Concepts of health and illness in the Koran

• Main Authors: Lourdes Rubio Rico, María Ferrater Cubells
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Universidad de Alicante 2012-06-01
• Series: Cultura de los Cuidados
• Subjects: Enfermería transcultural; Islam; Corán; Holismo; Espiritualidad; Solidaridad
• Online Access: https://culturacuidados.ua.es/article/view/2006-n20-los-conceptos-salud-y-enfermedad-contenidos-en-el-coran

The inter-cultural concept as a legal response to the fact of a multicultural society equally entitles rights and commitments accepting no difference in cultures claiming at the same time the right to be different. In this context, health professionals feel the need to approach cultural concepts different from their own that allow them to understand the essence of new interacting cultures. This sort of approaching, according to Leninger (i), must take into consideration the point of view of any individual and try to integrate in a system of professional knowledge as to be the core for health interventions coherent with cultural modes. The Islamic theological system, through the Koran, soaks the whole life of the Islamic people cultures. The terms: health and illness are frequent in the Islamic religious texts, among them the Koran. For those reasons and the above mentioned ones, the Islamic sacred texts in general, and the Koran in particular are very useful to health professionals in order to build up the emic vision stated by Leninger. Analysis and exegesis of the Koran according to the above mentioned terms are presented here.