Hadith #36 – The Prophet’s Doctors and Islam’s History of Healthcare | 40 Hadiths on Social Justice
Omar Suleiman – Social Justice – Episode 36 – The Prophet’s Doctors and Islam’s History of Healthcare
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The speakers discuss the upcoming NBA finals and the importance of protecting healthy society through finding treatments for COVID-19. They touch on the historical precedent of Islam and the "work model" of the medical community. The speakers emphasize the need for individuals to take care of their health and provide care for loved ones, particularly for those with leprosy. They also mention the infamous " handyman" of the Prophet sallali's position on protecting health and well-being.
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can get seated in Charlotte,
North Carolina salatu salam ala rasulillah. Karim, Allah Allah He or sahbihi wa Salaam to Seaman kathira. So just a housekeeping note to begin that next week, which is Tuesday, next Tuesday will be the last week that we do the halaqa 40 on justice, of course, the week after, will inshallah.
We'll be going into Ramadan at that point on May 15.
So, potentially Today we are Ramadan. So I think it's important that we'll just stop it next week in sha Allah. And we'll just have a few, a few hellos left after eight, where we'll finish off our 40 we're getting there. We're in the last surely in the final stretch. I believe this is 36 at this point, right? It is no, maybe 36. Right.
And tonight's topic is actually one of my favorite ones. Not sure why such a low turnout tonight. something happening tonight. going on tonight.
NBA playoffs, that doesn't explain the sisters declining attendance as well. So I'm not sure what's happening tonight. Unless people are preparing for the NRA convention. It's possible to
now the Muslim
Knights halaqa is actually one that I think is probably most important, or one of the most important in framing contemporary issues within an Islamic context, the issue of health care. And rarely do you see health care covered
within an Islamic context. And beyond just mentioning it been seen on some of the great medical pioneers in the past that arose from Muslim empires, but actually how we conceive of this as an Islamic issue or what, what we can operate out of, from particularly the paradigm of the Sunnah of the Prophet peace be upon him. So I'll start off with this hadith just to set the spiritual undertone of this, which is very profound. Remember, as I said last week, people with disabilities were looked at as curses on society as burdens on society, as you know, as a population that brought no benefit whatsoever, and that shaped the attitude and that shaped the policy towards people with
disabilities. We talk about health care, okay? And just how we view the sick as a whole. There's a hadith from Abu huraira May Allah be pleased with him that the Prophet sallallahu wasallam said that Allah will say on the Day of Judgment, this is a hadith bootsy Allah will say on the Day of Judgment, oh, son of Adam Yagna Adam murukku salaam tourney, I was sick and you did not visit me.
So the person will say, yeah, I'll take that. Oh, Luca and terrible Allah mean, oh my lord, how could I have visited you? When you are the Lord of the worlds? How is it possible that you were sick or that I could visit you and you are the Lord of the worlds? God, Mr. lm, and Abdi Fudan and Mariela telemetered Who did you not know that my servants so and so was sick and you did not visit him? And so the person or Allah subhanaw taala continues to say Mr. Lim to Emeka know, who they were just any are in the Don't you know, that had you visited that person, you would have found me with him? As you visited that person, you would have found me there. Okay. The Hadith continues that I
was hungry, and you did not feed me. And the person says, Yeah, oh my lord, how could I feed you? And you are the Lord of the worlds? And the answer is that Mr. alimta? Did you not know that so and so was hungry, and had you fed him? And this is where there's a distinction. Had you fed him, then you would have found that reward with me? Okay, you would have found that reward with me. Okay, lower Jetta, Daddy, Karen Do you would have found that reward with me. The Hadeeth continues with one more that my servant was thirsty or that I was thirsty and you did not give me anything to drink? The same answer? Don't you know that so and so was thirsty, and you did not give that person
anything to drink? Had you done so though just To that end, you would have found that reward with me. There's a difference between how Allah addressed the sick person and how he dressed to address the hungry person. And the thirsty person. You know what it is?
