Islamic Treatment for diseases

First of all, what you mentioned about "whatever disease Allah creates, He creates a cure for it" is absolutely correct. Yet we came to know this basic fact not from theQuran, but from Prophet Muhammad's Sunnah.




Amazingly, although the Prophet (peace be upon him) lived in one of the poorest and most ignorant nations 14 centuries ago, he was guided by Allah to teach Muslims and the whole world ever since that "There is no disease that Allah has created, except that He also has created its treatment."(Al-Bukhari)




At that time, when treatment with magic and the like was widespread all over the world, such a statement by the Prophet was a wide leap forward in human knowledge; a leap that could only emanate from the ever-Knowing Allah. The Prophet's guidance further inspired Muslims to search and discover effective medicines, when he said, in a more complete narration of the hadith:




Allah has never created a disease but created its treatment, that is known by some people and unknown to others, except death. (At-Tabarani)




No wonder then that the early Muslim scientists, during the third and fourth centuries of Islam, laid down the foundations of modern pharmacology. Their research and writings were the main source for the much later European Enlightenment. 




If a disease is thought to be incurable at one point of history, this does not mean that scientific research and accumulated experience would not, one day, find a treatment; AIDS is a disease, and we ought to think about it accordingly.




There is no particular prophesy concerning AIDS in the Quran. Yet, Allah has repeatedly warned any nation indulging in sodomy and sexual perversion from facing a fate akin to that of the people of Lot. For example, we read in the Quran what means:




{And (We sent) Lot when he said to his people: What! do you commit an indecency which any one in the world has not done before you? Most surely you come to males in lust besides females; nay you are an extravagant people. And the answer of his people was no other than that they said: Turn them out of your town, surely they are a people who seek to purify (themselves). So We delivered him and his followers, except his wife; she was of those who remained behind. And We rained upon them a rain; consider then what was the end of the guilty.} (Al-A`raf 7:80-84)




A major cure factor for many diseases is the natural immunity that Allah has created in our body systems. The healing of many virus-infected people is achieved through antibodies that constitute a major source of the "treatment for every disease" referred to in the aforementioned hadith. They constitute internal body-built, rather than external, medicaments. The same can be said about vaccines, being antibodies produced in the labs or derived from certain animals.




Yet, Muslims are requested to seek medication from experts, as in the following hadith:




"Allah has sent down both the disease and the cure, and He has appointed a cure for every disease, so treat yourselves medically, but use nothing unlawful." (Abu Dawud)




Again, this was an outstanding progressive piece of advice 14 centuries ago that could only come from the divine guidance of Allah. The reaction of the surprised early Muslims is depicted by the following narrations:




At the time of the Prophet Muhammad, a man fell ill. The Prophet said, "Summon the physician of the tribe so and so for him." (Ahmad)




Once Prophet Muhammad visited a sick person. He said, "Call a physician for him." One of the attendants said, "Even you say this, Prophet of Allah?" Prophet Muhammad replied, "Yes." (Al-Bukhari)




Yet, as a precaution to lessen the probability of infection, Prophet Muhammad warned Muslims against associating with the sick:




"A sick person should not be taken to one who is healthy." (Al-Bukhari)




Also, Prophet Muhammad ordered Muslims to isolate those who have incurable diseases, so that people who have weak immunity would not be infected:




"Flee from a leper as if you flee from a lion." (Al-Bukhari)

          

Quarantine is a tool of preventive medicine not known to mankind until the last century. Yet, it was one of the practices of Prophet Muhammad, revealed to him by Allah, the Exalted and the Omnipotent, to prevent the spread of the plague.      




