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| About Hussein Navab, MD
My deceased mother gave birth to me in Tehran, Iran, on the 3th of Sha’baan 1350 equal to December first, 1932. And my dead father named me “Hussein” because it was coincided with Imam Hussein’s (AS) birthday.
My grandmother was very old though she was caring me whenever I was left alone. In a summer afternoon my mother left me with my grandmother to take my older sister to a private tailor to make a dress for her. I had seen how she made fire to cook food. When she was making her ritual for noon prayer, I felt very bored for there was no toys with which children be amused and feel not lonely. Having no other choice, I tried to make a fire with which I play in the same way my gand-ma did. In a hot day of the summer my loose garment catched fire by fire flames. Not being more than 2 1/2 years old, suddenly I Jumped out from kitchen, screaming, “Grand ma, grand-ma, help me, help me, I am on fire.” Embarrassed for helping me, she stopped praying, but she was wondering how to help me. At this very critical moment, God the most Merciful sent one of our relatives as His hidden help. He was due to visit my grandmother, and he was at our door which was open. Hearing my screaming for help from behind the door, he rushed into the house and took me to dip in the pool to extinguish the fire. Though I was saved from burning more; a severe pain was killing me. But because I was very distressed of my shamefulness, I could not complain but walking around the house aimlessly and ceaselessly until my father came back from work. Transportation means at the time were bicycles and carriages, a four-wheeled, horse-drawn cart. Cars were not customary at all, and emergengy rooms were not near to get there on foot. In addition, emergency rooms were not well equipped to admit patients at any moment, because there was no doctor for night shift. Emergency rooms were very isolated and the nearest one was far from us. The simplest remedy for soothing skin burned “Zinc oxide” was not available until 1936. The only cooling means handy at the time was ice, which was not easily available in summer time. Icehouses where ice was naturally made during winter for summer was fashionable. But soon it would melt in hot weather, for no icebox was made to keep it longer. In short, and in fact, our life style was a full-length picture of a poor living condition of people at that time. Coming back from work, my father realized that I was suffering a lot, though I was ashamed. Although herbal medicine was prevailing, drugists did not know fully which herb they should use for burn. But we know that God; the most Merciful has never left His servant without support. 14 century ago, the most Compassionate God had revealed, “We hold the resource of everything, and We send it down in due measure” 15: 21. Man’s duty is to know and use them appropriately but not extravagantly. From ancient time, calendula (super skin soother), lavender oil as an antiseptic, and aloe vera were known as (burn plants). But nobody knew correctly how to use these essences; thus my deceased father had no choice but to keep me calm all night long until the next morning. There was no electricity, let alone electric fan, but hand-made fan with which my father fanned and kept me almost comfortable that night. That is why I never forget his compassion, and I remember him at any of my daily prayers by asking God to forgive him for such great kindness. The next day, with the light of daybreak, he noticed that a huge blister had covered my abdominal skin. Renting a carriage, he rushed to take me to the nearest emergency room. God, the most Merciful, helped me again by assigning a compassionate and knowledgeable doctor to take care of my treatment. The doctor was skilled because he preserved the skin of blister to save the injured area from infection. But lack of antibiotics had obliged him to change my dressings very often. Thus, he ordered us to be there every other day to have my dressing changed. Changing dressing was very painful though, so I implored him to let me do it by my self very slowly. And he was very compassionate to let me do it leisurely. By the grace of God, the doctor’s endeavor, my father’s perseverance to take me to the emergency room regularly, and enduring one month of pain and hardship, I was fortunate to leave behind all possible dangers to get recovery. But such distressing event not only left a large scar tissue on my skin, but it left an unforgettable memory in my mind as well. That is why I do remember this incidence in detail, and I realized that the will of God had made me incumbent to stay alive.
Two years later, my beautiful and younger sister at age 18 months suddenly died of Diphtheria an acute infectious disease. Croup (Laryngeal diphtheria) in children characterized by a typical gray white psudomembrane of the larynx that choked them by blocking the air passage. Though the best and immediate decision to eliminate respiratory difficulty and save life was a “tracheostomy to open the windpipe, the treating doctor's procrastination and neglect killed my sister. Although lab test was not yet available to make right diagnosis, the doctor was totally guilty for not taking immediate decision to refer her to a specialist for a tracheostomy. As a result, she died and left a deep sigh and mourning for me and my family.
I should say that our life-style at the time was like other Iranians. In the past the poor people lost their lives because the health-care professionals were negligent and thoughtless against their patients. Today the situation is the same with no big change rather it is worst because advanced technology has made both medical professionals and people more careless about preventive measures. People think health professionals can do everything for them when they get sick. Not following God’s instructions about their physical and mental health, young people believe they will remain healthy and powerful. They never believe that more powerful than them is God who has granted them such strength. Not only do most people fail to take care of themselves by following the truths, but they fail too to take care of the poor and needy ones as well. Some people are so selfish to take care of their own interests, they never figure out that some day they may loose everything and reduce to poverty, so they would expect others to help them.
