Leprosy Disease: An Islamic Historical and Pakistani Context

Abstract

Leprosy disease or the disease of Hasan is a very chronic and contagious disease which occurs due to bacteria named mycobacterium Leprae. It is one of those ancient diseases which inflicted individuals all over the globe; along with, many people at Arab in early times of Islam. There was no cure of this disease and many people died. It also affected people at the time of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh); as well as, in the Ummayyid and Abbasid dynasties.  In Islam, different kinds of terminologies are used for the leprosy disease such as baras and jhadham. All the kinds of leprosy disease such as borderline kind, lepromatous and tubercloid are very severe kind of diseases. It affects an individual psychologically, mentally, physically, socially and economically. In early times, this disease was regarded incurable. But on the other hand, Allah Almighty has not made any disease of which there is no cure. At an early phase the medicine or vaccine for curing patient was not available. However, later on, the medicine of the disease has been developed for its treatment. The purpose of conducting research on Leprosy disease is to find the Islamic account on leprosy disease; along with, the rulings of Islam on those afflicted with leprosy disease. The research also find out that how it affects an individual and what attempts have been made from an early time till now for controlling and combating the disease. The research methodology for carrying out the study is qualitative. The sources used for the study are the primary and secondary sources. The reader will come to know about the causes and effects of leprosy disease. The teachings of Quran and hadith of the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) for the affected lepers. They will also come to know about the preventive and precautionary measures along with initiatives made for the leprosy disease patients. Lastly, they will also come to know that in the global world, Pakistan being the first Asian country recognized by World Health Organization in controlling the disease.