"Medicine is not just something you find in a bottle…or a pill," Archuletta told a gathering of more than 100 people at the Orange County Islamic Foundation in Mission Viejo on Feb. 9. "You have to look at the life of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). In one lifetime, he changed the entire world," he said, while wrapped in an olive cloak and a gleaming smile. ,
He explained that humans can learn about leading a healthy lifestyle by examining the life of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). "The medicine of the prophet is Islam," he elaborated,
Archuletta practices homeopathy, an alternative medicine that imbues the conventional wisdom of traditional medicine with spiritual insight.
"I often give prescriptions to people that are not in the drugstore," he boasted,
Once he advised a patient to "ride horses," as a treatment for depression. He told another patient, "give something to someone everyday and pay attention to what it [means] to give."
Attendee Ali Malik, 23, was nodding in agreement throughout the speech.
"Programs like this are essential because they allow people to form a more holistic approach to life," said Malik.
Archuletta, who converted to Islam more than three decades ago, was lively and provocative. He has visited more than 15 countries from Pakistan to the United Kingdom in his lifetime.
"I am a young 67," he said.
He began his higher education in the fine arts at UC Berkeley in the 1960s and continued his studies in the Middle East, England and North Africa in the mid-1970s.
Archuletta, whose first name means "doctor" in Arabic, reasoned that his studies in the fine arts helped him "see better" so he could eventually diagnose diseases, administer aid and offer medical advice to people less fortunate than he around the world.
"Hakim" also has other interpretations in Arabic, like "wise" or "just." Archuletta’s experiences and observations have led him to argue that the world’s populations are increasingly disconnected and people are living in intensified isolation.
He urged the audience to invite strangers to their homes for dinner.
"We need to go beyond our inclinations," he said. "Don’t be afraid to open your hearts. In this culture we don’t have touch, contact, families that eat together."
Close family relations, he added, have more impact on people’s health than on their eating habits.
"It is more important who you eat with than what you eat," he explained.
Rushda Qamar said that Archuletta’s advice was an "awakening experience."
Qamar, 21, vowed that she would change the way she looks at life and interact with others.
"I will stay close to my family now. Life is short, so I want to cherish our time together," she said. "That’s following the Sunnah (the tradition of Prophet Muhammad). Following the Qur’an and Sunnah, that is the best medicine."
Qamar added that it should be a widespread effort but, "First you have to start with yourself."
Archuletta contends that the comfort, ease and convenience that innovations in technology offer human beings eventually caused the widespread epidemic of obesity. He argues that obesity is not just a physical ailment, but a mental and emotional one as well.
He offered a wide array of solutions to the emotional isolation that people are experiencing, including interfaith outreach.
"One of the things we need is each other," he said. "If we’re not relating to the non-Muslims and reaching out to them, then we’re not being healthy and we’re not being Muslims."
When asked to give one piece of advice to define his message, he didn’t give it much thought.
"Eat little."
He reminded the audience of the advice of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to never eat until hungry, and to save a third of the stomach for food, a third for fluid and a third for air.
"We have to use Islam to transform ourselves," Archuletta said. "Only fulfillment will come of it."
