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Islamic Healing Use Among Malay-Muslim Cancer Patients:

Malaysian Perspective

Rosnah Mat Yatim1 Mazanah Muhamad

1 Steven Eric Krauss @ Abd. Lateef

2

1. Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

2. Institute for Social Science Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

* E-mail of the corresponding author: kharosjmy@yahoo.com

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify the prevalence associated with Islamic healing (IH) use in

cancer patient. This empirical study was carried out within the four geographical zone of Peninsular

Malaysia: Northern region (Perlis, Kedah, Penang and Perak), Middle Coast (Selangor and Wilayah

Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya), Southern region (Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Johore) and

East Coast region (Pahang, Trengganu and Kelantan) between June 2013 and November 2013. The

sample consisted of 317 adult cancer patients who were receiving Islamic healing treatment at Islamic

Healing Centres and from individual Islamic healers. A well structured questionnaire that contains the

items that fulfil the research objective was used to collect the data by trained research officers. A total

of 317 patients completed the questionnaire for evaluation. The study comprised 269 women (84.9%)

and 48 males (15.1%), majorities were 51-60 years old of age (42.3%), married (82.3%), finished

tertiary education at diploma or higher certificate level (40.4%), government servant and pensioner

(49.9%) ,earning average income between Malaysian Ringgit 1000 to 5000 per month, and residence of

urban area (69.1%). The motives seeking Islamic healing were influenced mainly by the perception

about Islamic healing, religiosity and spirituality, attitude towards Islamic healing, belief about Islamic

healing, and family sanction. Then followed by recommendation from family and friend, credibility of

healer, economic factors, and understanding about Islamic healing. In this study, all the participants

have seek Islamic healing treatment for cancer treatment as complementary to conventional medicine.

Islamic healing is a reality and it deserves more investigation and appropriate legislation and control

Keywords: Islamic healing (IH), cancer

1. Introduction

Globally the incidence of cancer continues to increase. There were an estimated 14.1 million cancer

cases around the world in 2012, of these 7.4 million cases were in men and 6.7 million in women. This

number is expected to increase to 24 million by 2035. Although cancer is often considered to be more

of a develop world issue, in fact 57 per cent of all cancers (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer) occur

in less developed countries and 43 per cent in more developed countries. There were 268 cases of

cancer diagnosed per 100,000 in more developed regions, compared to 148 in less developed regions in

2012 (GLOBOCAN 2012).

Patients diagnosed with cancer normally suffer from physical, emotional, social and spiritual pain and

the journey of a cancer is a confusing and anxious experience for many cancer patients. Beyond the

fear experienced being diagnosed with initial diagnosis, the stress undergoing conventional treatment

and the worry associated with the cancer prognosis, many cancer patients are also faced with the

additional demand of making decisions about their cancer treatment including the traditional,

complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM). The use of TCAM around the world has increased

dramatically in recent times and it‘s use by patients living with cancer is particularly common (Ernst E,

2003; Tas et al, 2008; Eliot et al, 2008). TCAM commonly administered together with conventional

medical care to help to manage specific diseases (Hori et al, 2007; Algier et al, 2005; Akyol&Oz,

2011).

In Malaysia, the number of cancer cases are increasing. A total of 21,773 cancer cases were diagnosed

among Malaysians in Peninsular Malaysia in the year 2006 and registered in the National Cancer

Registry. It comprises of 9,974 males and 11,799 females, and the five most common cancer among

population of Peninsular Malaysia in 2006 were breast, colorectal, lung, cervix and nasopharynx.

Cancer seems to be predominant among Chinese as compared to Malay and Indian and it occurred at

all age. (National Cancer Registry, 2006). Besides seeing oncologist for conventional therapy, many

were known to seek complementary treatment for their cancer especially in Malaysian multi-racial,

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cultural and belief. Malay-Muslim cancer patient in Malaysia is believed to frequently consult Islamic

healers who have practice Islamic healing as a choice of treatment for their illness.

Islamic healing is a modality that uses verses of the Quran or supplications of Prophet Muhammad

SAW for healing purposes. Islamic healing has been described in the Quran and sunnah (the tradition

of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon Him) and involves both physical and spiritual factors. From the

perspective of Islamic tradition, the concept of religion is embedded in the umbrella of spirituality.