Unfaithfulness has ever been the main cause of mankind’s difficulties during his historical life. Cain kills his younger brother Abel for unbelief, jealousy and negligence. Yazid kills Imam Hussein for his unbelief, hate and greed. The world war has been instigated because of Hitler’s unbelief and greed. Today, killing innocent people through bombing is because of unfaithfulness and negligence. In the past, people had no health because of their ignorance, but their climate was clean. Today, more people die because of pollution of air, soil, water and food despite more knowledge and advanced technology. Thus unbelief is the mother of all malices because mankind hates to obey God’s rules. “Anyone who disregard My message will have a miserable life.” 20:124
After a few years, our family of six moved into a new house two years before World War II. Gold and silver coins were widely prevalent at the time. It was customary for women to get a lot of jewelry at their wedding. Valuable possessions were kept at home even though there was no insurance to cover them. Neither fireproof nor safety boxes were usual. Women preferred to have their valuable things ready made for their use at once. Unfortunately we were robbed the first night in the new house. There was no trace of my parents’s precious coins and jewelry, and they lost their entire asset.
I was about 10, when one of my brothers developed a severe diarrhea and was on the verge of death. My mother told me to accompany her and my brother to the doctor. A solution of electrolytes was injected, and my brother began to recover within a couple of days. The death of my younger sister, the sickness of my brother and my own accident led me to think of becoming a conscious, compassionate as well as skilled physician later in life. Another factor that led me to think of becoming a physician was World War II. I developed a strong desire to help those who really suffered from general shortage of everything. I was personally involved in what was going on within my family. I had a bitter feeling of the impact of heart-rending war upon the poor people living around.
My father owned a business of auto parts. He had to declare bankruptcy in the early stages of World War II because people were more concerned about where their next meal was coming from than how their car ran.
Consequently, auto-parts were abundant and very cheap, but there was a ration on food item and kerosene. My father tried to gain other employment but was unsuccessful. I was the oldest son; thus I must be the most helpful right-hand associate of my father in all-hard tasks. I was pretty sure that God, the most merciful was testing to show us to what extent we can persevere. His will was to make me ready to fight easily with life’s difficulties and to embark me help the poor through the realization of their disturbing situation. That is why He aggravated our living situation and our conditions become worse and worse day by day. My father fell sick with gout, and his big toes were so swollen that he could not walk. Thus, he was doomed to bed for a long time, and all his tasks were on my shoulders. We never forgot to practice our daily ritual in all distressing situations. My mother was usually busy either with nursing a baby, handling a younger offspring or attending to daily home chores. Lack of electricity, washing machine and dishwasher made daily tasks at home unpleasant and even hard. Instead of chemical detergents that make drinking water severely polluted, we used soap plant, which was very usual and safe for public health. I handled some cooking while my sister helped my mother with the younger children. I had a very hard time studying because I had to spend long hours waiting in the line for bread and kerosine. Since there was no electricity back then, I had to walk quite a distance from the store to our house, carrying a heavy four-gallon container of Kerosine in each hand no matter how cold and wet the weather or how muddy and slippery the road was. Not to mention that at times, I returned home empty handed. My home duties left me very little time to study. I constantly felt pressured to complete my homework assignments. I used to take textbook or notebook with me to read and review on the way to and from various stores. I also had to teach night school to earn a little money for my family. We had to sell valuable furniture and precious antiques vessel that my mother had received at her wedding for a low price.
We had to receive some interest-free loans from relatives, but it was not enough to meet our need because they were almost in the same situation during the war. Ultimately my father mortgaged our house in order to receive loan from the bank at a low interest rate. Because the loan was not paid on time, the bank was to foreclose our house. Since bank could not evict us into street, it gave us some grace period. Finally my father barrowed money from my uncles in order to redeem our house.
My father had a strong belief in God and repeatedly reassured us that, when God closes a door by His wisdom, He would surely open another door through His mercy. Could you imagine how much pressure and shock my parents tolerated after after all these events such as robbery, general shortage of foods during World War II, bankruptcy, sickness of my father, his unemployment, extremely low income, and house foreclosure? But they never got angry with any of us. My obligations inside and outside the house and study in high school all in all had tremendously exhausted me. My father knew Arabic well, because he was in Iraq with his father during his childhood. Knowing the meaning of the Quran, he told me about his faith that God will never forget true believers. He reminded me that God has promised that He will help those who patiently endure painful misery. Moreover, nobody is more truthful than God in making promise is. “God’s promise is true, while nobody will be more truthful than God” 4:122. “Surely We will test your steadfast with something like fear, famine, loss of property, life, and earning. Then give good news to the patient” 2: 155 “Thus; surely, with pain, there is gain. And surely, every hardship is followed with ease.” 94:5, 6
Looking back, I realized that the above experiences accustomed my nature to welcome self-sacrifice and appreciate each and every blessing.
