A Case Study of Modern Medical Practice and Islamic Complementary Therapy on a Patient with Over 2000 Embedded Nails

Abstract

In South East Asia, patients often resort to various forms of complementary therapy apart from utilizing mainstream modern medicine in Hospitals. Islamic-based complementary therapy employs various forms of bio-physical, psychological, social, cultural, and spiritual interventional methods based on the prevailing belief and cultural system to provide a holistic Syariah compliant approach in patient management. The concept of diseases caused by sorcery and paranormal means using intermediaries like Jinn and evil spirits that have been in existence since time immemorial across religions, cultures and societies around the world, for example, Homer in Ancient Greece, the legendary Medea, and Witch of Endor in the Bible. Currently, the practice of black magic and the belief in the paranormal still widely exist in the midst of modern civilization in this region.  Modern medical practice has no definitive answer for a person with an unusual medical illness who is believed to have been afflicted by black magic because of its non-specific clinical presentation and non-response to conventional management paradigm which defies medical logic. In this paper, we describe a true case of a lady, 25 years-of-age, who suffered from more than 2000 nails embedded inside her body for one and a half years. Upon admission to a Hospital in Indonesia, she underwent a surgical procedure to remove all of the nails but to no avail; the nails re-appeared at other parts of her body. The surgical team later decided to conduct an Islamic complementary therapy on the patient, and subsequently, managed to extract all of the remaining nails without further bleeding. In conclusion, unusual or mysterious medical illness, sometimes referred to as idiopathic in etiology, not responding to conventional medical or surgical intervention, may potentially benefit from the use of Islamic complementary therapy.