Part 23

preserve health and allowed brief contacts that would not cause harm. Therefore, where is the contradiction here?

Another group of people said it is plausible that the person who suffered from leprosy with whom the Prophet as sat and ate was suffering from mild leprosy. There are several types of leprosy that vary in their seriousness and the degree of their contagion. In such cases, it is possible to mingle with some people suffering from mild leprosy that has not progressed and avoid catching the disease. When the illness is unable to progress in the sick person's body, it will be even less able to attack another person's body.

Another group of people said that the people before Islam believed that diseases themselves are contagious, without referring this matter to the power and will of Allah in the beginning and the end. The Prophet refuted their belief and ate with a person with leprosy to prove that Allah is the One Who causes the disease to come and Who brings about the cure. The Prophet In addition prohibited the Muslims from mingling with the sick to teach them that sickness and diseases are made by Allah to have a certain effect on people. The prohibition affirms these effects while his action teaches us that such effects are totally controlled by Allah, and that if He wills, these effects will not have any power. In addition, if He wills, these effects will cause the harm that He has

——— The Prophetic Medicine

Finally, some other people say that these Ahadeeth might be overruled by other Ahadeeth, and that in case we are unable to produce the latter Hadith that overrules the previous Hadith, we should refrain from discussing this matter further.*

The _ Prophet's guidance on prohibiting using what Allah has forbidden for medicinal purposes

Abu Dawood narrated that Abu Ad-Dardaa said that the Messenger of Allah b said:

"Allah has sent down the disease and the cure and has created a cure for every disease. Seek the cure, but do not use what has been prohibited for medicinal purposes." [At-Tabarani].

AI-Bokhary In addition narrated that Ibn Mas'ud said:

"Verily Allah has not made your cure in that which has been forbidden for you".

In addition in the Sunan [Abu Dawood and AtTermezey] it is narrated that Abu Hurayrah said:

"The Messenger of Allah b has disallowed using impure (prohibiteu} substances for medicinal purposes."

In addition, Imam Muslim narrated that Tariq Ibn Suwayd Al-Ju'fi said that he asked the Prophet s& about alcohol and that he has disallowed it or hated that he makes it. He said, "I only make it for medicinal purposes." The Prophet b said:

"It is not a cure. Rather, it is a disease."

In addition in the Sunan it is narrated that the Prophet b was asked about AlI-Khamr {alcohol] for medicinal purposes. The Prophet “ said:

"Verily that is not a cure, rather it is a disease.." [Abu Dawood and At-Termezey].

In addition, Muslim narrated that Tariq bin Suwayd AI-Hadhrami said, "I said, 'O Messenger of Allah !, There are some vines in our land that we squeeze (for alcohol) and that we drink from.’ He said, 'Do not do it.’ So I went back to him and said, 'We use it for medicinal purposes.' He said:

"It is not a cure. Rather, it is a disease." [Abu Dawood and AtTermezey].

An-Nasa'y narrated that a doctor mentioned using frogs to make medicine and the Prophet b prohibited killing the frog for that purpose. [Abu Dawood, Ahmad]

Using what Allah has prohibited in medicines is 187

——— The Prophetic Medicine

an evil act according to the religion and the mind. As for the religion, we mentioned several Ahadeeth on this subject.

As for the mind, Allah has prohibited whatever substances He has prohibited because they are impure. Further, Allah has never disallowed a good, beneficial matter for the Muslims, as He has decided in the case of the Children of Israel:

"For the wrong-doing of the Jews, we made unlawful for thera certain good foods which had been lawful for them, and for their hindering many from Allah's Way".

Allah has prohibited some matters and substances because of the harm that they carry and to save His slaves from such harm. It is not suitable that the slaves seek these harmful substances for medicinal purposes. Even if such substances appear to have an affect on the disease, they bring about a more serious illness in the heart because they are impure and unclean. In this case, the sick person who uses what Allah has disallowed for medicinal purposes might be able to remove the physical illness but would cause himself a more serious disease in the heart.

Further, the Muslims are required to avoid what Allah has disallowed, while using them in medicine means that one will not avoid them, as the religion

requires. This is the opposite of what the prohibitions seek to achieve.

In additior, what Allah has prohibited is a disease as the religion states by the tongue of the Messenger. Therefore, Muslims are not allowed to use it as a medicine.

Furthermore, prohibited substances affect the heart and soul and make them impure, since the various substances that the body consumes affect the body. When a substance causes an evil outcome in the body, the nature of the body will acquire this evil temperament, What about if the substance is impure and evil itself? In this case, when the substance is impure, the body becomes impure, as well. This is why Allah has prohibited the impure types of foods, drinks and clothes because of the evil effects that such substances have on the body and soul.

