TThe first International Conference on Malay Medical Manuscripts (ICOMMM) 2015 was held at the Banquet Hall, Office of the Campus Director (OCD), International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) Kuantan Campus on 8-9th September 2015. The conference was organised by the Islamisation of Human Knowledge (IOHK) Unit of Kulliyyah of Allied Health Sciences, the Islamic Medical Manuscripts of the Malay Archipelago Research and Information (IMARAH) Unit, and The Islamic Manuscript Association (TIMA), Cambridge, United Kingdom. Other key partners include Klasika Media-Akademi Jawi and Radio of Institut Kefahaman Islam Malaysia (IKIM.fm). The Conference in 2015 coincides with the 120th anniversary of the publication of a Malay medical text, Tayyib al-Ihsan, written by a Malay scholar of encyclopaedic knowledge, Sheikh Ahmad al-Fatani. This sets the primary motivation behind the organisation of the conference which includes the study of the history, developments, and achievements of Malay medicine through available manuscripts. The conference also hoped to facilitate the collection of what has been done with regards to Malay medical manuscripts including conservation, cataloguing, transliteration, digitisation, analysis, and benchwork experiments based on manuscript data.

ICOMMM 2018 was organised by the Kulliyyah of Allied Health Sciences (KAHS), International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), in collaboration with the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (IAMM), Kuala Lumpur. The conference was also held in conjunction with the ‘Al-Tibb: Healing Traditions in Islamic Medical Manuscripts Exhibition’ prepared by the IAMM team on the importance of Islamic medical culture. The theme for ICOMMM 2018, “Heritage for New Medicine” aimed to create a platform for academics and researchers, to share their knowledge and experience related to the Malay medical manuscript and its importance to the current medical and health education and profession. The conference started with welcoming remarks by the Chairman of ICOMMM 2018; Dr. Mohd. Affendi Mohd. Shafri, followed by an opening speech by Dr. Heba Nayel Barakat, the Head Curator of IAMM. We also had the honour of the presence of the honourable IIUM Rector Prof. Tan Sri Dato’ Dzulkifly Abdul Razak, who officiated ICOMMM 2018.