Sufism and medicine in first period of sufi classicals

Although at first glance Sufism and Medicine may seem to be completely different branches of science, the main goal of both branches of science is to protect people from diseases (hifzu al-sıhha) or to treat them if they are ill, according to their respective fields (both physical and spiritual). The physical aspect of the human being, who is composed of body and soul, gets sick and is treated by physicians. Sufis have made detailed explanations about the diseases of the lower soul and how to treat them, and have attached great importance to this issue, since they know that being healthy physically is partly dependent on being healthy spiritually. Therefore, the science of Sufism is itself the Spiritual Medicine (al-Tıbb al-Rûhânî) Sufis who lived in the early period of Sufism gave information about the material elements such as cleanliness, eating and drinking, and sleep patterns that should be taken into consideration in order to prevent physical diseases. They mentioned many physical diseases such as plague, leprosy, varicose veins, and used methods such as herbal extracts, diet, cupping, and ruqya (reciting prayers) to treat these diseases. As a method of lower-soul-purification, which is spiritual medicine, they applied methods such as forbidding the self from its lusts and desires, eating less (kıllet-i taâm), sleeping less (kıllet-i menâm), and speaking less (kıllet-i kalâm),and, briefly, improving it by ascetic discipline.