Between Tradition and Treatment: The Battle for Healing

When faith attempts to replace medicine rather than stand beside it, the line between belief and danger becomes perilously thin.

- Umer Ahmad Ganaie

Kashmir’s journey toward healing has never belonged to science alone.

For centuries, people have turned to peers — spiritual healers who offer amulets, prayers, and guidance to ease pain and restore balance. Alongside them stand doctors, armed with years of study, research, and evidence-based medicine. Both figures hold authority — one rooted in faith and tradition, the other in science and technology. The question, therefore, is not which to choose, but how to let both coexist without endangering health or life.

Many families in Kashmir find comfort in walking with both worlds. They seek the blessings of a peer while consulting a physician. In such cases, prayer and medicine work together — faith provides spiritual reassurance that no medication can replace, while medicine offers tangible treatment that faith alone cannot deliver. It calms the mind, strengthens the will, and brings hope. Yet, when faith attempts to replace medicine rather than stand beside it, the line between belief and danger becomes perilously thin.