الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي فَضَّلَنَا عَلَى كَثِيرٍ مِّنْ عِبَادِهِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

Prophet’s Guidance on prohibiting the use of what Allah Has Forbidden for medicinal purposes

روى أبو داود فى "سننه" من حديث أبى الدرداء رضى الله عنه قال: قال رسولُ الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: "إنَّ اللهَ أَنْزَلَ الدَّاءَ وَالدَّوَاء، وَجَعَلَ لِكُلِّ داءٍ دواءً، فَتَدَاوَوْا، ولا تَدَاوَوْا بِالْمُحَرَّم

Abu Dawood narrated that Abu Ad-Dardaa Radi Allaho Anh reported, that the Messenger of Allah (Sallallaho Alaihe Wasallam) said: "Allah Has Sent down the disease and cure and has created the cure for every disease. Seek the cure, but do not use what has been prohibited for medicinal purposes".

وذكر البخارى فى "صحيحه" عن ابن مسعود:"إنَّ اللهَ لَمْ يَجْعَلْ شِفَاءَكُمْ فِيمَا حَرَّمَ عليكم".وفى "السنن" عن أبى هريرة، قال: نهى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم عَنِ الدَّوَاءِ الخَبِيثِ

Bukhari narrated that Ibn Masud Radi Allaho Anh said “Verily Allah has not made your cure in that which has been forbidden for you". Furthermore, in the Sunan [Abu Dawood and Tirmizi], it is narrated that Abu Hurayrah Radi Allaho Anh said: "The Messenger of Allah has disallowed using impure (prohibited) substances for medicinal purposes".

وفى "صحيح مسلم" عن طارق بن سُوَيد الجُعفىِّ، أنه سأل النبىَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم عن الخمر، فنهاه، أو كَرِهَ أن يصنَعَها، فقال: إنما أصنعُها للدواء، فقال: "إنَّه لَيْسَ بِدَوَاءٍ ولكنَّهُ دَاءٌ

Imam Muslim narrated that Tariq Ibn Suwayd Radi Allaho Anh said that he asked Prophet Muhammad Sallallaho Alaihe Wasallam about alcohol and that he disallowed it and hated if someone makes it. Tariq asked again "If only make it for medicinal purposes". Prophet Muhammad Sallallaho Alaihe Wasallam said: "It is not a cure. Rather, it is a disease".

وفى "السنن" أنه صلى الله عليه وسلم سُئل عن الخمر يُجْعَل فى الدَّواء، فقال: "إنَّهَا دَاءٌ ولَيسَتْ بِالدَّوَاءِ" رواه أبو داود، والترمذى

In the Sunan, it is narrated that Prophet Muhammad Sallallaho Alaihe Wasallam was asked about A1-Khamr [alcohol] for medicinal purposes. Our beloved Prophet said: "Verily that it is not a cure, rather it is a disease". (Abu Dawood and Tirmizi)

وفى "صحيح مسلم" عن طارق بن سُويدٍ الحضرمى ؛ قال: قلت: يا رسول الله ؛ إنَّ بأرضنا أعناباً نَعتصِرُها فنشرب منها، قال: "لا". فراجعتُه، قلتُ: إنَّا نستشفى للمريض قال: "إنَّ ذَلِكَ لَيْسَ بِشِفَاءٍ وَلَكِنَّهُ دَاءٌ

In addition, Muslim narrated that Tariq bin Suwayd A1-Hadhrami said, "I said, O Messenger of Allah, there are some vines in our land that we squeeze (for alcohol) and that we drink from". He said, "Do not drink it". So I went back to him and said, ‘We use it for medicinal purposes.’ He said: "It is not a cure. Rather, it is a disease".

وفى "سنن النسائى" أنَّ طبيباً ذَكر ضِفْدَعاً فى دواءٍ عند رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، فنهاه عن قَتْلِها

Al-Nasa’i narrated that a doctor mentioned using frogs to make medicine and Prophet Muhammad Sallallaho Alaihe Wasallam prohibited killing the frog for that purpose. [Abu Dawood, Ahmad]

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Using what Allah has prohibited in medicines is an evil act according to the religion and the mind. As for the religion, we mentioned several Ahadeeth on this subject.

