Mu’tamar Ibn Sulayman said:”My father wrote to me while I was in Kufa, saying to me “O my son, buy books and write down knowledge for verily knowledge remains and money vanishes”
Islam calls us to learn all kinds of beneficial knowledge. Branches of knowledge vary in status, the highest of which is knowledge of sharee’ah, then knowledge of medicine(nutrition), then the other fields of knowledge. (From Usool al-Deen al-Islami by Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem al-Tuwayjri)
The greatest calamity is a calamity in our deen. The second greatest is in our health. Not surprising, that Sharee’ah helps protect of our deen and medicine (nutrition) helps protect our health.
Not all medicine is the same.
Undoubtedly, I have benefited from modern medicine, yet it lacks the wisdom of thousands of medical history. Years of scientific knowledge from past doctors, dentists, herbalists,and scientists abandoned all in the name of modern medicine.
Ibn Mas’ood said: “Whoever is seeking to follow someone, let them follow those who have passed away. For the living are not secure from trials (fitnah).”
This is a very important concept. Adhering to it means all food fads and trends would cease to exist. Honestly, the Raw Diet enthusiast who’s been eating like this for 10 years and feels great… how will she feel at 40 or 60 or 80 years old? Just because it may “appear” to be working for her now, doesn’t mean it will work for her for years to come. We don’t know how her body will degenerate with time and what new diseases might appear because of deficiencies in her diet. There is no historical data on “this diet”.
Fads and innovative ideas shape our future. Just look at Louis Pasteur who changed the concept of disease from humoural imbalance to the germ theory. He recanted his position about the germ theory upon his deathbed. His followers couldn’t turn back at that point because too much money gained to just abandon it. We are following a concept that even the creator of it himself stopped believing in.
History is slipping through our fingers!
Our understanding of food and how it nourishes our body is very important knowledge. Traditionally, nutrition was sacred knowledge that a parent would teach his child, just as the parent would teach faith. If we don’t understand food, and how it affects us both spiritually and physically, then how are we to prevent disease or heal ourselves when we fall sick?
“Gluttony is one of the greatest sins that lead to doom and it causes many diseases and sicknesses, both spiritual and physical, because it leads to sexual desire, then the desire for status and wealth in order to fulfil the first two desires. Then that generates spiritual diseases such as showing off, destructive envy (hasad), boastfulness and arrogance because of being focused on worldly matters. In most cases that leads to evil and immorality, all of it because of this desire. The Arabs of old said: The stomach is the home of disease and restraint is the basis of the remedy.”(https://islamqa.info/en/102374)
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“and eat and drink but waste not by extravagance, certainly He (Allaah) likes not Al‑Musrifoon (those who waste by extravagance)” (al-A’raaf 7:31)
The Prophet Muhammad SAWS was not sent as a doctor or nutritionist, nor was the Qur’an sent as a book of medicine. Tibb an-nabawi is not a complete science of how to practice medicine or nutrition. It is a guide that sets a standard of which practices to accept from the medicine of its time and which to discard.
It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Allaah has not sent down any disease but He has also sent down a cure for it.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5678.
“The signs of Moosa (peace be upon him) – his stick and his hand – were of the kind that was prevalent during his time, which was magic (sihr). The signs of ‘Eesa (peace be upon him) – raising the dead and healing the blind and lepers – were of the kind that his people were skilled in and that was widespread among them, which was medicine.” https://islamqa.info/en/9691
The height of medicine
The height of medicine was at the time of ‘Eesa A.S. That was the medicine of Hippocrates. Modern doctors are sworn in with the Hippocratic Oath. Hippocrates: the father of medicine. So why then abandon his medical findings?
I thought that naturopathy might be the closest to traditional medicine, but I was quickly disappointed. Instead of pharmaceutical drugs, they prescribed herbal drugs. There is no discussion of your body’s constitution or hot/cold, wet/dry imbalance. They are not even taught the history of Hippocrates or his practices. Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda are probably the closest medicines we can find that are congruent with Hippocrates’s medicine.
Pick up the reigns
We must revive traditional medicine in accordance to the knowledge we have from Prophetic Medicine and modern medicine. It is time for a new medicine to emerge that honors how Allah has created foods, herbs and spices as nourishment and medicine. It is time to go back to the original concept of disease and start treating and teaching patients to re-balance their bodies. A God-centered medicine is at the heart of healing.