Religion provides the spiritual path for salvation and is lived as a total way of life that includes well-

being and medicine (Rasool, 2000). Within the fundamental framework of Islam, therapeutic strategies

in the Islamic medical tradition include spiritual, psychological and material aspects of healing

(Rahman et al; 2008). It would appear that Muslim patients living with cancer were found to seek

Islamic healer to treat their cancer disease and severity of the symptoms secondary to cancer, increase

quality of life and as an effort to help them to connect with and experience their whole self, including

their relationship to the Divine as they believed that for Muslims, the Quran itself is considered one of

the most powerful healing sources and is the best of all medicines available to humankind. The use of

Quranic recitation for healing has been shown to have direct healing effects on the various systems of

the human body (Razaei et al, 2008).

Malaysia is a developing country and as a result, few studies have attempted to find out the prevalence

and perspective of TCAM use among Malaysian cancer patients especially Islamic healing. At present,

there is no detailed records on the use of Islamic healing in the population for cancer treatment. As a

result, government standards relating to the quality of Islamic healing treatment in Malaysia have not

been fully addressed and not been considered in detail. Although the use of Islamic healing is becoming

widespread among Malay-Muslim, we still lack knowledge on the motives seeking Islamic healing

among Malay-Muslim cancer patient as a complementary to conventional medicine. This current

empirical study is a part of research project funded by University Putra Malaysia (UPM), aims to

determine the prevalence of Islamic healing used among Malay-Muslim cancer patient.

2. Methodology

This study was carried out within the four geographical zone of Peninsular Malaysia: Northern region

(Perlis, Kedah, Penang and Perak), Middle Coast (Selangor and Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur

and Putrajaya), Southern region (Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Johore) and East Coast region (Pahang,

Trengganu and Kelantan). The sample consisted of 317 adult cancer patients who were receiving

Islamic healing treatment at Islamic Healing Centres and from individual Islamic healers. A purposive

samples were selected from the Islamic Healing Centres and from individual healers. The inclusion

criteria for this study were patients with a diagnosis of cancer, 18 years of age and older, receiving

Islamic healing treatment, able and willing to participate in the study. Exclusion criteria were patients

under age 18 years, unable to understand written or verbal instructions to complete the questionnaire

and those who were not willing to participate. All 317 patients completed the questionnaires within 30

to 45 minutes. This study used a quantitative research design which is deemed sound and appropriate to

gather information from the respondents and then extensively use the statistical tools available to arrive

a particular findings and conclusion. A structured questionnaire was designed to fulfil the study

objectives. The questionnaire was divided into four sections. Section A related to socio-demographic

characteristics including age, gender, marital status, education level, occupation, income, and place of

residence. Section B was the patients‘ cancer profile. Section C was about the respondents‘

psychological and emotional status and Section D was about the motives of the respondents seeking

Islamic healing for their cancer treatment.

The questionnaire design was the outcome of many steps including comprehensive literature review,

and a brainstorming workshop. To refine the questionnaire, a pilot study was undertaken to test the

reliability of the questionnaire and was completed by 30 volunteers on two occasions. Cronbach α

coefficient of reliability ranged from 0.63 to 0.91 from the least to the most reliable questions.

Data were collected during the period from between June 2013 and November 2013 by a trained

research officer. The filled questionnaires were revised for completeness before leaving the patients

place. A quality assurance measure to check for accuracy was undertaken by field supervisors. The data

gathered in this study were analyzed and interpreted based on the descriptive and correlational analysis

using SPSS version 19 to analyze the means, standard deviations, frequency, percentage, reliability

coefficient that were computed for all the items in the surveys. The descriptive statistic measured the

variation of the items including the comprehensive descriptions of the personal detail, cancer profile,

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psychological and emotional status and the motives have been identified.

3. Results

A total of 317 patients completed the questionnaire for evaluation. The study comprised 269 women

(84.9%) and 48 males (15.1%), majorities were 51-60 years old of age (42.3%), married (82.3%),

finished tertiary education at diploma or higher certificate level (40.4%), government servant and

pensioner (49.9%) ,earning average income between Malaysian Ringgit 1000 to 5000 per month, and

residence of urban area (69.1%). The results of socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of

patients are shown in Table 1.

