Did you know that the Persian scholar of medicine, Ibn Sina
(980-1037) suspected that some diseases were spread by microorganisms? To
prevent human-to-human contamination, he came up with the method of isolating
people for 40 days. He called this method al-Arba'iniya ("the
forty"). Traders from Venice heard of his successful method and took this
knowledge back to contemporary Italy. They called it "quarantena"
("the forty" in Italian). This is where the word
"quarantine" comes from. The origin of the methods currently being
used in much of the world to fight pandemics have their origins in the Islamic
world. Allah says in the Quran: "Who saves one human life, it is as if he
has saved all mankind" (5:32). Even today Ibn Sina's method saves
thousands of lives. Ma sha Allah, that is
another legacy filled with barakah!
Note: Ibn Sina's full name was Abu Ali AlHussein Ibn Abdullah
Ibn Sina. In the west he is also known by the Latin version of his name:
Avicenna.
photographer: moustapha shirmuhammadi