My father, God bless him, was known to be trustworthy in the community. People entrusted him with their financial support for the poor especially in cold winters. They were sure that he would never use their money for his own family. When I had no money, for instance, to register for medical school, he could not help me; therefore, I entered the military to be exempt from paying tuition. I learned from my father how I should develop trust in God and bear with trouble without complaining or drawing back from God. When I was given the assignment to practice medicine in Kaspian sea region, he advised me to remember God all the time and never forget those who need my help. He also reminded me not to forget the poor as God did not forget you to enter into medical field and to help you throughout your medical education and training.
Speaking of my education and training, there were only four medical schools in the entire country when it was time for me to sign up. Tehran Medical School was the most prestigious one, and admitted only 250 applicants each year. You can simply imagine the level of competition on the entrance examination. I was determined to be successful in my goal, because I could not afford to be away from my family and sign up anywhere else. So I studied as hard as it was due, and even I researched extra books to be well prepared for this life-altering examination. I repeatedly and earnestly prayed to God to help me gain knowledge, skills and the character to serve patients above and beyond the line of duty. I vowed to Him to treat my patients with the outmost compassion. I had pledged to Him not to forget my parents and siblings and to take care of my family-of-origin as well as become a resource for others as well. In fact, being a medical doctor with high profile characters was a turning point in my life to materialize my dream and fullfil my pledge. Therefore, I was sure that God would help me, because not only was I sincere in my original promise, but God also has revealed that He would pay no attention to us, if we failed to ask Him.
There were some 3000 applicants nationwide on the day of the entrance examination in 1950. Some were taking it for the first time, others for a second or the third time. Due to spending too much time to write a difficult French composition, I did not have time to answer one question on the physic section, so I was worried about my result. Since test was not a multiple choice one but a written one on Physics, chemistry, physiology and composition in English or French, I was even more nervous about its score. Missing one of 100 multiple questions was not a big problem, but skipping one question out of seven should be catastrophic. The scores were published one month later in the medical school. It was not usual to announce the names of the admitted of any institute through public radio or daily newspaper. I realized the scoreswere released when a friend of mine, knowing nothing about me came to tell me about his admittance, but it was too late for me to get to the university to check myself the results. Being very nervous and restless all night long, I woke up very early the next morning to perform my ritual and set out to see what would be the result of my test, while I had a variety of conflicting ideas in my mind. The applicant’s name had been arranged alphabetically. Finding the list on which my name was on, I was shocked to see my name was underlined in red. Suddenly a cold sweat induced by shock covered all over my body and I sat down involuntarily for a few minutes. Confused that I have failed on this test, an invisible force inspiring me asked, “Have all 30 applicants on this list passed and you alone have failed? Get up and look at your score and compare it with others’.” With a slight score difference, I realized that I have earned the second highest rank on the examination by the grace of God despite missing one answer. I continued to be really successful all my years of medical school by researching many foreign medical books. I met my wife, who was actually my toughest competitor in all our courses. A rotating internship was the protocol for the last year of medical school. Students’ score on another yet very hard examination determined which hospital they would be assigned to for their internship. The competition was unbearable because everybody aimed to be placed in the most prestigious hospital department affiliated with the university. At the time, I was working at three different hospitals located far from each other. Without a car, I had to take the city bus. Catching the bus was an ongoing problem because there were not enough buses to meet people’s needs, yet it was my opportunity to study more during taking each bus to work. It was my obligation to help my parents and pay for my brothers’ higher education. I am convinced that it was the grace of God that helped me to perform all my duties well and earn the second place on the internship examination. Not to mention that my wife eaned the first place. I had developed answers that were possibly going to be on the examination. Realizing that my wife and I earned the first and second place in this challenging test, the medical students of lower grades offered to buy my list of answers. Though it was my first fully paid publication, it was another blessing from God to enable me for the fulfillment of my pledge. My rotating internship in the surgical department of Sina Hospital, the most distinctive department of surgery, affiliated to Tehran Medical School made me consider the vast patient population I could serve and save from casualties if I specialized in general surgery. There were only two surgery departments in Tehran, and Sina Hospital offered the better of the two.
