Why Medicine?

Medicine is a difficult degree to pursue. It is difficult to earn a place to study the degree, it is difficult to study the degree, and it is a difficult career. That is the reality that must be understood about the degree prior to choosing to study medicine. This is not written to deter you from studying the degree, but to illustrate an important point: resilience is the most important trait to have going into this degree.  

It is important to reflect upon why you want to pursue medicine, and if you would be able to work through the difficulties of such a degree. Medicine can be such a fulfilling degree, but if you walk into it blind, stress and burnout will very quickly deplete your passion and ambition. First, any applicant must appreciate the very real difficulties that come along with studying a degree like medicine. All medical students are held to much higher standards than any other university students, whether that be with attendance or even social media presence. Medicine is also very content-heavy and will be stressful at times. Only once you’ve acknowledged the difficulties will you then be able to fully appreciate medicine and all the opportunities it provides. 

Studying medicine is a privilege. Being able to work as a doctor, or in fact as any healthcare professional, is a privilege. You will witness and provide support during the most vulnerable moments of a patient’s life. Moreover, in Islam, this is a highly rewarded career to go into. For example, in a narration of Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said, 

مَنْ كَانَ في حَاجَة أخِيه ، كَانَ اللهُ في حَاجَتِهِ، وَمَنْ فَرَّجَ عَنْ مُسْلِمٍ كُرْبَةً، فَرَّجَ اللهُ عَنْهُ بِهَا كُرْبَةً مِنْ كرَبِ يَومِ القِيَامَةِ

“Whoever helps his Muslim brother, Allah will help him. Whoever removes the difficulty of his brother, Allah will remove all his difficulties on the day of Qiyamah.” (Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim).

This illustrates that going into healthcare will result in great rewards not just in this life, but more importantly in the next, which is ultimately our end goal. 

Allah honours this career where we strive to care for others, and so, I hope this can remind us all of why we have chosen to study medicine. I also hope that it can remind us that this life is short and yet every action in it matters- so that when we are presented before Allah, it is with the good deeds we have done in relation to our duty to Allah and our duty to others.

- Amal Al-Ashwal