The sick person is the only one that Allah uses the words you would have found me with that person with the others you would have found the reward, but the sick person you would have found me with that person. This automatically sets the stage for how we viewed the ill
how we view those that are ill in society. So beyond just talking about the rights that a sick person has on society, you talk about the nature of how society views that person, especially if we're operating out of an Islamic ethos in this situation, okay? And that's why for example, and I don't want to go through all the teeth, all the narrations about the reward for visiting the sick and taking care of the sick because honestly, this is a deep subject from an intellectual perspective. You can find many if you just search the reward for visiting the sickness lamp, you'll find many different narrations, many different traditions, one of them that the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam said that 70,000 angels accompany a person when they go to visit the sick. And they accompany that person when they leave that sick person all the way until you reach home or all the way until you reach the point that you departed from that 70,000 angels would accompany you. Some of the scholars mentioned the benefit of that, that the Prophet peace be upon him told us about a debate with Matt Moore, the frequently visited home in the heavens, which is a place that 70,000 angels visit every day to glorify their Lord, and they never returned. So they connected that tradition that Hadeeth with this Hadeeth could see that when you're going to visit the sick, it is
as if you are going to visit Allah. So you've got 70,000 angels that would accompany you on that visit. How amazing is that? Can you imagine? I mean, just making a simple intention when you go to visit someone in the hospital that I'm going to go with 70,000 because 70,000 angels to visit this person right now. It's a beautiful Hadeeth a beautiful narration. And we know that Allah and His Messenger sallallahu wasallam are truthful. Okay, meaning that this is this is not an exaggeration, but this is truth. This is truth. So if you start to view the sick as the source or a place, or a person that is accompanied by Allah subhanho wa Taala that will shape the way that people would rush
to treat the ill the way that people would rush to comfort to the way that people would rush to direct resources towards the ill. Okay, so let's now break this down
through some of the narrations and through some of the ways that Islam conceives of this at the societal level. Well, number one, you can't talk about health care, unless you talk about prevention of illness, and prevention of disease. And you know, it's really interesting because it starts off with addressing moderation and eating, drinking, right, and even fasting consumption.
2016 marked a turning point and a turning point in human history. Does anyone know what that turning point was? The first time in history, that you have more obesity than people that are underweight in the world, globally, meaning more people get sick now, because of eating too much than eating too little. If you think about what that says about our world now in terms of economic disparity, and in terms of the resources not being not being funneled properly, the poor are getting poorer, the rich are getting richer, more people would need health care, because of overconsumption, as opposed to those who would need health care because of not consuming enough. And this is a historical, this is
the first time in human history that this has happened and it says a lot. So you can't talk about this topic without going through workqueue washingon 1234, where Allah mentions to eat and drink but not to be excessive in your eat,
in your eating, and in your drinking. So it starts off with that. The second thing is that Islam as a religion taught seeking treatments as a religious duty
and many religious traditions it's looked down upon to seek a cure for your illness, especially when we're talking about the old religions. It's looked down upon to seek a cure for your illness because it represents a deficiency in your your trust in God. Okay, so it contradicts a metaphysical understanding to some traditions, that you would go and you would seek help. Okay, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, the DA will he said, seek treatment are servants of God, seek treatment are servants of God for in the law has chosen them yoga Illa Allah Allahu de la vida in WA hidden al-hurra the prophets lie Selim said seek treatment of servants of Allah for Allah did not
create a disease except that he created for it a cure except for aging.
Alright, so every disease or every illness has a cure except for aging. Right? So the Prophet sly Sam said seek treatment when you have an illness, because there is a cure. If you look hard enough. The prophet SAW, you know, Islam also dealt with the way that we would treat obviously back then in particular
plagues so the idea of medical quarantined you'll find some of these, some of these concepts in our literature. So for example, the Prophet sallallahu Sallam said, Do not enter a land in which there is a plague, nor exit a land fleeing from the plague. Do not enter a land in which there is a plague, nor exit a land fleeing from the plague. When you think about contagiousness, and quarantining and protecting the the wellness of the welfare of society as a whole, this was, by the way, a new concept. And it ties into the seeking treatment part, because there's a very famous narration, were all model the law at the state level applied this that when a plague hit a land that
the people that were in that land should not leave it, and the people that were not there should not go to it. And the statement that he said to abora VEDA, may Allah be pleased with him when he said, Are you running away from the decree of Allah subhana wa Tada. He said, we're running from the decree of Allah to the decree of Allah, that our understanding of the decree of God and divine providence does not mean that you don't actively do your best to avoid harm. Okay, so we're running from the color of a lot to the color of Allah, we're running from the decree of Allah, to the decree of Allah subhana wa, Tada. Islam taught societal preservation because bad health compromises society
at large. So where the Prophet peace be upon him says law, what the law, there is no harm allowed nor any reciprocation of harm. Okay, there is no harm allowed nor any reciprocation of harm. So under that, that the principle of law without the law, that's where the scholars talked about the importance of hygiene in Islam, and where they talked about the prohibition of commerce of intoxicants or the prohibition, of extramarital relationships, all of this came under this principle of, there's no harm and no reciprocation of harm, and preserving the health of society as a whole. That's how the scholars early on Islamic scholars were able to derive from
what are seemingly restricted theological texts to, you know, relevant text to society all the way to using a sea walk. So the way that you use a toothbrush, okay, all in the name of preservation. And this is where you start to find some interesting people. And I'm, I'm not going to get your hopes up if this is your thing. But I've been thinking about what the series will be after the 40 ideas on social justice. And one of them is just looking at great contributors and pioneers in different fields that we often don't hear about. I can't promise that I'm going to do that. I'll think about it. But you find some really interesting people that arose out of the seat of the
Prophet satellites, and you guys don't seem too excited about that subject.