Table 1: The results of socio-demographical characteristic of patients

Variables Frequency

(n=317)

Percentage %

Age

less than 30 5 1.6

31-40 29 9.1

41-50 67 21.1

51-60 134 42.3

61-70 68 21.5

more than 71 14 4.4

Gender

Male 48 15.1

Female 269 84.9

Marital status

Single 36 11.4

Married 261 82.3

Divorce 20 6.3

Education level

No formal education 1 .3

Primary 33 10.4

Secondary 103 32.5

Religious school 7 2.2

Diploma/ cert/ stpm 128 40.4

Degree/ Master/ Phd 45 14.2

Occupation

Government 83 26.2

Private 34 10.7

Statutory body 14 4.4

Housewife 47 14.8

Student 3 .9

Pensioner 75 23.7

Not working 50 15.8

Others 11 3.5

Income

no income 101 31.86

<RM1000 23 7.25

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RM1001-RM5000 130 41.01

>RM5000 63 19.87

Place of residence

Urban 219 69.1

Rural 98 30.9

Based on Table 2, 60.9% (193) of the respondents were breast cancer, 32% (10.1%) were lung cancer,

followed by colorectal/ rectum, cervix/ uteri, lymphoma, stomach, leukemia, liver, nasopharyngeal and

other.

The most seeking Islamic healing were the patients presented with Stage 2 (29.7%) and Stage 3

(34.7%) of cancer. However, there was 11.7% (37) of the respondents were unsure with their stage of

cancer. Their cancer status was still active with 274 were considered as cancer patient including the

survivors and cancer re-occurrence. 4.1% (13) respondents claimed that they were free from cancer.

Most of them have been diagnosed with cancer more than 10 years ago and were cleared from cancer.

However, they still continue seeking Islamic healing. Surgery was still a choice for conventional

treatment for most of the cancer patient, followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and most of them

are capable of doing their normal activities.

Table 2: The cancer characteristics of the respondents

Variables Frequency

(n=317)

Percentage %

Type of cancer Breast 193 60.9

Colorectal/rectum 13 4.1

Lung 32 10.1

Nasopharangeal 2 .6

Cervix/uteri 12 3.8

Lymphoma 11 3.5

Leukemia 6 1.9

Ovary 4 1.3

Stomach 8 2.5

Liver 6 1.9

Others (bone,colon, prostate, brain, kidney,

pancreas)

30 9.5

Stage of cancer 1 39 12.3

2 94 29.7

3 110 34.7

4 37 11.7

Not sure 37 11.7

Cancer status Cancer patient 186 58.7

Survivor 77 24.3

Cancer re-occurrence 11 3.5

Do not know 30 9.5

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Cancer free 13 4.1

Type of conventional

therapy

Surgery YES

NO

221

96

69.2

30.3

Radiotherapy YES

NO

150

167

47.3

52.7

Chemotherapy YES

NO

177

140

55.8

44.2

Hormonal therapy YES

NO

50

267

15.8

84.2

Stem cell therapy YES

NO

4

313

1.3

98.7

Current physical

health status

I am capable of normal activities 191 60.3

I am capabale of normal activities but limited 126 39.2

The patients were asked about their psychological and emotional status before seeking Islamic healing.

Some people have a severe phobia about cancer. Before they know the real disease and unable to

accept it, they have a lot of suspicion. According to our understanding of the tumor patient, most have

suppression of the emotions after been diagnosed with cancer. Loss of hope and of future orientation,

together with the feeling of hopelessness, this is appeared to be an important sources of depression.

However, in this study, most of the patients have an average positive psychological and emotional

status before seeking Islamic healing where most of them answered ―some of the time‖ they feel more

positive about their cancer disease as shown as shown in Table 3.

Table 3: Percentage distribution of respondents’psychological and emotional status before

seeking Islamic healing

Items 1

None of

the time

2

A little

of time

3

Some of

the time

4

Most of

the time

5

All of

the

time

Means

SD

I feel irritable 8.5 19.2 43.5 27.1 1.6 2.94 0.93

I feel glad 3.2 17.4 46.7 25.6 7.3 3.16 0.91

I feel calm 3.2 21.5 38.5 28.1 8.8 3.18 0.97

I am hopeless 23.7 21.1 44.2 11.0 - 2.43 0.97

I am in a good spirits 0.6 13.9 40.4 35.6 9.5 3.39 0.86

I am satisfied with my life 2.2 15.5 40.4 28.4 13.6 3.36 0.97

My life has no meaning 25.6 22.7 39.7 11.4 0.6 2.39 1.01

I am not fit 10.1 18.0 41.6 28.7 1.6 2.94 0.97

I have confidence in myself 5.4 7.3 41.6 29.3 16.4 3.44 1.02

I have a bright future 4.7 6.0 45.1 30.6 13,6 3.42 0.96

The motives seeking Islamic healing were influenced mainly by the moderate level of perception about

Islamic healing, followed by religiosity and spirituality, positive attitude towards Islamic healing,

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moderate level of belief about Islamic healing, and family sanction. Then followed by low level of

recommendation from family and friend, credibility of healer, economic factors , and understanding

about Islamic healing. The results of motives seeking Islamic healing among Muslim cancer patients

shown in Table 4.

