving his treatment.I have great confidence in his abilities as an Islamic holistic medicine practitioner; his holistic treatment can be adopted by allopathic practitioners such as Internal Cleansing (Hijama "bloodletting cupping", nutrition, fasting, exercise), and his proving that both allopathic and holistic treatments are valid options and often complementary .I invited him to perform Hijama on my. Since the prophet taught that cupping is both cure and blessing and improves health and is a blessing. The results were outstanding...

Update: More on cupping:

Cupping is used both as a holistic therapy and treatment in alternative medicine. Practitioners claim that dry cupping therapy is beneficial in treating pain, muscular and joint problems, circulatory problems, colds, indigestion, arthritis, congestion in the throat and lungs, headaches, fever, and more. In traditional Chinese medicine, cupping is believed to restore energy balance.

Bloodletting offers the added benefits of removing toxins, excess iron and excess red blood cells from the body. Modern medical theories about bloodletting suggest that a drop in iron might help "starve" microbes and other germs, while a six-year-long study by U.S. researchers shows that regular bloodletting (phlebotomy) can help reduce the risk of death, stroke and heart attacks by half.

Up until the 20th century, leeches were widely used for bloodletting in America and Europe. Bloodletting lost much of its popularity with the advent of conventional medicine, but some doctors still find phlebotomy helpful in treating certain blood disorders and in relieving venous pressure.

Hijamah in Islamic Tradition and Hadith

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) taught that cupping was both a cure and a blessing. Early Muslims used bloodletting to treat numerous afflictions including headaches, stomach problems, poison, magic, bruising, pain, skin sores and more. Hijamah continues to be practiced by Muslims today.

Gee, I wonder if it's covered by OHIP?

Update: Cupping-bloodletting therapy of Saudi Arabia and its clinical application

Update: Of course, if you're a menstruating chick at a Toronto public school at Muslim prayer time, there's no need for any cupping 'cause you're already doing what comes naturally. Too bad your condition is flagged to all and sundry because, as a bleeder, you're required to sit in the bleeders row at the back of the mosqueteria. Mind you, years ago Gloria Steinem suggested that if men menstruated it would be seen altogether differently: not as something "unclean" but as something cool, something worth bragging about. She said they'd high five each other and boast, "Yeah, man, I'm on the rag." Which is sort of what the mosqueteria girls do, only in a second-class, much quieter kind of way. ;)

Update: A letter in the NatPo "clarifies" the issue of excluding girls on the rag from prayers:

I can understand Tasha Kheiriddin's anger about a newspaper photograph showing young Muslim teens in Friday prayer, boys in the front, girls in the back, and even further back are the girls who have their periods. However, I encourage Ms. Kheiriddin to attempt to understand the traditions she is quick to judge and condemn.

Missing from her narrative is that menstruating women are exempt from prayer, a physical and arduous exercise that involves bowing, kneeling, prostrating, etc. Missing from her narrative is that women are not required to attend Friday congregational prayer to begin with, while it's an obligation for men...

The hilarious thing is dude thinks he's bolstering his case with this observation instead of hanging himself with his own (sharia) rope. (That said, back in High School I used to use the same excuse to get out of "the arduous excercise" of swimming.)