Amatullah Husna: Welcome to this world

While preparing for the birth of our daughter, I take some time out to research on what are the regulations regarding the newborns.

Azan & Iqamah to baby's ear

Despite the widespread practice, some scholars actually regard the evidence to be weak. There are 3 hadiths in this area, one of them considered as weak by Al-Albani, the other 2 considered as fabricated.

The one that was considered weak only mentioned calling of the azan in the ear, without mentioning iqamah or which side of the ear it was called into. Islamonline.net took this stand.

Tahneek

It has been authentically related from the practice of sahabah with the prophet:

Abu Musa, may Allah be pleased with him, narrates: "A son was born to me, and I took him to the Prophet who named him Ibrahim, did Tahneek for him with a date, invoked Allah to bless him, then he returned him back to me.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

Another hadith explained how the prophet did this. He took some dates, chewed on them, mixing them with his saliva, opened the baby mouth, and rubbed the chewed dates inside the baby's mouth. He also supplicated and invoked blessing for him. (Bukhari & Muslim)

As you can see, this should be done as soon as we have the oppurtunity. Probably best not to wait for the time of aqiqah. However, because it is recommended to get the 'alim to do tahnik, then some people delay it to the time when the person becomes available.

Aqiqah

It refers to animals slaughtered as a sacrifice for a newborn child. 2 sheeps for a boy and one sheep for a girl (Abu Dawud - sahih by al-Albani). Whether it is obligatory or only recommended, scholars differs. Both have their valid arguments, but al-Jibaly in his book consider it to be waajib.

Few authentic hadith suggested that aqiqah can be performed on 7th day, 14th day or 21st day. Prophet himself performed aqiqah on himself after he was appointed as prophet (Recorded by at-Tahawi, sahih by al-Albani)

There is no specific hadith recommending what to do with the meat. Some scholars made analogy with udhiyah (eid sacrifice) - dividing into 3 parts, eating one part, feeding the 2nd and giving the rest as charity.

Feast is optional, falls under the category of encouragement of feeding others. The basic idea of aqiqah is sacrifice, not the feast itself. So, buying meat over the counter to do a feast is not part of aqiqah.

Shaving the head

Shaving the head of a newborn is done usually together with performing aqiqah (slaughtering), based on a hadith that mentioned both shaving & aqiqah in one sentence. The head should be shaved completely, and charity is to be given equal to its weight in silver (Recorded by AHmad - hasan by al-Albani).

1 gram of silver roughly equivalent to €15 (as of 31/5/2010)

Naming the newborn

It is the responsibility of the parents to name the newborn with a good name. What are good names? Islamically, the prophet said that the best and most beloved names to Allah are Abdullah & Abdul Rahman (Muslim)

Although it is recommended to name the child using prophetic name (including Muhammad), but we have to beware that there are fabricated hadith in this matter, such as the following:

Anyone who was granted three sons and did not name any of them Muhammad has indeed acted ignorantly (Recorded by Al-Tabarani - verified to be fabricated by al-Albani).

There are names which specifically should be avoided as mentioned in authentic hadith. The names like Aflah (successful), Nafi (useful), Rabah (winner), Yasar (facilitation), Barakah (blessing), Najih (successful), Ya'la (high). Ulama agree that the names mentioned are merely disliked but not fully prohibited, as the Prophet has a servant named Rabah, and he did not change it (Bukhari). The dislike might be due to the names constitute self praise or glorification. That is why certain people avoid this by naming their kids with the names of flowers (which has no self praise) like Orked, Naurah, Zainab etc. Wallahua'lam.

Circumcision

This has become a big issue since the ban of female genital mutilation, which without doubt happen in certain muslim countries. In the severest category, female genital mutilation involves removal of clitoris and labia minora, and stitching together labia majora, only leaving a small opening for urine and menstruation. The opening of the stitches often is a part of wedding night ritual. The mildest version of female circumcision is clitoridectomy, which is removal of all or part of the clitoris. Clitoridectomy was actually promoted in US & UK in 19th and 20th century as 'a cure for lesbian practices, masturbation, hysteria, epilepsy or nervousness.'

In Islam, to say that female circumcision has no basis at all is clearly not right. The prophet mentioned: When the two locations of circumcision meet, ghusl become obligatory (Muslim) and few other similar sahih hadith. This indicates that female circumcision was a known and acceptable practice during prophetic time.

However, prophet also added: When you trim, do it slightly and not excessively. This would bring beauty to the woman's face and please her husband (Recorded by al-Tabarani, sahih by al-Albani).

Without a doubt that circumcision in man is obligatory and is part of the fitrah. The prophet even commanded Kulayb al-Juhani to get circumcised when he embraced Islam (Abu Dawud - hasan by al-Albani).

Although it is not a common practice in the west, scientific studies to the highest order including a few randomized control trials showed that circumcision reduced the risk of HIV transmission and coital injuries (which might explain the reduce risk of HIV transmission) in male.

The CDC held a two-day consultation in 2007 to obtain input on potential role of male circumcision in preventing transmission of HIV, and they agree that there are sufficient evidence that people should be informed of this option.

Nifaas

Through my reading, most of the scholars regard the starting of nifaas when a woman has a show (blood) with contraction. Usually this happens near enough to the time of delivery. The maximum number of days for nifaas can be 40 days (most scholars) based on some hadith, but Imam Shafie considered nifaas can be up to 60 days. Ibn Taymiyyah considered there is no limit to nifaas. In medical term, nifaas is called lochia (as far as i know). There is no definite period, but usually it lasts between 2 to 6 weeks (42 days).

My wife raised some valid question (for me). Generally the post partum bleeding is equivalent to blood coming from the separation of placenta and uterus, the same as blood in menstruation - it is the shedding of tissue from the uterus. That is why, if a person still have bleeding because of episiotomy post delivery/ C-section, and not because of placenta bleeding, that she needs to pray and fast. When the mother has a 'show', the current medical understanding say that this blood is coming from the injury to the cervix, not from the placenta. If this is so, then does it mean that the obligation to pray is not lifted? I wish that there will be O&G specialist with the help of the scholars to update these questions, using the light from sunnah and our understanding of labour.

So, do tahneek, perform Aqiqah, shave the head and bless our kids with good names. May a good start increase the chance of a good end.

@Peace.

Amatullah Husna

Islamic Medicine: Is it only honeys and bees?

To say that something is part of Islam, we have to have evidence for that. For example, car. If we say Islamic car, what does it mean? For me, it means a car with Islamic features on it. What is Islamic features? It means, the car was bought using legal means (not with riba), able to protect the people inside (safety, preservation of life - part of Islam) & function as what it should be, as well as used for things that are right Islamically (work, pray etc).

So, if I say Islamic medicine, what does it mean? The options would be:
- is it the old medicine of 10th- 15th century medicine during which Islam was at its peak of power?
- Is it natural medicine utilizing mostly hearbs, diet and lifestyle adjustment?
- Is it a medicine limited to the health related teachings found in the Quran and sunnah, for example, honey, Habbatussauda, dates, zamzam water etc?
- Could we include the current breed of medicine (of gene therapy and pharmacological intervention) as islamic medicine?

There are things mentioned directly in Quran and sunnah of the prophet as regard to ingredient that can cure ie: honey, dates etc. However, there are things that are indirectly mentioned in the sunnah. In sahih Bukhari, prophet said that Allah has made available a treatment of every illness except old age. So, indirectly any thing that can cure a disease could potentially be included as part of Islamic medicine - provided that it really can cure. So, does atorvastatin part of Islamic medicine? Is dialysis treatment part of islamic medicine? The answer (for me) is a resounding YES.

Other than modern medicine

I was against the use of complimentary medicine once upon a time. For me at that time, medicine is modern medicine, or nothing at all. You can see how shallow can that be. China has their own part of medicine (acupuncture, herbal) for thousands of years, which would not stand the test of time if it is not working. In the era of Islamic empire, muslim physicians was using remedy from all over the world to cure diseases. Aishah r.a was taking a lot of advices from Arabian tribes on how to cure the prophet during his last days of this life. Where is aspirin at that time? It is not that most of the modern medicine come from the natural ingredient? Evidence based medicine is used to sideline all this important measures. Although I fully support the use of evidence based medicine especially when the treatment is proven, there are thing that is just not possible to do randomized control trial. There has never been RCT on appendicectomy vs placebo. The RCT for haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis failed. There are times when we have to use our own logic when the evidence is not fully there.

Saying that, let us not go overboard. There are people who take advantages of the vulnerability of patients by offering them 'cure' when there is no evidence to their claim. They unfortunately often hide behind the curtain of so-called islamic medicine. Knowing that the people will not question anything about their religion (which for me is just wrong), they (the pratitioner) misguide people on their treatment often with a huge sum of money. I remember hearing about colour vibration therapy one day. I spent hours reading about it (concept), reading about the founder and reading about what it does. The degree is questionable through online university, and the concept does not agree with the current level of understanding. This is to say the least.

Al-Razi (Razes) (who describes the difference between measles and smallpox so vividly that little since has been added) define medicine as 'the art concerned in preserving healthy bodies, in combating disease, and in restoring health to the sick'. ie there is a prevention part and there is a treatment part of medicine.

Aim of medicine

As doctors, we deal with disease through a multidiciplinary approach, involving other specialties like pharmacist, dietitian, physiotherapy, social worker, priest/imam etc. Our aim is not only a physical cure, but a generealized sense of goodness in the patients' life - the quality of life. Patient with a stent after an MI, if he does not look after his diet/smoking, or he is not interested in taking the prescribed medication, or even protecting his family from similar disease that happens to him (by not smoking, good dietary advice etc), then little can be gain as a community. And what more can we ask as our ultimate aim (as muslims) if it is not for goodness in this world and hereafter?

If i am giving advice regarding how to treat an illness, then i believe we should do this through these steps:
- knowing that having illness is an oppurtunity for us to pause and reflect on our life. Probably we are moving too fast that we miss few things that are important in our life - our family, friends and our faith.
- having illness is an oppurtunity for us to expiate our sins
- making plenty of du'a & solat
- remembering death as a possible consequance of the illness, and prepare for it (update the will, increase charity etc)
- seeking help and advice on how to cure it. It might be just a simple change of diet, and stop from doing something harmful. Or we might need something further like medication or operation.
- when seeking for advice for treatment, i will start with a qualified physician. This is because modern medicine has been shown to offer the highest possible way of physical cure. I trust modern medicine as it has undergone vigorous trials to show that it works.

Islamic medicine can be applied not only to the honeys and bees (etc), but also to anything that cure (and proven that it cures), as long as it is islamically permissable.

DISCLAIMER

I am a qualified doctor (MB), so anybody who reads this might want to include that potential bias, although I strive to define Islamic medicine based on available evidence

@Peace