Preventive measures against diseases and epidemics in the Light of Sunnah(Analytical Study)

Abstract

Islam has urged humankind on taking protective measures from diseases and
epidemics. It considered the precautionary steps better before the occurrence of diseases
and has endorsed modern preventive medicine which is a set of teachings and
instructions practiced to protect humans from communicable, imported diseases and
spread of infection before they occur. In the past, the Arabs used to say in the form of
their famous proverbs: “See the doctor before you get sick” “An ounce of prevention is
better than a pound of cure”, “Prevention is better than cure” and as said by The
famous Arab physician Harith bin Kalda: “Diet is the head of medicine, and the
stomach is the home of disease, and return everybody to what it is accustomed to”.
If someone ponders over the Prophetic Sunnah will find a large number of hadiths
urging people to take a diet before the occurrence of disease and the spread of
epidemics. And from that, the Prophet (PBUH) commanded to flee from the leper,and
forbid to enter the land of the plague, and urged to pay attention to purity and
cleanliness, and to adhere to certain standards in food, drink, sleep, wakefulness. And
urged to control the animals that carry the infection, and Prohibition of adultery and
other sexual perversions. In fact, our Prophet (PBUH) was the founder of the basis of
quarantine (which is to isolate the sick from the healthy) when he said: “A nurse is not
mentioned in a sanatorium”. All of these directives are measures that help protect
people from diseases and epidemics, and also help them in treatment after falling as well.
Due to the importance of this topic, particularly the Corona pandemic, I have tried to
collect prophetic hadiths in this regard, focusing on their authenticity, mentioning the
inferred prophetic remedies, highlighting the scientific discoveries that were in
agreement with the Sunnah more than a thousand and four hundred years ago!