Table 4: Level of Motives in seeking Islamic Healing

Variables Means SD

Perception about Islamic healing 2.92 0.264

Religiosity and spirituality 2.89 0.301

Attitude towards Islamic healing 2.70 0.411

Belief about Islamic healing 2.41 0.492

Family sanction 2.36 0.604

Recommendation from family and friends 2.29 0.457

Credibility of healer 2.26 0.456

Economic factors 2.20 0.487

Understanding about Islamic healing 2.17 0.384

Cultural 1.82 0.528

Dissatisfaction with conventional treatment 1.80 0.407

Delayed in hospital treatment 1.79 0.642

1-2.33=Low; 2.34-3.66=Moderate; 3.67-5=High

4. Discussion

The emergence and growth of Islamic healing therapy over the past decade as a treatment to boost

healing and quality of life for cancer patients has been remarkable. Based on Table 1, the results clearly

showed that most of the respondents who took part in this survey were aged between 51 and 60 years

old. Age is known to influence the measure of health status (Suthahar et al, 2009) and participants older

than 40 years old normally consulted traditional healer more than the young one (Al-Rowais, 2010;

Algier et al, 2005; Akyol, 2011). This result is consistent with those of the other studies done by

Montazeri et al, (2006) and Qidwai et al, (2009) where they found that aged more than 50 years were

independently associated with CAM used. In general, therefore it seems that most of the cancer

diseases was diagnosed within this age. Out of 317 respondents who filled out the questionnaire, 84.9%

were females and 15.1% were males. This result may be explained by the fact that female was reported

with higher use of CAM (Tas et al, 2008; Conboy et al, 2007; Hori et al, 2008; Can et al, 2009) for

their illness especially for breast cancer which is the most killing cancer in female. The reason for this

is not clear but it may have been something to do with different factors. The results of this study

seemed to confirm the findings of a study by Montazeri et al, (2005) in this field. However, the

findings of the current study do not support the study conducted by Tovey et al, (2005) where they

found that majority of the patients were men who seek CAM. It is probable that their studies were done

in Islamic country such as Pakistan where female decision making is restricted.

As mentioned in literature review, married patients reported higher use of CAM (Tas et al, 2008;

Conboy et al, 2007; and Hori et al, 2008). These findings agree with Tovey et al, (2005); Montazeri et

al, (2007); Al-Rowais et al, (2010) and Qidwai et al , (2009). It can therefore be assumed that the

marital status influenced the decision making in seeking Islamic healing as married patients had more

support from their spouse and family. Furthermore, highly educated get more resources and

accessibility to health services and more aware about their illness. These findings agree with Pud et al

(2005), and Maclennan et al (2002) who found that women with higher education used CAM

frequently and the visit to CAM practitioners were more frequent among highly educated individuals.

However, Montazeri et al (2007) and Al-Rowais et al (2010), stated that illiterate persons consulted

traditional healer more than university graduate did. These findings suggest that educated individuals

may have more resources and accessibility to health care information and services, and in addition they

are more aware of hazards of using non-licensed remedies. In this recent study, it can be concluded that

most of the respondents were illiterate as Malaysia is a country that every child must finish their study

at least their secondary education and there were a lot of opportunities to further their studies at tertiary

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level.

Prior studies show that 54.3% of the respondents were not working including housewife and pensioner.

Meanwhile about 45.7% were still working in government and private sector. These variations can be

explained that it is possible that housewives and not working respondents find it easier to reach Islamic

healer at their convenience time. They do not need time off work and they have ample time to seek for

treatment (Al-Rowais et al, 2005). In the other hand, most of the respondents had an average of more

than RM 1000-RM 5000 for their monthly income. Mostly individual Malaysians are earning average

income and this Islamic healing are more readily available and inexpensive and affordable to average

income user. It is encouraging to compare this figure with that found by Tovey et al (2005) who found

that most of the individual who seeking CAM were earning an average income. It is observed that

Islamic healing user is higher in cities (69.1%) than in rural areas (30.9%). This result may be

explained by the fact that the Islamic healing center are more in city area and easily to access by the

patients. These findings support previous research by Molassitis et al , (2005) and Conboy et al, (2007)

who found that most of CAM Centre available in city area. However, the findings of the current studies

do not support the study conducted by Al-Rowais et al, (2010).