How many of you have heard of the hateth hypno? calendar?
Does that name sound familiar? From the companions of the Prophet peace be upon him? And how to think no calendar? Has anyone in here ever heard that name? Interesting, man. He was, according to traditional sources.
You know, some say that He's the oldest known Arab physician, the oldest known Arab physician, so all of you that want to force your children to become doctors, you need to read about this man. All right, but don't force your children to become doctors. All right, oldest known Arab physician, and he was also hobby, he was one of the companions of the Prophet sallallahu when he was on them. And at that time, if you read about going to sharper gunda, sharper was the intellectual center of the sassanid Empire. That's where they were developing their tradition of medicine and they were developing their sciences and things of that sort in the sassanid. Empire. The gunda shop, are you
I'm sure I'm not pronouncing it right. But GUNDSH ap you are this man and how to deploy kelda on the low end, who actually went to study there. And he learned what he learned there. And then he came back to the society of the Prophet peace be upon him. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he started this pursuit of Islamic medical knowledge, if you will, before Islam started, but when he came back the Prophet slicin I'm employed him to help people, okay to actually use his newfound medical knowledge to help people. So what did I say his name was?
Harris, if no, calendar, okay, or calendar.
calf lamb doll, summer Buddha, okay. So you find a person like this, you also find a Lucas of Egypt, the ruler of Egypt, he sent a physician for the Prophet sallallahu Sallam and what the sources imply is that he was sending a physician to care for just to care for the Prophet peace be upon him. Okay, a physician just to take care of the Prophet peace be upon him. All right, the prophets lie some instead turned around and commissioned him to treat all of the people of Medina free of charge.
So free health care existed in Medina, through this position that was sent by animal caucus of Egypt as a gift
To the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, you also find a woman by the name of Ruth Bader and islamiya Ruth Bader eslami How many of you have heard that name? roofie that islamiya Oh yeah, we found someone hamdulillah one person heard of her name. There are actually scholarships that are named after her and and the Muslim world at least in some of the universities.
This is this was a woman that the prophets of Allah Harney was seldom appointed. She was a nurse to tend to the wounded. If you go to the sub massage of the seven mosques and Medina, the masses of Sandman and theodicy is where she she tended to the wounded of a herd the prophets lie Selim appointed for her share of the spoils of war. And basically he set up camps so field medics or military paramedics right were appointed in the masjid. So she had a tent in the masjid. So you think about the messages free clinic concept. The prophets I send them had that concept in Medina. And the woman that was in charge of that was rafidah and islamiya are the Allahu taala. And so this
not only covered healthcare costs, but the the medical training and the schooling right so you know, this this was this is a profound example that we find from the prophets lie some of the Prophet peace be upon him used to praise this woman. So what did I say her name was
Ruth Bader, and islamiya, about the Allahu taala. And so you've got the you've got a physician, you've got a nurse, you've got people that are caring and tending to the poor, in Medina at that time, and this, this idea formed the spiritual foundation of the concept of oak off the concept of endowments of endowments, that would take care of people. Okay, this is really where you start to find the spiritual foundation of this in a snap. Alright, so you know, the path of Damascus, which were the most prominent endowments in early Islamic history, not only did they produce the world's first hospitals, they also produced
and this is, you know, somehow this is where the Profit System reached. They also produced homes for senior cats, dogs and cattle.
So you can actually read about that the old off as they basically the more charitable that Muslims became. And the more that the off grew, they had to find new charitable endeavors. So retired cats and dogs was a thing. Okay, a walk, to hire out people to walk elderly people in the rain under an umbrella, there was a walk for that there was an endowment that was dedicated to that. Those were the days. Right. Those were the days that people put their money into that charitable circulation to where they were coming up with causes. I'm not saying they weren't legitimate causes, of course, they are legitimate causes. But they were expanding in the realm of Asana and excellence with things
that no civilization prior to them. thought of. Obviously, you look at some of the earliest pharmacists, you learn about al biruni. Okay.
