Islamic medicine, known as Tibb al-Nabawi (Prophetic Medicine), is a faith-based healing system derived from the Qur’an, Hadith, and classical Islamic scholarship. It integrates spiritual therapies such as ruqyah (Qur’anic recitation), herbal remedies including black seed (Nigella sativa), honey, and Zamzam water, and manual techniques such as hijama (cupping therapy). In Nigeria, urban populations increasingly use Islamic healing. As it is now, Islamic medicine in Northern Nigeria remains largely unregulated, raising safety concerns, delayed biomedical care, and exploitation, yet the perception and usage of its practices are not well documented. This paper seeks to examine the perception and usage of Islamic medicine among urban dwellers in Northern Nigeria, guided by the Health Belief Model and culture-bound theory. The paper adopted a desk review method, relying exclusively on secondary data, sourced from Books, peer-reviewed journal articles, newspapers etc. It is revealed that the usage of Islamic medicine is prevalent in Northern Nigeria and Muslim-majority areas. The usage and perception of Islamic medicine in the region is shaped by religious belief, socioeconomic realities, cultural norms, and structural weaknesses in the formal health care delivery system. Many always confused Islamic medicines as the same as Hausa-fulani Traditional Medicine, but it differs explicitly as its grounded in the Qur’an and Hadith, whereas, Hausa - fulani is largely from ancestral knowledge, oral traditions, cosmology, and indigenous spiritual systems. It was concluded that the usage of Islamic medicine is prevalent in Northern Nigeria and Muslim-majority areas, with strong positive perceptions of efficacy in ailments, it should be understood that Islamic medicine and Hausa-fulani Traditional Medicine differ explicitly, as it’s grounded in the Qur’an and Hadith, whereas, Hausa - fulani is largely from ancestral knowledge, oral traditions, cosmology. Thus, dismissing Islamic medicine outright would alienate patients and ignore potential cultural strengths; uncritically endorsing it would risk patient safety that needs government intervention for regulation. The study recommended the need to educate, counsel and sensitise the people of the Northern region about the differences between Islamic and Traditional hausa fulani medicine and dangers of usage and relying exclusively on Islamic medicine products and healing centers for their personal and public health without regulations by health professionals.
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