As shown in Table 2, breast cancer patient were more concerned about their choice of treatment. Breast

cancer patients are far more likely to be consistent users compared with other tumor sites. Morris et al

(2000) had found a significant relationship between breast cancer and complementary medicine. This

could be suggested that most of the breast cancer patient were discussing about other complementary

treatment including Islamic healing therapy options with their support group and this has helped the

patients make informed choices. Islamic healing use may play a role in the positive benefits associated

with support group attendance. This should be extended to other type of cancer especially for male

cancer patients. In this study, it was noted that the most frequently seeking Islamic healing was an

advance stage of cancer patients. This was considered as critical and life threatening condition and the

patients will seek an effort to heal (Shen et al, 2002) and Islamic healing used often increases following

cancer diagnosis and is more common among Malay-Muslim cancer patients and survivors. This result

is similar to Walshe et al, (2012). Normally, most of the cancer patient had surgery, radiotherapy and

chemotherapy as their conventional treatment. This was due to that most of the respondents in this

study were a breast cancer patients and surgery was one of the the main treatments for cancer and may

cure the cancer that is completely contained in that area and has not spread.

However, there was something lacking for the spiritual healing that can boost their inner strength.

Patients‘ tend to seek Islamic healing as this healing include the prayer, recitation of Quran and the

concept of ―tawakkal‖ that make the patients more comfortable with daily life. Prior to this study too, it

was noted that the respondents who went for Islamic healing are capable of doing normal activities

without limitation. This suggested that the respondents seemed to have the ability to perform their daily

activities as normal. In other words, health factor should not be a barrier for them to engage in their

normal daily activities and seeking for cure. Patients are encourage to engage in regular physical

activities and to works towards achieving the public health recommendation foe sufficient physical

activity during and after treatment so that they can live a more full and active lifestyle (Engquist et al,

2006). However, when it came to psychological and emotional status of the patients, it was found that

patients with positive views of misfortune because of cancer and sufficient social support were the key

elements of the healing process to alleviate spiritual suffering (Chio et al, 2008). They should keep

themselves happier, confidence, calm, desire to feel in control over the treatment of the disease,

―tawakkal‖ and submit to God.

With the increase popularity of Islamic healing among Malay-Muslim cancer patients, many seek

complementary treatment to complement the modern medicine. Patients are more optimistic about

choosing their treatment especially when it related to Islam. Most of the patients thought and

confidence that by reciting Quran, they could cure and control their metastatic disease and the believe

that every illness has a cure, and when the proper cure is applied to the disease, it heals by God‘s Will.

They became more religious since learning that they had a cancer and saw the development of cancer

as a form of punishment (Richard et al, 1984). They find hope and meaning of life and the acceptance

of uncertainty make them strong. Religion also help them to connect to the Divine as part of healing

process during the time of suffering. Moreover, to fight this life threatening disease, the patients should

come with more positive attitude towards behaviour that include perceived effectiveness of treatment,

anxiety regarding side effects and others (Hirai et al, 2007 ). The positive attitude led the desire to do

everything possible to fight the disease.

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The belief that ―Ruqyah‖ (incantation) is a holistic approach, a large population of the respondent

believe that conventional medicine is a partial healing system that neglect socio-psychological and

spiritual aspect of healing. The belief in the Almighty and in the fact that through the grace of the

Almighty the spiritual element causing the illness will be removed (Ally& Laher, 2008). Besides, most

of the patients believe that the concept of healing by prayers is given by religion. This can be

definitely concluded that in Islam, the central belief of Muslim is that there is no God but Allah and

Muhammad (saw) is God‘s Prophet. Muslim has a very organized prayer life and Al-Quran is the

authority for knowing how to surrender to God‘s will in a variety of life‘s situation.

Health and faith in Islam are mutual related, where seek healer for their advice and support are the

same situation with seeking to a priest or rabbi in western context. Some Islamic healer are so well-

known and their credibility is so high that people come from near and far to see them personally.

