The practice of medicine
The Food
Know then that food is taken when required for the preservation of health. Signs of its being needed are an increase in the sense of smell, a deficiency of saliva in the mouth, highly coloured urine with a strong smell, and an increased desire for food. The opposite of these indicates that food is not required.
Related Topics :
The practice of medicine has following topics
Going without food for a long time wearies the body, and dehydrates it, and burns up its constitution. Similarly, having food when it is not needed results in stupidity and laziness and is one of the factors that cause disease.
Al-Muwaffiq' Abdal-Latif said, "It is the custom of the Indians when they want food, firstly to wash or put on a clean outer garment, and then to sprinkle a pleasant scent over themselves, and to remain quiet and abstain from sexual intercourse, and only then to concern themselves with their food."
Later, insh'Allah, there will be a chapter on what arises from this chapter.
A man should eat cold foods in summer, and hot ones in winter. Having one meal right after another is harmful. So is taking exercise after a meal - but exercise before a meal is best of all, just as when taken after, it is worst of all. Hot food should be balanced With cold, sweet with sour, fat with salt, and acid with fat. Having many kinds of food excites the constitution of a man. To eat with relish is best of all. Having the same food several times in a row and eating hurriedly produces a loss of appetite and causes laziness. Food that is very sour hurries on old age. Eating sweet food requently diminishes sexual desires and makes the body feverish. Salty food dries up and emaciates the body.
It is wise to stop eating while you still have an appetite for more, but persistent abstentation makes the body grow weak and thin. Indeed abstaining from food when healthy is the same as mixing many different foods when unwell. Always choose the best food unless a bad habit has been formed - in which case it should be given up gradually. Whoever is used to eating the wrong food should not stop it altogether, but should avoid taking food that will ferment in the stomach, such as over-ripe fruit.
Wiping the dish clean helps the digestion and increases sexual desires. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace used to lick his fingers three times after meals. He used to say,
"Wiping the dish clean is a request for forgiveness."
The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, for- bade eating the following together at the same meal: milk and fish, or vinegar and milk, or fruit and milk, or lettuce and fish, or garlic and onions, or dried meat and fresh meat, or sour things and acid things, or sumach and vinegar, or vinegar and rice, or grapes and excessive eating of aubergines, or pomegranates and meat pudding, or two cold dishes, or two hot dishes, or two wind-producing dishes.
It is wise to avoid vinegar and fat if the container is made of copper; and similarly, cheese and roast meats and hot food if wrapped in bread or anything like it. This is one of the reasons for the prohibition of eating anything found dead.
Again, one should avoid uncovered food or uncovered water, in case something poisonous has fallen into it that might be fatal if one were to eat or drink it. The Ptophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, commanded this when he said, "Cover over your containers and stop up the mouths of your water bottles, for truly there is a night in the year in which a pestilence comes down and does not settle on any uncovered container without falling into it." Indeed all physicians are in agreement with this command of the Prophet. The reference to the heavens has been related by Muslim.
Whoever eats onions for forty days will get freckles on his face. There is no one to blame but yourself if this happens. Whoever of you has an average build and eats salt will be afflicted with leucoderma and scabies. And for this blame no one but your self.
Whoever eats fish and eggs together will become paralysed, and for this blame no one but yourself. Whoever has a wet dream anu does not wash before having sexual intercourse will produce an idiot or an epileptic. And for this blame no one but yourself. who ever eats until he is full and then gets into a hot bath will become paralysed, and for this blame no one but your self. Whoever gazes into a mirror at night will become afflicted with facial paraysis And for this blame no one but your self.
It has been related by Anas that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The root of every disease is coldness." And again, it has been reported by Ibn Mas'ud that he said,
"Cold means a bloody flux, for this cools even the heat of sexual desire."
It is essential that man restrains himself to eating what is suitable and appetising, but without excess. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The Tribe of Adam fill no container worse than the way in which they fill their own stomachs. Let the Tribe of Adam just have a few mouthfuls to strengthen the loins. If possible, one third of the stomach is for food, one third for drink, and one third for one's breath." This hadith is reported by an-Nasa'i and at-Tirmidhi, and it is a good and reliable hadith.
The following section consists of some further observations concerning health:
Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Wafid said, "Allah put all medicine into half an ayah when He said:
Eat and drink, but not excessively.
Qur'an: 7.31)
Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "Avoid having a pot-belly, for it spoils the body, causes disease, and makes doing the prayer tiring. Make use of blood letting, for this puts the body right. And avoid all excess, for Allah hates a learned man who is fat." This is reported by Abu Nu'aim.