Prophet Muhammad said,    




"The plague is a calamity that was sent to Bani Isra'il (The Children of Israel) or upon those who were before you. So if you hear that it breaks out in a land, do not go there. If it breaks out in a land where you are, do not run out of that land."  (Al-Bukhari)




In this respect, a frequently asked question is whether the Quran and ruqyahs(protective words of the Quran and the Sunnah) can help in treatment. Yes, they help as Allah Almighty says what means:




{And We reveal of the Quran that which is a healing and a mercy for believers though it increases the evildoers in naught save ruin.} (Al-Israa' 17:82)




Islam teaches us many things that avail in the field of healing people. A person should bear in mind first that it is Allah Who has the power of healing all people; no one has this power except Him. In addition, the Prophet urged us to recite some supplications in case one falls victim to illness. He used to say every morning and night, "I seek refuge in the Perfect Words of Allah (the Quran) from evil of what He has created." (Muslim)




`A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said, "When a member of the Prophet's family got ill, the Prophet would blow over his body by reciting the two protective surahs (Al-Falaq and An-Nas, 113 and 114 respectively) and would rub him with his hand." (Muslim)




Also, it was reported that the Prophet approved some of his Companions who recited Surat Al-Fatihah as a ruqyah to cure a man stung by a scorpion.




We can use the Quran as a ruqyah by reading it and blowing on ourselves or on those who are afflicted: The Prophet used to read Surat Al-Ikhlas, Al-Falaq, and An-Nas into his cupped hands, blow into his hands, and then wipe over his body. (Muslim)




Here are more supplications one can recite for seeking healing, as mentioned in the Sunnah:




1) Allahumma rabba an-nas, adh-hib il-ba'sa, ishfi anta ash-shafi, la shifa'a illa shifa'uk, shifa'an la yughadiru saqaman. (O Allah, O Lord of mankind, remove the affliction and send down cure and healing, for no one can cure but You; so cure in such a way that no trace of illness is left.) (Muslim)


2) As'alu Allaha Al-`Azhim, Rabba Al-`Arshi Al-Azhim, an yashfiyak. (I beseech Allah, the Great, Lord of the Mighty Throne, to heal you). (At-Tirmidhi)


3) A`udhu bi `izzati Allahi wa qudratihi mimma ajidu wa uhadhir. (I seek refuge and protection in the august might and power of Allah from the pain and illness I am suffering from and I am afraid of). (Ibn Majah)



Hadith Explanation




                                                            Every Disease has a Cure

Narrated Abu Hurairah (radi Allahu anhu) that the Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “There is no disease that Allah has sent down except that He also has sent down its treatment.” [The Book of Medicine: Sahih Bukhari]

The reason that Muslims advanced so much in Medicine is because the Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) had told them that for every disease there is a cure and that they should seek treatment. He pointed to many cures himself. He encouraged the women of his household to learn medicine from those who knew it. Women, in the time of the Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam), excelled in medicine. The Prophet had pitched a tent in the yard of his mosque in Madina and appointed a lady named Rufaidah to run it as a field hospital, nurse the wounded and care for homeless newcomers to Madina. [Tarikh at-Tabari] 

In Baghdad in 1168 C.E., there were no less than sixty well-organized medical institutions and the Mustansiriyya Medical College at Baghdad had magnificent buildings, luxurious furniture, library with rare scientific books and a great dining hall to serve good food to students.

The first hospital in Europe was set up by Louis IX in Paris after his return from the Crusades (1254-60 C.E.). The Crusaders were inspired by the magnificent hospitals (Bimaristans) of Damascus and Cairo and the establishment of hospitals in Europe in the fourteenth century resulted. [Islam and Evolution of Science, by Muhammad Saud]

Muslims developed the institutions of hospitals in the eighth century. Many of their hospitals had their own gardens in which medicinal plants were cultivated. The Muslims invented teaching hospitals. Large hospitals had medical schools attached to them. The rules for the practice of medicine were very progressive. According to al-Razi a physician had to be well versed in new and old medical literature and have worked in hospitals as a house surgeon before he could be employed in one. 

Al-Razi was the most outstanding physician of the ninth century. The first hospital in the history of Baghdad was established on his advice under the rule of Abbasi khalifa Harun al-Rashid. In order to find a suitable site for the hospital, al-Razi hung pieces of meat around the city and chose the site based on where the meat rotted last. There were also a large number of traveling hospitals in the Muslim world.