A Saudi researcher in Shariah law find that there is precedent to ban Umrah pilgrims (those who undertake the non-obligatory, ‘lesser’ pilgrimage) who come from areas beset with the A/H1N1 or swine flu virus. I suspect that this opinion is being floated now in anticipation of the Haj, which will take place in late November. The Haj is obligatory, in that every Muslim is required to perform the pilgrimage at least once in his/her life, if feasible.
Similar concerns were raised a few years ago, when bird flu (H5N1) was threatening. One Saudi scholar called for Haj to be canceled if there were a severe outbreak, but that proposal was shot down by others. The argument was that Haj had never been canceled on public health grounds and that to do so would be counter to Islam. Rather, those who are ill are morally obliged to not perform Haj.
Communicable diseases and Haj are historical companions. There are many records of outbreaks of disease, from plague to cholera, killing thousands in Mecca, Madinah, and Jeddah over the years. Only toward the end of the 19th C. did strictly enforced quarantines [210-page PDF] work to stop the spread of diseases out of the region, back to the homes of the pilgrims. Quarantines and strict enforcement of medical screening can protect pilgrims and that might be enough. Only time will tell. Swine flu, as bird flu before it, may turn out to be a non-issue. If it does not, however, it good that people are starting to think about it now.
Researcher backs ban on Umrah pilgrims from swine flu countries
Abdullah Al-DaniJEDDAH – A Shariah Law researcher and academic at Al-Qassim University has given his support to the view that officials should ban Umrah pilgrims from countries with cases of swine flu from entering the Kingdom.
Dr. Abdullah Al-Sehaibani said that Shariah Law permits such a move and that it is the duty of officials to carry it out.
Al-Sehaibani said that precedence existed in the Prophet’s Sunnah in the action taken by Caliph Omar Ibn Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) when he traveled to Ash-Shaam but declined to enter the region.
Al-Sehaibani further cites the Prophet’s saying (hadith): “If you hear of plague in a land do not enter it and if it occurs in a land where you are, do not leave the place.”
From this saying, Al-Sehaibani said, religious scholars have derived the principle of health quarantine on a people such that nobody enters or leaves their region.
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May:08:2009 - 07:57
Somebody told me the Qarantina district of Jeddah (home to a lot of East Africans and very poor people with huge areas that look like East African townships) is called that because it’s where people were Quaratined.
May:08:2009 - 07:57
Sounds entirely reasonable.
May:08:2009 - 07:57
Yeah, but this same person told me there are no dogs in Jeddah because years ago a lot of Koreans worked here and that he knows a guy who swears that his relative cast a spell and created a flock of pigeons on his vacation in Morocco .
May:08:2009 - 07:57
That’s the problem with unreliable witnesses… if they were reliably wrong, it’d be no problem!
May:08:2009 - 07:57
Re: Qarantina district in Jeddah.
The story is true. The official name of the district is “Al Mahjar” which is Quarantine in Arabic.
May:08:2009 - 07:57
[...] CrossRoads Arabia, John Burgess explains: A Saudi researcher in Shariah law find that there is precedent to ban [...]
May:08:2009 - 07:57
[...] CrossRoads Arabia, John Burgess explains: A Saudi researcher in Shariah law find that there is precedent to ban [...]
May:08:2009 - 07:57
SWINES IN TOP HATS SWINDLE
Glaxo is just a marketing hand
so who sold that vacc to the whole world carrying seeds of the next pandemic?
What state, what monster?
When failed, getting away to try again?
Like Oklahoma
your comment must be approved by
OH YEAH?
guess where all the internet monitoring flows to and you guessed where that vaccine maker sits
According to a list compiled by Dr. Patricia Doyle at rense.com, a host of strange ingredients are used to make up Hoffman-La Roche’s anti-flu drug Tamiflu, which has recently been connected with bizarre behavior,
Patients using Tamiflu — which many nations are stocking up on as a way to combat a possible pandemic of the deadly H5N1 bird flu — reported delirium, hallucinations, delusions, convulsions, disturbed consciousness and abnormal behavior. The FDA reports that side effects reported with Tamiflu include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bronchitis, stomach pain, dizziness and headache.
ANTI-MONOPOLISTS VERY QUIET ON JUST ONE FIRM ”SERVING” THE WHOLE WORLD