Journal of Iranian Social Studies

Traditional-Islamic Medicine and Modern Medicine in Iran: Discursive Antagonism and Its Implications during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Seyed Mohammad Zarhani 1
Mehrdad Arabestani 2

1 PhD Candidate in Anthropology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22034/jss.2025.2062142.1903
Abstract
Traditional-Islamic medicine and modern biomedicine represent two distinct paradigms for understanding health and disease. These differences became particularly salient—and antagonistic—during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s discourse theory and employing a multi-sited ethnographic method, this study explores the roots, points of divergence, and tensions between these two medical systems. The findings indicate that knowledge production within the discourse of Traditional-Islamic medicine is grounded in transmitted traditional sources. Illness is explained through a holistic framework known as the theory of temperaments (mizāj), and healing aims at restoring the body’s internal balance. In contrast, modern medicine is founded upon empiricism and cumulative scientific knowledge. Accordingly, Traditional-Islamic practitioners interpreted COVID-19 as a disease with a “cold and moist” temperament, recommending herbal remedies and therapeutic interventions to adjust the body’s temperament toward a “warm and dry” state. Modern medicine, on the other hand, conceptualized the disease as caused by a viral agent, grounding its treatment and control measures in infectious disease medicine and epidemiology. Traditional-Islamic medicine can be understood as an identity-oriented discourse—an expression of cultural resistance and the defense of “tradition and heritage” against the hegemony of modern scientific knowledge, as well as an embodiment of distrust toward formal medical institutions. Conversely, modern medicine challenges the efficacy and legitimacy of local healing practices under pandemic conditions. Each of these discourses seeks to articulate the nodal points of “health” and “disease” within a broader field of meaning, resulting in an ongoing discursive antagonism in the struggle for hegemony. Given the political implications embedded in these therapeutic discourses, this antagonism mirrors the broader discursive struggle within Iran’s political discourse, characterized by the coexistence and tension between “traditional, nativist, and identity-seeking” elements on one side and “modernist and progress-oriented” tendencies on the other.
 

Keywords

Health
Holistic medicine
Discursive antagonism
Theory of temperaments (mizāj)
Identity
Abrahamian, Ervand (2008). A History of Modern Iran. Cambridge University Press
Adebesin, F., Smuts, H., Mawela, T., Maramba, G., & Hattingh, M. (2023). The Role of Social Media in Health Misinformation and Disinformation During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Bibliometric Analysis. JMIR Infodemiology, 3, e48620.
Alrawi, S. N., & Fetters, M. D. (2012). Traditional arabic & islamic medicine: a conceptual model for clinicians and researchers. Glob J Health Sci, 4(3), 164-169.
Baker, S. A., McLaughlin, E., & Rojek, C. (2024). Simple solutions to wicked problems: Cultivating true believers of anti-vaccine conspiracies during the COVID-19 pandemic. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 27(4), 577-596.
Douglas, K. M., Uscinski, J. E., Sutton, R. M., Cichocka, A., Nefes, T., Ang, C. S., & Deravi, F. (2019). Understanding conspiracy theories. Political psychology, 40, 3-35.
Douven, Igor. 2025. Abduction. In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy edited by Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nod
Ebrahimnejad, H. (2011). What is ‘Islamic’ in Islamic medicine? An overview. In F. Günergun & D. Raina (Eds.), Science between Europe and Asia: Historical studies on the transmission, adoption and adaptation of knowledge (pp. 259–270). Springer Netherlands. Ghaly, M. (2014). Human Embryology in the Islamic Tradition
: The Jurists of the Post-formative Era in Focus
 Islamic Law and Society, 21(3), 157-208.
Govender, N., & Stott, A. E. (2024). Special issue of the African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education (AJRMSTE): The role of IKS in STEM education for addressing the Sustainable Development Goals. African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 28(3), 315-318.Islam, A. (2016). Origin and development of Unani medicine: an analytical study.
Jolley, D., & Paterson, J. L. (2020). Pylons ablaze: Examining the role of 5G COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and support for violence. Br J Soc Psychol, 59(3), 628-640.
Laclau, E., & Mouffe, C. (2001). Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics (2nd ed.). Verso.
Lorea, C. E., Larson, E. M., Chaudhuri, A., & Hertzman, E. Z. (2024). Faith in Immunity and Structures of Trust: COVID-19 Vaccines from Asian Perspectives. Asian medicine (Leiden, Netherlands), 19(1), 1-33.
Marcus, George E. 1995. "Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited Ethnography." Annual Review of Anthropology 24 (Volume 24, 1995): 95-117.
Mirza, M. (2023). Between Tyranny and Anarchy: Islam, COVID-19, and Public Policy. Religions, 14(6), 737.
Mishra, A., & Mishra, A. K. (2024). A Current Perspective of Ethnopharmacology in India. In M. Nandave, R. Joshi, & J. Upadhyay (Eds.), Ethnopharmacology and OMICS Advances in Medicinal Plants Volume 1: Uncovering Diversity and Ethnopharmacological Aspects (pp. 173-190). Springer Nature Singapore.
Molavi Vardanjani, H., Heydari, S. T., Dowran, B., & Pasalar, M. (2020). A cross-sectional study of Persian medicine and the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran: Rumors and recommendations. Integrative Medicine Research, 9(3), 100482.
Moosavi, J. (2009). The place of avicenna in the history of medicine. Avicenna J Med Biotechnol, 1(1), 3-8.
NAGAMIA, H. F. (2003). ISLAMIC MEDICINE HISTORY AND CURRENT PRACTICE. JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF ISLAMIC MEDICINE, 2, 19–30.
Piwko, A. M. (2021). Islam and the COVID-19 pandemic: Between religious practice and health protection. Journal of Religion and Health, 60(5), 3291–3308.
Saad, B. (2014). Greco-Arab and Islamic Herbal Medicine: A Review. European Journal of Medicinal Plants, 4, 249-258.
Said, H. M. (2023). Islamic Medicine and the Art of Drug-Making: A Historical Perspective. Hamdard Medicus, 66, 1-12.
Setayesh, M., Karimi, M., Zargaran, A., Abousaidi, H., Shahesmaeili, A., Amiri, F., & Hasheminasab, F. S. (2022). Efficacy of a Persian herbal medicine compound on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): A randomized clinical trial. Integrative Medicine Research, 11(3), 100869.
Shahpesandy, H. A.-K., T.; Mohammed-Ali, R.; Oladosu, A.; Middleton, R.; Saleh, N. (2022). A Concise History of Islamic Medicine: An Introduction to the Origins of Medicine in Islamic Civilization, Its Impact on the Evolution of Global Medicine, and Its Place in the Medical World Today. International Journal of Clinical Medicine, 13, 180-197.
Weick, K. E., & and Browning, L. D. (1991). Fixing with the voice: A research agenda for applied communication. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 19(1-2), 1-19.
Journal of Iranian Social Studies
Volume 18, Issue 4
Winter 2025
Pages 31-55

  • Receive Date 31 May 2025
  • Revise Date 22 August 2025
  • Accept Date 29 September 2025
  • First Publish Date 29 September 2025
  • Publish Date 19 February 2025

Home

Submit Manuscript

Reviewers

Contact Us