University of Health Sciences

Project Professionalism Punjab

Image Critical Appraisal: October, 2015
A Plea to every onlooker
Look at this page from a manuscript and listen carefully. It is saying
something. It has a story to tell. It has witnessed generations of
Muslims appear and then disappear from the surface of this Earth. It is
a testimony to the magnificent heritage of Muslims and has
experienced Muslim downfall from decadence to nothingness. It has a
plea to every on looker. Lets hear what it has to say:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hey you onlooker! Dont be put off by my frayed, archaic pages.
These tattered pages of mine have seen an eon of Muslim heritage.
Now where should I begin?
Ah yes! The time when in the neighborhood of Cordoba my beloved
author Abu al-Qasim al-Zahravi began to write me; Al-Tasrif, which
you now translate as Methods of Medicine.
As you can witness for yourself , he was not like any other traditional
doctor. He was innovative and used his faculties for the service of
mankind. From catgut for stitches to forceps and lithotripe; the tools he
developed are innumerable and formed the basis of modern tools.
From saving millions of life to forming the basis of various principles,
his works have tremendously impacted all aspects of medicine.
Over and above this, he was not a simple devotee of a single branch of
medicine: he contributed to all disciplines. Orthopedics and fixing
shoulder dislocation, ENT instruments for ear inspection and removing
throat foreign bodies, Neurosurgery to remove migraine, a medical
perspective of Spinal Tuberculosis, and tools for delivery in Obstetrics,
Eye speculum for Ophthalmology: his contributions are both versatile
and countless.

I am his historic encyclopedia of Surgery with some 200 major tools

that my author successfully developed and used to perform various
procedures to treat ailments; and yet you here remain unmoved,
uninspired, unmotivated by this great man in the history of medicine
and fail to follow his glorious footsteps.
And so he completed me; his thirty chapter treatise on Medicine and
Surgery as early as the year 1000 A.D! A time when even the basic
principles of sanitation had not yet been well established in Western
countries.
O you Muslim! Who is in so awe, gazing at me with such an inspired
look? I have not been written by a man very distant from you. He is a
part of your heritage; he is your ancestor, a forefather of yours. Look
how innovative and devoted to service of humanity he was. And then
look at yourself and see what you have debased yourself to?
Your only concerns are song and dance?
Or at most, retentive parrots who very delightedly regurgitate the
newer developments occurring in western countries?
Where are the developments that you have done?
Where is your research?
Where is your innovation?
Where is that spark to excel, assist and heal?
I no more see in you the fire of dedication, diligence and persistence.
What are you but lost souls, purposeless, nonchalant and content with
mediocrity?
You were supposed to be the torch bearers in not only Medicine and
Surgery but every field of learning. Alas! O Alas! How cheap did you
sell your invaluable legacy? You sold your legacy of leadership in the
world for such a petty price of being complacent and for enjoying the
comforts of this world.

They were men more than mere words and speech. They were men of
action and initiative. They were driven to advance, serve, lead and
excel.
What have you achieved?
How have you made a difference?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I wonder if you can hear this and many other such manuscripts lying as
souvenirs and trophies in western libraries scream of the top of their
voice.
I wonder if you can hear.
I definitely can.
In essence, what they are proclaiming sounds something like this:
They were surely your ancestors, but what are you?
Sitting in idleness, waiting for tomorrow are you!
{Thay to aaba wo tumharay hi magar tum kiya ho
Hath par hath dharay muntazir-i farda ho}

---Iqbal--Dr. Munira Malik

Lecturer,
Department of Medical Education,
Wah Medical College,
Wah Cantt.