A Muslim Perspective on Using the Prophetic Voice to Address Moral Injury in Medicine
Yasir Akhtar, MD, Tennessee Heart Clinic, Darul Qasim College, Umar Shakur, DO, Insight Hospital and Medical Center, Darul Qasim College, Asim Babar, MD, Edward Hines, Jr. VA Medical Center, Darul Qasim College, Ahsan Arozullah, MD, Darul Qasim College, Omar Hussain, DO, Advocate Health, Darul Qasim College, Akbar Ali, MD, Endeavor Health, Darul Qasim College, Mohammed Amin Kholwadia, Darul Qasim College
Beginning with the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increasing awareness of physicians experiencing moral injury in medicine. Initially connected to the difficulties of dealing with constrained resources in the face of overwhelming needs (e.g. ventilators or ECMO), it became apparent that moral injury was not just limited to the exigencies of the pandemic. The rise of private equity in medicine highlighted the risks when “return on investment” drives decision making over “do no harm.” Moral injury is often connected to, but distinct from, physician burnout. Excessive workload, lack of autonomy and minimal emotional support have been described as major contributors to physician burnout. While some have connected burnout to a lack of resiliency in the individual physician, others have connected it to deficiencies in healthcare systems. The impact of both moral injury and physician burnout is stark. A chronic state of stress and physical and mental exhaustion can lead to early retirement and even physician suicide with up to 15% of physicians reporting suicidal ideations. Overall, physicians carry an estimated suicide risk four times higher than the general population.
This panel discussion will outline challenges contributing to moral injury for physicians across a variety of practice settings including inner-city hospitals, VA hospitals, and rural private practices. Recent technological advances have facilitated physician-owned practices, independent of private hospital ownership, with greater autonomy and higher satisfaction. Changes in certificate of need laws have also made it easier for physician-owned clinics to offer procedures which were previously monopolized by hospitals. Case examples will demonstrate how the journey from physician employee to physician owner can lead to higher physician and patient satisfaction enabling greater access to care.
The discussants will propose potential solutions for moral injury and burnout utilizing the Prophetic voice from the Islamic tradition. Moral injury may occur when the level of responsibility does not match the level of authority. Applying concepts such as wilayah (authority/responsibility) from the Prophetic voice can clarify a physician's responsibility. The panelists include a pre-eminent Islamic scholar who will describe the Prophetic voice based on the vocabulary used by Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to describe healing, treatment, and disease. The Islamic revelatory sources of the Qur'an and Hadith did not merely use the existing Arabic words for healing and treatment, but creatively and compassionately transformed them. This transformation established a precise and profound theological framework that masterfully balances the human "pursuit of healing" with an appreciation and reliance on divine grace. A balance that may be the key to addressing physician burnout.
The Prophetic voice's first creative act was one of strategic theological distinction. The Qur'an purposefully omits the human-centric words al-ṭibb and dawāʾ. Instead, it exclusively elevates shifāʾ (شفاء)—a complete, successful healing—as a purely divine act. This is crystallized in the Prophet's own prayer, where the "Prophetic Voice" is expressed: "O Allah...cure, for You are the Healer; there is no healing except Your healing, a healing that leaves no sickness." This prayer connects the human being, both physician and patient alike, through the recognition of God as Al-Shāfī (The Healer).
Having established this theological reality, the Prophetic voice compassionately re-engaged the human role in healing by transforming vocabulary used in pre-Islamic Arabia. For example, the term al-ṭibb (الطب) did not mean "medicine" specifically, but rather any "masterful skill" or "clever fix". Similarly, dawāʾ (دواء), the "remedy," was a common poetic metaphor for the solution to any emotional or social "disease" (dāʾ). Through hadith, the Prophetic voice creatively narrowed and sanctioned the pursuit of al-ṭibb as the "science of medicine" and encourages seeking dawāʾ (remedy) as a necessary human effort that attracts divine healing. The Prophetic voice’s vocabulary reveals a worldview so beautifully integrated that the very words for "disease" (dāʾ) and "remedy" (dawāʾ) spring from the same linguistic root (d-w-y), philosophically embedding the solution within the heart of the problem. For generations, Muslims have followed the Prophetic voice to unlock human creativity in seeking lawful treatments that attract Divine healing.
