Quran's Scientific and Social Theories, Part 2 By Javed Jamil

While health has secondary importance in the current international systems, economics being its pivot, in Islam, health is one of the defining and deciding factors in the over-all definition of peace, which includes health as one of it most important constituents. Health is therefore not to be ignored in the over all scheme of things; what endangers health is unacceptable for Islam, the degree of unacceptability depending upon the dangers posed by a certain practice or item.

All the three dimensions of Islam’s three-dimensional system, viz. Fundamental Duties, Fundamental Prohibitions and Fundamental Rights are meant to ensure total health (physical, mental, social and spiritual well being) along with other objectives.

In Islam’s three-tier social system that gives equal importance to individual, family and society, individual’s health, family health and public health, all are extremely important, and any activity that seriously hampers any aspect of the three is either prohibited or restricted.

Even Social and Preventive Medicine (Community Medicine), which is currently taught and followed all over the world has a stamp of economic fundamentalism. Islamic models of different health related programmes are to be based primarily on health considerations rather than the economic ones. Even the social and economic programmes have to be made consistent with the demands of comprehensive health. This is what I call Therapeutic Sociology and will be dealt with in detail later.

Tongue

Teeth, gums and jaw

Lower lips, lips and upper lip

nasal passage

nose

eye

forehead

cheek, ear, chin,

thumb, and other fingers

hands

Wrist

Forearm

Elbow

Arm

Shoulder

head

Neck

Trunk

Hip

Leg, toes and foot

The mapping is not in the order like head, face, trunk, hands, foot etc, but according to the spinal enervation. So is the order in the Wudu.

Mouth is rinsed first and the face is washed later. This is exactly the sequence the homunculus shows.

Again, instead of rubbing head along with the face, hands and forearms are washed first and then head is rubbed. This again is according to the sequence shown in the map.

In Wudu, first hands are washed followed by wrist, forearm and elbow. Homunculus gain depicts the same sequence, not from elbow to hand.

It is also highly significant that Homunculus, the mini man on the map, is a highly distorted image of man. This is because the representation of different organs on the map is not in accordance with what the human image is but in accordance with the sensitiveness of different organs in the brain. Thus the mini-man has very big lips, very big hands, face and feet. The portion from the neck to the legs occupies hardly 15-18 per cent of the mini-man. This means that by washing only certain portions in the Wudu, one activates almost the entire mini-man inside the brain.

There are very specific cortical paths, which also explain why the face is washed simultaneously with both hands while other left and right extremities are washed one after another. This is because both the parts of the face, right and left, are represented in both portions of the brains. In contrast, extremities are only represented on the opposite side.

The head and feet are extremely sensitive superficially, so mere rubbing of them would also serve the purpose of activating the brain.

The homunculus plays an extremely significant role in temperature control mechanism of the body. In he events of the infarction of this area of the brain, there are huge temperature regulation failures on the corresponding sides of the body.

The cortical area covered by the hands is one of the largest. If the more sensitive areas are stimulated first, they can immediately call the body to bring out proper responses. For example if the hands are put into cold water, the blood vessels may constrict resulting in decreased loss of heat from the body. Though in Wudu, the first portion to be washed is mouth, hands are washed before that to ensure that the water does not become dirty. In doing so, the brain also gets acclimatised to the warmth of the water.

As is seen in the picture of mini-man as mapped in the brain, hands and face occupy the largest portions and cover more than 65% of the total area. By therefore rubbing these portions, as in Tayammum, too, a very significant portion of the brain is activated. (In Tayammum, which is done in absence of water, hands and face are rubbed with sand or soil.)

In Wudu, only those parts are washed or rubbed, which are normally exposed to atmosphere and are easy to wash. In Ghusl (bathing), the whole body is washed, and Islamic ghusl again follows the pattern in the homunculus.

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Quran’s theory of Society

Quran’s theory of Law…and much more

Dr Javed Jamil,

Executive Chairman

International Centre for Applied Islamics

India

Earth, a planet hungry for peace


The Israeli Land-Grab Apartheid Wall built inside the Palestinian territories, here separating Abu Dis from occupied East Jerusalem. (IPC, 7/4/04).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03).

References