Imagine feeling so much love for someone that it makes you physically sick — not just heartbroken, but actually ill. For medieval Islamic physicians, this was a real medical condition with a real name: ʿishq, which means lovesickness. And new research shows these doctors took it very seriously, long before modern psychiatry existed.
The study comes from Professor Nahyan Fancy of the University of Exeter. He spent years reading the writings of physicians, philosophers, and theologians from across the medieval Islamic world — a span of about 600 years, from the 900s to the 1500s. What he found was surprising: unlike ancient Greek doctors like Galen, who lumped lovesickness in with other mental illnesses, Islamic physicians treated it as its own distinct condition.
In the 10th century, doctors believed lovesickness mostly struck people who were immoral or ignorant. But thinking shifted over time. By later centuries, physicians recognized that even the most virtuous people — prophets and saints — could fall ill from love.
One key figure was Ibn Sīnā, a famous physician from the 11th century. He described a lovesick woman whose emotional pain was so intense that it physically weakened her body. A few centuries later, another doctor named Ibn al-Nafīs had a different theory: he believed lovesickness was caused by a build-up of bodily fluids, which meant the young, the unmarried, and even morally upright people were actually more vulnerable to it.
The conversation about lovesickness continued evolving alongside Islamic mysticism. Thinkers like the poet Rūmī wrote about love as the central force of the universe, and physicians wove these ideas into their medical understanding. By the 1500s, their thinking was deeply connected to questions about spirituality, poetry, and the nature of the soul.
One fascinating example from the research is Ibn al-Mubārak, a court physician who served Ottoman sultans Selim I and Süleyman — rulers who controlled vast empires. Ibn al-Mubārak argued that lovesickness could strike even the most pious people, but for them, it wasn't about sexual desire. Instead, their suffering came from glimpsing divine beauty, which filled them with such awe that ordinary desires faded away.
Professor Fancy's work reveals that medieval Islamic societies had a sophisticated understanding of mental health that connected mind, body, and spirit in ways we're only beginning to appreciate today.