Upon graduation from Tehran University Medical School in 1956, another yet challenging examination was going to determine my fate as a general surgeon, even though I was the first rank among military doctors. Some 50 medical doctors competed for six available positions in the Surgery Department of Sina Hospital. One of the three hospitals at which I was working was specialized in thoracic surgery. Again by the grace of God one of the questions we had to answer was, rib fracture and its complications, very easy for me to answer in full and classical. That is why I obtained the highest rank on this examination. My success was on the top news of Theran University. My family was proud of my accomplishment and I myself was very greatful for God’s blessings. My friends were so pleased that they could not stop talking about my success. My colleagues congratulated me repeatedly. I was deeply thankful to God who helped and blessed me in all of these difficult circumstances to become a general surgeon to fulfill my pledge to Him. I felt so blessed that I pledged to God to deepen my empathy and sympathy for the poor and distressed. I worked long hours and saved money to help my four brothers to achieve their goals. One is a business administrator, another an engineer, the third one an anesthesiologist, and the fourth one a dentist and a university professor. I was given another opportunity to go to France for one year to develop my study in orthopedic surgery and traumatology.
For two years at the beginning of the Iranian revolution in 1979, I worked ceaselessly to be able to join my wife and two daughters in the U. S. A, Coming to the land of opportunity, I realized that this country would not recognize my outstanding background and long-standing experience. So I could not enter into any branch of medicine to practice it, because I was a successful Muslim from Iran. With my brilliant educational background and zealous accomplishments, I felt that any door I wanted to open in the U.S.A. was closed even securely locked to me. And I felt like a skilled swimmer drowning in a pool with hands and feet tied up. At this moment, the Lord God once again supported me to help people in a way even more effective than practicing medicine. He strongly inspired me to inform people how they should be with themselves and others through learning from nature and their own body. He had deemed that I should not practice medicine to restore their physical health rather to bring back people to the right path of mental health. This quick change in my life was nothing but the will of God and His blessing in disguise.
Consequently, I left behind my long identity of a general, orthopedic and thoracic surgeon to change the mentality of people through understanding the physiology of their body.
Looking back, I realized what a blessing it has been to be given other opportunities. God’s plan, after all, has been more complex than my own. God, the Almighty had not locked me into one specific professional role and duty. Years of hardship to serve people in a physician may have been the stepping stone towards a much higher goal. The medical background may just be the necessary foundation to guide people’s spiritual growth. In the East, connecting with the Creator was much easier than obtaining medical books. In the West, on the contrary, obtaining scientific information is much easier than feeding one’s spirit. I am still called upon when relatives and friends need medical information, but my profession has evolved in the last six years. Now I help people of all ages and walks of life to develop clear moral values and lifestyles. After September 11, 2001, when American’s hatred of Islam reached the climax, I felt compelled to dedicate every day to arouse people from their long sleep of ignorance. Although attending to and treating casualties one at a time is important, saving people from diabolic thoughts and action is a priority. I am convinced that medical or surgical treatment is very limited because it cannot prevent prejudice, hatred, injustice that has led to different types of mass destruction throughout history. Surgeons and physicians, through their bitter efforts, make their patients healthy, but diabolic kill all of them in a minute.
I feel overwhelmingly blessed with God’s trust to guide the people I encounter to replace their dark glasses of hatred with a magnifying lens of fairness instead. Just the way we pick healthy foods for our body and gas with the proper octane for our vehicle, we need to make an educated decision about the faith and religion we choose. And just the way toxic foods adversely affect the organs in the body, toxic thoughts will lead to death of our spirit.
My childhood experiences and medical researches taught me things many of which I would like to share with you. The first step is learning or gaining knowledge through the routine functions of our body’s organs. Studying the heart, for instance, would teach us frugality in using everything, satisfaction with what is planned, patience for and resistance to what will happen, and usefulness to self and others organs. And the second step is applying those we have learned in individual and social behavior. Unfortunately, most people have no ability to analize the body’s normal functions and more and more people do not seriously use them in their personal and social life. Our heart, according to paln, receives the poor blood from all parts of the body to help them all. It would never use it for itself nor does it redistribute to them. It simply sends it to the lungs to purify and mix it with more oxygen, while it feeds the lungs separately. The heart does neither set aside all the blood for itself nor does it allocate to other organs and deprive itself from it, because the whole body will die in either case. The heart usually maitains its entity in harsh siuations such as shock with loss of blood or liquid overload. Due to such a proper function of the heart, the rest of the body can stay healthy for years. Hoping a sound and comfort life, we have to follow exactly the plan of our heart.
In the following line, Moulana has made the reality of life into poetic form.
Days and nights my thought and word are, “Why am I so negligent in my own condition? Where have I come from, what was my coming for, and where am I going to, because He did not show my homeland? I am seriously curious, why did He make me, and what was His goal for making me? It would be so nice when I fly to my friend; I would wing, hoping to reach His presence. Whose ear can hear me, and who has put words into my tongue? I did not come in here by myself to come back by my own. The one, who brought me, again will take me back to my homeland. In fact, I belong to the Heaven’s garden, nut from the dirt kingdom. That is why, for a few days, He made a cage for my body.
Peace is upon those who follow the Devine guidance. | |
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