Madness in Muslim Society

FAIN: FA-11296-75

Michael W. Dols
California State University, East Bay (Hayward, CA 94542-3000)

To describe and explain the manner in which traditional Muslin society in the Middle East conceived of madness and dealt with aberrant behavior. The medical interpretation of mental illness must first be ascertained and its relation to earlier, classical medical knowledge. Equally important is the determination of the orthodox Islamic view of madness in order to discover the nature of the communal attitudes toward insanity and their relation to medical and religious beliefs.