Are you learn about, you know, a lossy or leucine on have been rushed. People that were the pioneers in medicine. And this is this is an important part here to understand how did Muslims really take this idea of healthcare as a right of the individual and implemented institutionally, okay?
And it breaks my heart sometimes when I go through the Muslim world, and I see the poor quality of the hospitals.
Right that if you want to get treated properly, you've got to come this way. It used to be the opposite. People used to go to the east, above that, for the best hospitals for the best universities. And that's because the first hospital actually originated in Baghdad. About 700 years before the first Hospital in the western Italy. There was a hospital and above that, and that was built by Haruna Rashid, one of the early k lifts and it's not one of the early hodaka
500 years before Italy had its first hospital Cordoba kotoba had 50 hospitals. So this idea of medical centers and hospitals and clinics originated out of the Muslim world. How many med students do we have here doctors, as a community, is this.
medical board exams that make people want to
hurt themselves sometimes.
I mean, what do you do?
dentistry? That's medicine to take care of people's teeth. All right.
The concept of the medical board exam, making sure that people were qualified. Actually some of the earliest to write about medical board exams. They based it on a Hadith, a hadith and Abu Dawood. The prophets lie Selim salesmen for play about when the men who played the who alarm and whoever practices medicine, while not being known to be proficient in medicine is to be held accountable.
Whoever practices medicine, while not being known to be proficient in medicine, is to be held accountable. That's a decent Buddhahood. So you could see these early pioneers of medicine basing these institutions and these policies off of, I think it's
okay off of a spiritual foundation that we find in our tradition. Was this to be restricted to some elite class? No. In fact, our model the Allahu tada an honorable hottub, the second Khalifa, the second Caleb, he once passed by a group of Alabama, so they weren't Muslims that were afflicted with leprosy. So he commanded that the jizya be suspended and also that a medical stipend be granted to them from beta from the treasury of the Muslims to treat them. Okay, so the idea that this was that this treatment was supposed to be available even to
even to non Muslims under the Islamic khilafah. This was something that also extended to prisoners, okay, and captives were added on the Allahu taala. And who was the first one that we find narrations about him routinely checking up on prisoners and maintaining making sure that their health was maintained on the disease. There's a letter that he wrote to his governors again, we're talking about the first 100 years of Islam. And he said check who is inside are amongst the prisoners, and pay close attention to those who are sick.
The halifa almora total public that's a tough name. I know. ninth century halifa more public. He dedicated 15 $100 monthly on sick prisoners needs. But those who were sick prisoners who were sick and need to have needed to have their needs fulfilled. He dedicated 1500 dinars a month to them as a stipend.
And you find many different stories from some of the early Ibis. halifa is in particular, so that I busted it off produced many, many of these medical advancements that were not known to people before. And you know, there's a quote that I really appreciate
from William Osler, William Osler is the founder and the second president of the Medical Library Association. And he said, by the way, you guys have all heard the name, canon,
the word canon, not the canon.
know,
when you speak about a group of literature, right, that comes from the word in Arabic Khan,
actually where it comes from? Okay, so he said, the condo in the canon of leucaena, has remained a medical Bible in Europe for a longer period than any other work. The 19th century Canadian,
you know, founder of medicine, if you will, are one of the founders or presidents of modern medicine, the Medical Library Association, known of leucaena, has remained a medical Bible in Europe for a longer period than any other work that's in history. Okay, so how do we understand
those concepts? And then weave them into modern day concepts? How did this work and what lessons can we take from it? Okay.
This is where this is where you separate between states, and the welfare or the goodness of a people. The proliferation of the concept of luck of the endowment is certainly what spearheaded the Muslim civilization in this regard with the support of state. So the state supported this idea of charitable contribution and charitable giving, and society as a whole taking it upon themselves to care for every sick person, Muslim, not Muslim, prisoner, not prisoner, whatever it may be that everyone had a right to be taken care of that no one should ever be restricted from healthcare fact the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam really interestingly, I mean, this is not something that
many people would believe but he sent
us to read Al Fatiha to read rokeya which is, you know, the Quran to read the Quran on a non Muslim chief as a form of cure. So this idea of even rereading rokeya speaks to the general right of every person to have that care for them in this world. Now, all of this continued historically in you know, at least in the Muslim world. What dismantled the wok system was actually colonial meddling.