Hippocrates said, "The maintenance of good health depends on working in moderation and avoiding eating and drinking too much." He also said, "A little of what is harmful is better than a lot of what is good."
Al-Shahrastani said in his book called A-Milal wa'n-Nihal, or The Book of Religions and Sects, "Hippocrates is the founder of Medicine." And he added, "Our ancestors and those who came later prefer him above all others. A certain Greek king sent him several qintars of gold and asked him to come and visit him. But he re-fused. He also used to refuse any fee for treating the poor or people of average means- but he stipulated that from the rich he would take one of three things: a necklace of gold, or a diadem, or golden bracelets."
When asked what ife is best, Hippocrates replied, "Safety with poverty is better than wealth with fear." He also said, "Everyon should be treated with herbs from his own country." When he was dying he said, "You can recognise the one who seeks knowledge by his sleeping a great deal, his mild nature, his soft skin, and his long life."
He also said, "lf man had been created with only one constitution, he would never have suffered illness - for then there would have been no opposites to cause disease."
A physician once visited a sick man and said to him, "You, the disease and I are three. If by listening to me you help me, then we shall be two against one and accordingly stronger-and when two come up against one, they defeat it."
Hippocrates was once asked, "Why does a man weigh more when he is dead than when he was alive?" He replied, "Before he was made up out of two parts, a light part lifting him up and a heavy part weighing him down. When one of these departed and it was the light part that does the lifting that went then the heavy part weighs him down even more."
He once said to one of his students, "Let your best means of treating people be your love for them, your taking an interest in their affairs, your understanding of their condition, and your clearly paying attention to them."
He also said, "All excess is contrary to the laws of Nature. Let your eating, your drinking, your sleeping, and your sexual inter- course, all be in moderation."
And he said, "Any physician who administers a poison, or procures an abortion, or prevents a pregnancy, or prolongs the disease of a sick man - such a physician is no colleague of mine. On this subject he formulated a well-known oath which I shall discuss later, insh'Allah.
The books on medicine by Hippocrates are many. Among them are: 1he Book of Aphorisms, The Book of Prognoses, and the Kitab Qubra Buqrat, or The Book of Opened Graves. This last book testifies to many wonderful wonders. When the tombs of several of the Greek kings were opened, this book was found inside them.
Harith ibn Kalada, the physician of the Arabs was once asked
"What is the best medicine?" He replied, "Necessity - that is, hunger." When he was asked, "What is disease?", he replied,
"the entry of food upon food."
lbn Sina said, "Never have a meal until the one before it has been digested".
Hot food is to be avoided. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, also disapproved of it. He also forbade eating while lying down. This has been related by al-Bukhari. Abu ibn Ka'b explained that this is because it was the custom of tyrants.
It was not the practice of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to blow on his food or his drink, or to breathe into a container.
Walking after dinner is beneficial, or doing the prayer has the same effect, for then the food sits in the pit of the stomach and the digestion is better.
It has been related that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Digest your food with the Name of Allah and with a prayer. And do not go to sleep immediately after eating, for this will make you constipated." This hadith has been transmitted by Abu Nu'aim.
And do not take vigorous exercise after eating, for this is harmful. Never go without your supper, for this makes a man grow old.
Anas reported the following well-known hadith: "Eat some supper, éven if it is only a handful of dry bread, for going without the evening meal makes you grow old." This was transmitted by at-Tirmidhi. Similarly, Jabir is reported to have said, "Never go with out supper, even if it is only a handful of dates, for going without it ages a man." This was transmitted by Ibn Maja.
The hands should be washed clean of the smell of food. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to say, The believer puts food into one stomach, the unbeliever into seven." Wisdom will not enter a stomach stuffed with food. The less a man eats, the less he drinks; and the less he drinks, the less he sleeps; and the less he sleeps, the more blessed will be his old age. The more a man eats, the more he drinks; and the more a man drinks, the heavier will he sleep; and whoever sleeps heavily, loses the blessings of old age. If a man is satisfied before he is full, then the better will his body be nourished, and the better will be the state of his self and his heart - but as for the man who is full up with food, his body will be badly nourished, his self will be in a bad state, and his heart will grow hard. So avoid too much food, for it poisons the heart, slows down the limbs of the body in the obedience that is due to Allah, and closes the ears to His commands.
Plato said, "Whoever goes out into the open before going to sleep will certainly retain the beauty of his complexion." Indeed the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, commanded this, according to the hadith transmitted by al-Barr ibn 'Azib, when he said, "Before you go to sleep, do wudu just as you do before ,doing the prayer." This is a sound and reliable hadith.