In addition, allowing using prohibited substances for medicinal purposes will later on encourage taking these substances to satisfy desire and the lust, especially when the heart likes such substances. This is especially . the case when the heart thinks that such substances cure the illnesses of the body, thus making them even more desirable and likable. The religion, on the other hand, has closed the door to consuming or using prohibited substances. There is a contradiction if the religion closes

—— The Prophetic Medicine

the door to using prohibited substances on one hand and opens the door to using them in other instances on the other hand.

In addition, prohibited substances that people might use in medicine carry more types of harm than the harm that they might remove. For instance, the mother of all evil substances, alcohol, which Allah has not made a cure or a remedy, is very harmful to the brain, which controls the body, according to the doctors and many scholars of Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence). Hippocrates, for example, said while discussing serious illnesses, "Alcohol has a serious harmful effect on the brain, because it reaches the brain quickly along with some other harmful substances that the body contains, thus causing harm to the brain." The author of Al-Kamil In addition said, "Drinking [alcohol] brings harm to the brain and the nervous system."

There are two other types of disallowed medicines, one that the heart does not like, such as snake meat and poisons. Such substances are heavy on the heart and the stomach [let alone being dangerous] and are thus a disease not a cure. There are In addition some other medicines that are not disliked themselves, such as some drinks that pregnant women take.

These substances carry more harm than benefit, and consequently, the mind and the religion corroborate

There is another wisdom behind disallowing taking prohibited substances as medicine. That is that a condition that the medicine works is one's belief that it would work and bring the cure by Allah's blessing. Indeed, whatever is beneficial is In addition blessed, and the more benefit it carries, the more blessing it will bring about. In addition, what the people consider the most blessed is the substance that they think carries the most benefit. The Muslim, on the other hand, believes that what Allah has disallowed is not beneficial or blessed. Consequently, he will not have a good idea about the disallowed substance and his system will not accept it. Rather, the stronger the slave's faith is, the more he hates the disallowed substances and believes that it is impure. In this case, if the save takes such a substance it will indeed be a disease not a cure for him, unless he believes that it is pure and thus his dislike for it subsides. Therefore, the believer will not accept the disallowed substance and will consider it a disease, otherwise he will be contradicting the Faith.

——— The Prophetic Medicine

The Prophet's guidance on treating and removing lice from the head

In the Sahihain it is narrated that Ka'b bin 'Ujrah said, "I was suffering from lice and I was carried to the Messenger of Allah b while lice were falling off on my tace, the Prophet b, said:

"I did not realize that your trouble had reached the condition that I see (you in). The Prophet b then ordered him to have his head shaved and either fast three days or feed six poor persons or slaughter one sheep as a sacrifice." [In addition, narrated by Ahmad]

Lice appear on the head and body for two reasons, external and internal. The external cause occurs due to uncleanness and impure substances that the skin might carry. The internal reason is caused by rotted substances that the body expels through the skin and then rots due to the wetness in the skin's pores. The lice appear then (and feed on these rotted substances). Many times, lice appear after one suffers from various illnesses and diseases, because in this case cleanliness is ignored. In addition, children are the typical victims of lice because they usually play in and deal with wet things and because of their careless nature. This is why the Prophet “ ordered that the heads of the sons of Ja'far be shaved, as shaving is one the best cures for lice because it exposes the skin to

the sun and allows the harmful moistures under the skin to evaporate. Then, the head should be anointed with the cures that prevent lice from reproducing and kill them.

Shaving occurs for three reasons, as a legal ritual, as an act of innovation and polytheism, and as a cure. The first type is performed during Hajj and Umrah. The second type occurs for other than Allah,

Shaving the head is an act of humility and worship, and this is why it is a ritual that completes the Hajj acts. Imam Shafi'e even considers shaving the head a comerstone of Hajj since it entails lowering the sides of the head in humility before the Lord and since it is In addition an honored act of worship. Furthermore, when the Arabs wanted to humiliate a captured warrior and then set him free, they would first shave his head. Later on, the teachers of false guidance and evil who seek to acquire the rights of lordship tor themselves and whose ministry concentrates on polytheism and innovations came along. Such evil teachers wanted their students to perform the acts of worship for their sake. Consequently, they encouraged their students to shave their heads for their sake, just as they lured them to prostrate before them, calling this act by other than its true name and claiming that it is not prostrating, but merely lowering the head before the teacher. By Allah! What is prostrating for the sake of Allah, if it is not lowering the head before Him?