داء السكري يكشف التفوق الطبي للحضارة الإسلامية على الحضارات الإنسانية القديمة : دراسة تاريخية لأربعة آلاف سنة

الملخص EN

he human cumulative knowledge, through ancient civilizations, has brought humanity to its scientific superiority today.

Since civilizations simulate human life: beginning, prosperity, degradation, therefore, the superiority of some civilizations reflects their role in human development and scientific maturity.

This analytical study compares the role of different civilizations that have lived for 4,000 years in understanding, diagnosing and treating diabetes mellitus, which has been known to be deeply embedded in human history.

In accordance to the inclusion criteria of this study, six civilizations were selected in the following chronological order: Ancient Egyptian, Indus, Greek, Roman, Chinese, and Islamic civilizations.

This study derived what those civilizations have left in the form of documents, written materials or monument indicating their way in understanding and controlling this disease.

This study explores the fact that all the studied civilizations had been familiar with this disease, although they had given it different names, despite the fact that they all shared the same symptoms in the form of severe thirst, frequent urination and weight loss.

Some had discovered the presence of sugar in the patients’ urine, either through the ants or flies attraction to the urine, or through the urine sweet tasting, which was their way to discover this disease at that time.

Some civilizations, like the Islamic one has linked the disease to its complications and have tried to explain its aetiology.

At the same time there was big difference between these civilizations when it comes to their way to treatment diabetes, although most of them agreed on food restriction and increased physical activity.

The superiority of the Islamic civilization was noted through firstly, organizing medical profession and implementing medicolegal laws that would control medical ethics, as well as establishing heath institutes to treat patients (hospitals).

Secondly, it graduated physicians and scientists who had studied this disease and set the diagnostic criteria and treatment for it.

Thirdly, the Islamic scholars wrote reference books that describe the disease and provide the guidelines for its therapy.