In summary, this panel presentation will outline challenges contributing to moral injury and physician burnout across healthcare settings and propose potential solutions by utilizing the Prophetic voice from the Islamic tradition including the concept of wilayah (authority). Based on the creative and compassionate linguistics used by Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to describe healing, treatment, and disease, the panelists will outline how physicians can pursue healing as a sacred partnership built on a human imperative to pursue al-ṭibb and dawāʾ united with a faithful trust in God as the Healer.
This panel discussion will outline challenges contributing to moral injury for physicians across a variety of practice settings including inner-city hospitals, VA hospitals, and rural private practices. Recent technological advances have facilitated physician-owned practices, independent of private hospital ownership, with greater autonomy and higher satisfaction. Changes in certificate of need laws have also made it easier for physician-owned clinics to offer procedures which were previously monopolized by hospitals. Case examples will demonstrate how the journey from physician employee to physician owner can lead to higher physician and patient satisfaction enabling greater access to care.
The discussants will propose potential solutions for moral injury and burnout utilizing the Prophetic voice from the Islamic tradition. Moral injury may occur when the level of responsibility does not match the level of authority. Applying concepts such as wilayah (authority/responsibility) from the Prophetic voice can clarify a physician's responsibility. The panelists include a pre-eminent Islamic scholar who will describe the Prophetic voice based on the vocabulary used by Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to describe healing, treatment, and disease. The Islamic revelatory sources of the Qur'an and Hadith did not merely use the existing Arabic words for healing and treatment, but creatively and compassionately transformed them. This transformation established a precise and profound theological framework that masterfully balances the human "pursuit of healing" with an appreciation and reliance on divine grace. A balance that may be the key to addressing physician burnout.
The Prophetic voice's first creative act was one of strategic theological distinction. The Qur'an purposefully omits the human-centric words al-ṭibb and dawāʾ. Instead, it exclusively elevates shifāʾ (شفاء)—a complete, successful healing—as a purely divine act. This is crystallized in the Prophet's own prayer, where the "Prophetic Voice" is expressed: "O Allah...cure, for You are the Healer; there is no healing except Your healing, a healing that leaves no sickness." This prayer connects the human being, both physician and patient alike, through the recognition of God as Al-Shāfī (The Healer).
Having established this theological reality, the Prophetic voice compassionately re-engaged the human role in healing by transforming vocabulary used in pre-Islamic Arabia. For example, the term al-ṭibb (الطب) did not mean "medicine" specifically, but rather any "masterful skill" or "clever fix". Similarly, dawāʾ (دواء), the "remedy," was a common poetic metaphor for the solution to any emotional or social "disease" (dāʾ). Through hadith, the Prophetic voice creatively narrowed and sanctioned the pursuit of al-ṭibb as the "science of medicine" and encourages seeking dawāʾ (remedy) as a necessary human effort that attracts divine healing. The Prophetic voice’s vocabulary reveals a worldview so beautifully integrated that the very words for "disease" (dāʾ) and "remedy" (dawāʾ) spring from the same linguistic root (d-w-y), philosophically embedding the solution within the heart of the problem. For generations, Muslims have followed the Prophetic voice to unlock human creativity in seeking lawful treatments that attract Divine healing.
In summary, this panel presentation will outline challenges contributing to moral injury and physician burnout across healthcare settings and propose potential solutions by utilizing the Prophetic voice from the Islamic tradition including the concept of wilayah (authority). Based on the creative and compassionate linguistics used by Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to describe healing, treatment, and disease, the panelists will outline how physicians can pursue healing as a sacred partnership built on a human imperative to pursue al-ṭibb and dawāʾ united with a faithful trust in God as the Healer.