So, colonial meddling, started to slowly dismantle the waqf system and it uprooted that entire system, the endowment system, and that's where you found that the medical advancements that were made, at least in terms of care really started to disappear. But it's important to mention here that it was not, you know, beta,
or the generosity of the soul fun that made our medical civilization a reality. But the work model, but the work model which the masses completed
In due to their Islamic engineering, I'm gonna say that again, it was not based on the Treasury or the generosity of a leader, the generosity of a head of state that made our medical civilization a reality. But it was the walk model, the endowment model, which the masses competed in due to their Islamic engineering, you could not separate that spiritual incentive from, from the rights of people to be taken care of. Now, where does that lead us to now?
Obviously, you know, we have people that die on a daily basis, because they don't have access to health care, 10s of 1000s of people here in America in an advanced country, because they cannot, you cannot afford to get sick in this country.
Because of the big interests that have manipulated that entire industry, you can't afford to get sick in America. I mean, it's a that's a terrible thought, again, I've said this in some of the previous classes that years from now, people will look at this, and they'll say, Man, that was really backwards.
Like, they're really regressive in some of these regards, that's really, that's really a backwards way of thinking, in some ways, alright. So we have to, we have to learn to take care of people because they deserve to be taken care of because they're sick. But there's the policy level, we can find our tradition, empowering enough and enabling enough for us to take on the right to health care, as an Islamic obligation as a moral issue. Like this is a moral issue that people should not be stopped from being able to get health health care, because they are financially incapable, some moral issue. Second thing here is that our communities need to lead the way in charitable hospitals
and charitable clinics.
We've had several Muslim clinics that have been established, we need to make sure that we also have hospitals, and we need to really take that to the next level, meaning it should be a part of every message built into the messages function, that there's a free medical clinic. And those medical clinics need to be mobile, they need to be taken to downtown, they need to be taken to places where people don't typically have that access. And we need to pool our resources in that regard. So I think that, you know, the point of this is obviously to give us that spiritual imperative to give us that Muslim imperative to treat this as an issue. That just as those that that pioneered the medical
civilization within an Islamic context, we need to be able to take these directives and implement them within our own capacity. And Allah knows best will long time and I know there is one Hadees that I wanted to share with you all last week that I forgot to mention.
guys remember what we talked about last week?
Buddy?
I'm looking at you.
There you go. disabilities, okay. So beautiful Hadees
that I found which is you know, because it's about how you make people feel as well. We talked about disabilities last week.
How you make people feel, right, we talked about the Prophet sly Salaam, turning away from a man who was who was blind in a very inconvenient situation, even though he could not see the prophets license frown it was more about how the prophets license attitude was towards the love No McTell. This Hadeeth is a very powerful Hadith, authentic hadith the Prophet so I said, I'm sad to do Nava elementary do mean that to Dino Navara image to me, do not stare, those who have leprosy.
Leprosy was a very common disease in their society, very common illness, do not stare at those who have leprosy.
Like if you think about merging that with the hadith of Tibet symbol keffi, he saw that a smile in the face of your brother is a charity. Have you ever felt the difference between a doctor who smiles at you and who's reassuring, and a doctor who treats you like he wants you dead?
might do the same thing medically. But there's something about a smile, there's something about comforting someone and not making them feel like a burden. You take that Heidi's to assemble coffee soda to smile on the face of your brother's a charity. Paired off with this idea. Don't stare at a person who has an illness that would make them self conscious. Like that's the amount of detail that we're supposed to pay attention to. As part of our law as part of our morals and mannerisms. As believers, you're supposed to pay attention to that much. Now implement that
when someone is around you and you know they might be self conscious about something Don't stare don't look at them in a way that would make them think that there's something wrong. Instead show charity to them by smiling and acting normal and not making them feel repulsed. or making them feel awkward. Right. So the profit slice of them made it a point to you know that we pay attention to the self esteem of people, the emotional health of people beyond just the physical disability or the physical
sickness and illness that we spoke about today. So the physical disability of last week or the physical illness that we spoke about today, the emotional well being of people, is also important. So last week, we covered mental mental health and we covered physical disability. This week we've covered health care as a whole, but emotional well being that's not something that you can put in a book. Usually, that's not something that you can package in an institution. That's just something that has to become part and parcel of how you function.
So we ask Allah subhanaw taala to allow us to care for those who are ill to protect us from, from from any sort of harm in this life and the next We ask Allah subhana wa tada to instill within us compassion towards those who are ill and to show us compassion as we are all spiritually ill and in need of him alone. I mean,
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