Halal, health and healing: Will halalopathy bring hope to patients?

 Middle East Eye

The Healing Simurgh: A Symbol of Holistic Medicine (Wikicommons)

Two years ago, Palestinian scientist Jawad Alzeer was puzzled. Based in Switzerland for 25 years, he had found success as a lecturer and senior researcher at Zurich University, as well as the lead auditor for a Swiss halal certification body.

Throughout his career, Alzeer had worked closely within two growing markets: the $1.1 trillion  pharmaceutical industry; and the certification of halal products.
But he sensed something was missing. First, there was modern medicine’s rejection of integrative healthcare, which includes conventional treatment, self-care and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

Then there was a lack of understanding by many in the food industry as to why some ingredients needed to be halal certified for Muslims, something he found himself explaining time and again.

“I was questioning why so many approved pharmaceutical drugs have no added therapeutic value,” he says, “and I’d also written a research paper on halal-certified food and nutraceuticals in the Arab world.”

Then Alzeer had a eureka moment: what if he combined the two industries into one concept that gave some Muslims the extra religious assurances they needed about their medical treatments?

“The combination of bringing together modern medicine, halal food, spirituality and homeopathy crystallised in my mind as halalopathy,” he says.
An idea had been born.

To read more go to: https://middleeasteye.net/discover/halal-health-and-healing-can-halalopathy-appeal-bring-hope-muslims