Life as a Muslim surgeon
The question: how does a busy Muslim surgeon working in the NHS maintain perspective on life values and focus on developing a successful career, while being wary of the trappings of modern secular surroundings? Daily exposure to patients and their families being affected by terminal illness, death and bereavement weighs heavily on the emotions. Accompanying and caring for patients in the late stages of illness is a daily reminder of the fragility of this short life and the inevitability of death. Yet it is only natural for professionals who are surrounded by illness and death on a daily basis to become desensitised to the experience. Equally the satisfaction and sense of achievement one enjoys over the course of a successful career in surgery could taint the individual with pride or arrogance. How then does one reign in these conflicting emotions and nurture them into a balanced, healthy and religiously valid perspective on life?
In seeking and acquiring Islamic knowledge one becomes equipped with the spiritual tools that are needed to deal with the traumatic experiences of other people’s lives. Moreover when delivering clinical care to non-Muslims and consoling the grieving, one needs to be caring and professional and at the same time to work in accordance with the prescriptions of our religion.
I am grateful for the efforts of the AICP in catering for the spiritual needs of Muslim professionals like myself and providing guidance and teachings that support the goal of living in modern Britain as a morally conscientious, practising Muslim. Given the challenge nowadays of learning the true teachings of our religion from reliable sources, it has been my privilege to enjoy lessons and materials that draw only upon the knowledge of the highest Sunni scholars who transmitted the authentic traditions of Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam.