Thoughts on the Ebola outbreak from an Islamic perspective. The western nations are starting to panic. What started out in March of this year as a tiny outbreak in West Africa (Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia) is becoming, as Dr. Margaret Chan, Director General of WHO, stated ‘unquestionably the most severe acute public health emergency in modern times,’ and ‘a crisis for international peace and security.” 1. Controlling disease spread When it comes to highly contagious communicable diseases, Islam has given guidance. Sure they didn’t have Ebola in the time of the Prophet (saws) but they did have plague. The Prophet (saws) said, If you hear about it (the plague) in a land that you are in, do not run away from it, and if you hear that it broke out in a certain land, do not enter that land. (Bukhari and others). The second part of this hadith is pretty obvious but the first part is more difficult to realise. The natural response of a person confronted with a highly contagious disease whose kill rate is 60-70% is to run. However the hadith is clear not to run. What would motivate a person not to run though? The Prophet (saws) gave an incentive like no other. He said when asked about the plague by his wife Aisha (ra), ‘plague was a punishment which Allah used to send on whom He wished, but Allah made it a blessing for the believers. None (among the believers) remains patient in a land in which plague has broken out and considers that nothing will befall him except what Allah has ordained for him, but that Allah will grant him a reward similar to that of a martyr.’ The reward of the shuhada (the martyrs) is amongst the greatest rewards of all in Islam and it is given to the one who is patient and does not leave the area of plague. This is tied with Islamic concepts of tawaqqul and knowing that life and death lie solely in His (swt) hands. Islam therefore lays down the basis of controlling disease spread. 2. Finding a cure. The Prophet (saws) said, ‘“There is no disease that Allah has sent down except that He also has sent down its treatment.’ (Bukhari). What caught my attention was something Dr Chan pointed out, ‘Ebola emerged 40 years ago, and there are no vaccines or other remedies because it has traditionally been confined to poor African countries. A profit-driven pharmaceutical industry had no incentive to make products for countries that could not pay.’ She emphasized, ‘the dangers of the world’s growing social and economic inequalities,’ where ‘the rich get the best care,’ and ‘the poor are left to die.’ Such is the reality of Western Capitalist nations today. Pharmaceutical companies are private businesses. Developing medicines are expensive in terms of research and development and the companies need to recoup their investments. Producing vaccines for poor people is not economically worthwhile as they and the poor governments can not pay for it. To be able to take on such massive initial costs one would need government intervention to foot the bill. But Western governments do not care about the few black people dying in a far away land. Ebola was fist reported in 1976 and has been confined to sub-Saharan Africa. Normally fewer than 500 cases occur each year. No cases at all were reported between 1979 and 1994, however, the 2014 outbreak dwarfs all previous outbreaks. Indeed Western nations haven’t cared until recently when Ebola has moved out of Africa and all predictions are pointing to further spread. The deaths of over 4000 people hasnt moved them but with cases in the USA and in Spain, Western governments are starting to taking notice. Some are trying to fast track vaccines through human trial phases. Others are introducing screening at airports and gearing up their health services. However, as one Cambridge virologist said the other day, ‘these measures are 40 years too late’. He explained that as Ebola was discovered 38 years ago, by this time a vaccine probably would have been developed. But as it was an African problem affecting poor people it wasn’t important for the West. Now the costs will be massive in terms of screening, detection, quarantine, medical support etc. So what does Islam have to offer? Although there isn’t necessarily any restrictions on private pharmaceutical companies, the Islamic state has a duty to provide free health care to its population. This extends to pharmaceuticals and it is the state that will facilitate and fund the necessary research and development. It incentivises scientists not with patents but with well paid salaries, respect and knowledge that, ‘if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind.’ (Quran 5:32). Islam doesn’t see dollar and pound signs attached to some people and not to others. Rather it sees people as human beings who have rights and responsibilities and the role of the state and its politicians is to serve the people and their needs. As Umar al Khattab (ra) once said, ‘I am accountable if a goat falls on a broken mountain path and hurts his leg.’ Sadly this is a far cry from the reality of our lands today. Our nations are not poor but our wealth is being squandered by the corrupt leaders and their cronies whose whole purpose it to ensure that they remain in power and that the interests of foreign nations are served. It is no lie then when I say that the whole world is crying out for the return of Islam that will provide an alternative to the current systems. An Nahda
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 20:17:40 +0000
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