Preventive Medicine in Islam

Preventive Medicine in Islam

The Islamic faith has always sought to enlighten Muslims on its benefits by urging the faithful to seek knowledge that can greatly improve all aspects of their lives

 

One of the most important fields in which Islam excels is the prevention of disease. This demonstrates Islam’s preoccupation with the well-being of humanity as a whole, as disease is an indiscriminate entity that targets all races and religions.

 

So what precautions and measures does Islam prescribe to prevent the occurrence and spread of disease? Through the perfection of divine revelation, Islam introduces a holistic approach to disease prevention that focuses on the well-being of the body, soul, and society as a whole.

 

Cleanliness is a Form of Worship

 

Islam emerged in the heart of the desert; nevertheless, it emphasized the importance of cleanliness.  It emerged at a time when Europe was awash with dirt and disease to the extent that some believed that dirt that clung to their bodies and clothes was a blessing that empowered them. Whilst Europeans bathed only once or twice a year, Islam highlighted the necessity of ritual bathing especially after sexual intercourse, the monthly period, during pilgrimage and, in many other cases.  It also recommended bathing on the two Islamic festivals and during Ihram[1]. Most Scholars also recommend bathing on Friday but there is no consensus as to whether it is obligatory.

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The Prophet Muhammad (SAWS)[2] recommended in a hadith [3] that Muslims bathe on Fridays, use a siwak (natural toothbrush)[4]  to brush the teeth and perfume the body. He (SAWS) also specified the maximum time period that should lapse between baths, recommending that Muslims bathe fully every seven days.

 

Scholars’ categorized washing or bathing into seventeen separate groups, demonstrating the importance of cleanliness. Islam encouraged the regular cleaning of parts of the body where diseases can flourish and dirt and germs can build up.

 

In terms of oral hygiene, the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) once said he would have ordered his followers to use the siwak regularly before prayer time but did not want to impose undue hardship on the Muslim Ummah (nation). In another hadith, the companions of the Prophet (SAWS) related that they thought that the usage of the siwak was a Quranic revelation because the Prophet (SAWS) stressed repeatedly the importance of using it.

 

The Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) called upon Muslims to purify all parts of the body where impurities such as sweat, dirt and microbes accumulate, This was clarified in a hadith highlighting the five acts which are natural for Muslims to perform, including circumcision, the shaving of pubic hair, the trimming of the mustache, depilating the hair of the armpits, and nail clipping. The fact that Islam encouraged such cleanliness, despite the harsh desert climate in which the faith emerged, illustrates how advanced the religion was for its time.

 

The Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) also ordered Muslims to purify themselves after answering the call of nature. He emphasized the importance of doing so in a hadith in which he told his companions, while they were passing by two graves, that both the dead were being punished in the grave; one for not cleaning up after urination and the other for going around with malicious gossip.

Now days we as Muslims have to spread the voice to learn quran online and so we could gain the true knowledge and the quran teaching that is give to us by our beloved prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and do quran reading. Do we as Muslim ask our self that why we are at the peak of destruction? The answer will be simple that we have left our roots the holy quran we should guide promote Islam from in our homes first and let learn our kids quran  and encourage them in doing quran memorization this should be our first goal for it we can do different stuff like let then participate in different online quran recitation competition to let them read quran from different online quran reciters and along with it we elders should learn quran also and improve our knowledge of quran and Islam and learn holy quran tafseer because to understand and learn quran Arabic and for this now a days there are many online quran tutor available who teach tajweed quran and its translation and tafseer so let us join our hands to be the voice of Islam and let improve the image of it as well and full fill our duty