As for the mind, Allah Has Prohibited whatever substances He Has Disliked, because they are impure. Further, Allah Has never Disallowed a good, beneficial matter for the Muslims, as He Has decided in the case of the Children of Israel:

فَبِظُلْمٍ مِّنَ الَّذِينَ هَادُواْ حَرَّمْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ طَيِّبَاتٍ أُحِلَّتْ لَهُمْ

"For the wrong-doing of the Jews, We Made unlawful for them certain good foods which had been lawful for them, and for their hindering many from Allah’s Way. Allah Has Prohibited some matters and substances because of the harm that they carry and to save His slaves from such harm. It is not suitable that the slaves seek these harmful substances for medicinal purposes. Even if such substances appear to have an effect on the disease, they bring about a more serious illness in the heart because they are impure and unclean, in this ease, the sick person who uses what Allah Has Disallowed for medicinal purposes might be able to remove the physical illness; but would cause himself a more serious disease in the heart.

Furthermore, Muslims are required to avoid what Allah Has Disallowed, while using them in medicine means that one will not avoid them, as the religion requires. This is the opposite of what the prohibitions seek to achieve. In addition, what Allah Has Prohibited is a disease, as the religion states by words of Prophet Muhammad Sallallaho Alaihe Wasallam. Therefore, Muslims are not allowed to use it as a medicine. Furthermore, prohibited substances effect the heart and soul and make them impure, since the various substances that the body consumes effect the body. When a substance causes an evil outcome in the body, the nature of the body will acquire this evil temperament, What about if the substance is impure and evil itself ? In this case, when the substance is impure, the body becomes impure as well. This is why Allah Has Prohibited the impure types of foods, drinks and clothes because of the evil effects that such substances have on the body and soul. Allowing the use of prohibited substances for medicinal purposes will later on encourage taking these substances to satisfy desire and the lust, especially when the heart likes such substances. This is especially the case when the heart thinks that such substances cure the illnesses of the body, thus making them even more desirable and likable. The religion, on the other hand, has closed the door to consuming or using prohibited substances. There is a contradiction if the religion closes the door to using prohibited substances on one hand and opens the door to using them in other instances on the other hand.

In addition, prohibited substances (that people might use in medicine) can cause more types of harm than the harm that they might remove. For instance, the mother of all evil substances, alcohol, which Allah Has not Made a cure or a remedy, is very harmful to the brain, which controls the body, according to the doctors and many scholars of Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence). Hippocrates, for example, said while discussing serious illnesses, ‘Alcohol has a serious damaging effect on the brain, because it reaches the brain quickly along with some other harmful substances that the body contains, thus causing damage to the brain The author of Al-Qanoon (Ibn e Seena) said, "Drinking Alcohol brings harm to the brain and the nervous system".

There are two other types of disallowed medicines, one that the heart does not like, such as snake's meat and poisons. Such substances are heavy on the heart and the stomach (yet alone being dangerous), and are thus a disease not a cure. There are some other medicines that are not disliked themselves, such as some drinks that pregnant women take. These substances carry more harm than benefit, and consequently, the mind and the religion collaborate on disliking them.

There is another wisdom behind disallowing prohibited substances as a medicine. That is that a condition that the medicine works is one’s belief that it would work and bring the cure by Allah's blessing. Indeed, whatever is beneficial is blessed, and the more benefit it carries, the more blessing it will bring about. What people consider the most blessed is the substance that (they think) carries the most benefit. A Muslim on the other hand, believes that what Allah Has Disallowed is not beneficial or blessed. Consequently, he will not have a good idea about the disallowed substance and his system will not accept it. Rather, the stronger the slave’s faith is, the more he hates the disallowed substances and believes that it is impure. In this case, if the slave takes such a substance, it will indeed be a disease not a cure for him, unless he believes that it is pure and thus his dislike for it subsides. Therefore, the believer will not accept the disallowed substance and will consider it a disease, otherwise he will be contradicting the Faith.

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