Medicine has been an integral part of Islamic intellectual life and social institutions from the time of the Prophet. This brief description will touch on the diverse origins of medical knowledge in Islam; the development of hospitals, medical practice, and medical knowledge during the Islamic “Golden Age” (the latter half of the seventh century through the thirteenth century CE); the role of the Islamic world in protecting, elaborating, and reintroducing Hellenic medicine to Europe after the Dark Ages; and contemporary issues including the development of Islamic medical organizations dedicated to the assertion and protection of the religious context of the practice of medicine.