Robin S. Reich

“The Islamic world did not have this kind of trust crisis because they had a fairly consistent public health policy,”

Robin S. Reich · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-16

Reich says consistent public health policy spared the Islamic world from a trust crisis after the plague.

“It explained the process for quarantine in simple terms and gave clear risks for ignoring it.”

Robin S. Reich · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-16

Reich describes how the Hadith laid out quarantine procedures and the risks of ignoring them.

“European medical practitioners claimed they knew how to treat the disease when they did not. It was incurable with their medicines and they knew that,”

Robin S. Reich · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-16

Reich describes the collapse of institutional faith in Europe after the Black Death.

“When we look to the past for these solutions, it’s because we think the life we live now is overly complicated by heartless systems,”

Robin S. Reich · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-16

Reich says interest in herbalism and folk healing reflects a desire to escape complicated modern systems.

“There’s a kernel of truth in that. When we don’t acknowledge structural issues, people tend to look for other systems to fill in the gaps.”

Robin S. Reich · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-16

Reich says unaddressed structural problems push people toward alternative systems.

“We’re in a moment of medicine where people are casting around for explanations, and we don’t have a lot of faith in experts at the moment,”

Robin S. Reich · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-16

Reich draws parallels between medieval societies and today's crisis of faith in medical experts.

“The Islamic world knew to quarantine because the memory of the previous plague pandemic was baked into the Hadith,”

Robin S. Reich · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-16

Reich explains that quarantine knowledge in the Islamic world was preserved in the Hadith.