Healer‘s credibility influences a cancer patient‘s choice for traditional healing as complementary

treatment (Mazanah et al, 2012) . Consultation and treatment from Islamic healers was common among

the participants and almost all the participants seek Islamic healing at least once after diagnosed with

cancer and the popularity of Islamic healing also increases. Earlier studies by Eisenberg (1998) showed

a similar findings as the consultation of alternative medicine in the Unites States increased between

1990-1997. Such a high prevalence must be a great concern since most of the Islamic healer are not

medically qualified and therefore their practices may not be free from risk and use of TCAM

exclusively can delay seeking medical advices in cancer patients. Moreover, not all Islamic healer hold

a valid license to practice from the Ministry of Health, which is making a lot of effort to control their

practice in the community. Patients usually reach Islamic healers on advice from immediate family and

friends. (Mazanah et al, 2012; Al-Rowais et al, 2010; Silbermann & Hassan, 2011). The findings of the

present study showed that recommendation from family and friends play a role in decision making to

seek Islamic healing. Particularly where there is a sanction from family especially for married couple.

They need to ask for their husband permission to seek Islamic healing and for not married they need to

ask permission from their parents to get a bless (Al-Rowais et al, 2010; Akyol et al, 2011). This reflects

one aspect of Muslim culture in which the wife must have a permission from the husband and children

must have a permission from the parents. The other motives that drove the patients to seek Islamic

healing were due to economic factor where the cost to seek Islamic healer is much cheaper than

conventional medicine. As for cancer treatment, the cost is high and become a burden to the patients

and family members (Schnipper, 2003). Moreover, accessibility to Islamic healer is not a barrier as

most of the patients have their own transport and support from family members that can drive them to

the healing center. Moreover, the understanding that Islamic healing normally performed by ―Raqi‖ or

―Ustaz‖, the one who recites verse of Al-Quran or ―doa‖, has sufficient knowledge and has to know the

recitation of Quran that used in ruqyah, without unethical practice of Islamic healing convinced the

patients to seek Islamic healing (Khan, 2008). Culture plays an important role in the concepts, attitude

and stigma attached to illness and cultural belief attribute to cultural norms (Razali et al, 2008).

However, in this study, even tough Malays had a very strong cultural bound towards theirs cultural

belief about traditional healing, the level of cultural that influence the patients to seek Islamic healing

was low. Dissatisfaction with conventional system and delayed in hospital treatment somehow become

one the motives for the patients to seek Islamic healing and the level for this factors is moderate.

However, Palinkas et al, (2000) reported that dissatisfaction with physician and their diagnosis were

not a cause for consulting CAM. This is not in line with Al-Rowais et al, (2010) where they found out

that the main reasons for the popularity of TCAM in Saudi were due to successful AM, preferences to

naturalness, failure of medical treatment, dissatisfaction with physician‘s diagnosis and long waiting

for doctor‘s appointment. These are important factors in the health belief model that should be of great

benefit when designing a health education and promotion campaign to explore people‘s ideas and

expectations of the health services and also to address the actual means of Islamic healing and

misguided belief about both Islamic healing and conventional medicine. Health beliefs strongly

influenced Islamic healing therapy use in this study. They had very definite ideas about Islamic healing

that were good for them and those things that would benefits their health. In a series of articles from

Canada (Verhoef et al., 2005), the author found that health beliefs were very strong influences on the

choices that breast cancer survivors made about using CAM. Not only that, in our study the patients

have specific ideas about things that were good for them, such as exercise, healthy diet, and daily

vitamins, but they also had beliefs about Islamic healing that were really benefit for them physically

and mentally.

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5. Conclusion

The objective of this study to determine the prevalence for seeking Islamic healing related to Muslim

cancer patients. Their motives for seeking Islamic healing as a complementary to their conventional

treatment were almost similar to those who seek other traditional and complementary treatment for

other illness. The most important aspect before they seek Islamic healing was the perception about

what they are going to go through. The perception that they will perceive benefit from the treatment

was the main motives as by doing Islamic healing they will feel calm, relieved, confidence that they

will be cured, belief that Islamic healing will complement conventional treatment and confidence the

disease will be healed after seeing their relatives and friends with cancer cured after seeking Islamic

healing. From these good perceptions their belief in God and faith increased.

Nowadays, cancer patients are becoming more and more concerned with not only the physical aspect of

health, but the mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects as well. The use of Islamic healing therapies by

cancer patients shows the growing desire for these other aspects of health to be a part of their cancer

therapy. Many Islamic healing centers have risen up to meet the growing patient demand for Islamic

healing therapies by creating an integrative oncology initiative. With this growing popularity, Islamic

healing therapy enthusiasts are hoping that the need of patients, especially those with cancer, will be

met. Islamic healing is a reality and it deserves more investigation and appropriate legislation and

control in the healthcare management.

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