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Medications can be found in different formulations and ingested in different ways. OTC medications are used to cure, avoid or alleviate disease and to promote the well-being of people. There is continuous argument building up by taking a possibly Halal medication among the growing Muslim consumers around the world. Therefore, the focus of this study drawn from Maqasid al-Shariah approach for medicine usage and its significance in Islam. A sample of 308 Muslim consumers of pharmacies was being surveyed from the metropolitan territory of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor states in Malaysia. The Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis techniques have been used to analyse the data. The outcome revealed that customers' religious satisfaction significantly moderates the purchasing of OTC medicines. The purpose of self-medication comes from the consumer's decision-making. Hence, the self-medication phenomenon is critical to understand, and it should be subjected to strict control for the betterment of the Ummah. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternative Medicine is a mode of therapies and therapeutics used in place of conventional medicines. For the past decades, alternative medicine has made significant contributions to harmonize the human body's natural healing process. This study examined decision factors such as patient's attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, knowledge, and purchase intention to buy alternative medicine in Malaysia. The study was conducted following a quantitative research approach. Primary data were collected through the deployment of self-administered questionnaires from 350 patients in Klang Valley, Malaysia. For the purpose of the study, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) techniques were performed. Patient's perceived behavioral control and product knowledge are significantly related to purchase intention to buy alternative medicine; whereas attitude and subjective norm did not have significant relationship with intention to purchase alternative medicine. Perceived behavioral control and knowledge should be taken into consideration for developing marketing strategies in order to enhance patient's intention to purchase alternative medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]