oa The Position of Experience in Shia Narrative Medicine

Medical teachings such as medicines, treatment methods, special prayers to cure diseases, etc. in hadiths have formed traditional narrative medicine. Since experience and the use of scientific methods have a special place in modern medicine, the question arises about the position of experience in narrative medicine. The present study tries to examine the position of experience in this medicine at two levels, relying on hadith sources and in a descriptive-analytical manner: 1. The position of experience in the medical knowledge of the Infallibles (i.e. the Prophet and Ahlul-Bayt) and, 2. The position of experience in evaluating medical narrations. In the first part, considering the existence of the teachings of other medical schools in the many narrations, it was concluded that the Infallibles, in addition to divine knowledge, had authorized and employed others' experiences in medicine. Regarding the position of experience in the evaluation of medical narrations, firstly it is beneficial to divide these narrations into two categories: those which have been taken from other medical schools and those which are seemingly original from Infallibles. The medical teachings in the second group could be separated into natural teachings and supernatural teachings as well. Using experience and scientific methods for evaluating medical narrations are just as applicable to narrations taken from other schools and those with natural teachings apparently originated from Infallibles.