After having completed the discussion on the need for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to align SDG 1 (No Poverty) and SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) with the Islamic economic principles in the 57 Islamic countries to accelerate the process of materializing the goals by or before 2030, I have now picked SDG 3 titled ‘Good Health and Well-Being’. In the following articles, I shall examine the importance of this goal and provide the Islamic perspective on maintaining good health and well-being.
Before I commence the discussion, it is important to understand the difference between good health and well-being and why the UNDP has clubbed them together.
As per the UNDP, good health directly relates to the care of the human body and everything that can be done to protect it from harm, sickness and intoxication, and enable everyone’s access to healthcare. On the other hand, well-being is a feeling of satisfaction with life, a state characterized by health, happiness and prosperity together.
To provide a better perspective, I will continue to read the UNDP’s document available on its website. Health is core to human development. Just as health shapes development, development shapes health. The SDGs recognize that a wide range of health challenges strongly affect social and economic development, and that investments in health and other areas of development are mutually reinforcing.
Major global health priorities identified under SDG 3 include both infectious and noncontagious diseases, substance abuse, sexual and reproductive health, universal coverage of essential health services and medicines, in addition to the health impact of pollution, tobacco control, research and development for medicines and vaccines, sustainable financing for health projects, the trained health workforce, regulatory frameworks that promote access to medicines and vaccines and strengthening the capacity of countries to address health emergencies.
SDG Target 3.8 on universal health coverage aims to ensure that all people in the world obtain needed preventive, curative and rehabilitative health services without any financial hardship. This target represents achieving universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential healthcare services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all and sundry.
Certainly, the joint tag covers a very wide range of services which to me looks highly ambitious and a pipe dream to be fulfilled in the remaining less than seven years from the deadline. However, as we say in Dubai, nothing is impossible and impossible is nothing; the meeting of this goal requires an all-inclusive approach from public and private sector entities besides the philanthropist high-net-worth individuals.
In my opinion, SDG 1 and SDG 3 are interconnected in that without health, it will be difficult to get out of poverty on two counts: first, a sick family member takes away a major part of a household’s budget on account of treatment and medicines, and on the other hand, the sick person remains incapacitated to earn any income until attaining the health and gaining the strength to return to what he or she was engaged with before falling sick. In case of a terminal illness in the family, the situation becomes dire to make ends meet, including trying various expensive treatments with a ray of hope.
Now, let’s look at the Islamic perspective on the objectives of SDG 3. Islam emphasizes on good health being the second gift from Allah the Most Exalted after faith or Iman. However, in case of falling sick, Prophet Muhammad instructed Muslims to seek treatment. It was narrated by companion Usamah Shareek: “I was sitting with the Prophet, and some people came to him asking: ‘O Messenger of Allah, should we take medicines for any disease?’ He said: ‘Yes, O You servants of Allah take medicine as Allah has not created a disease without creating a cure except for one.’ They asked which one. He replied: ‘Old age’.”
Muslims have been strongly urged to maintain good health by following Islamic teachings. It has been observed that the major sicknesses are caused in the world using substances strictly prohibited in Islam. As such, the first line of defense is made fairly strong in Islam but at the same time, it is also a matter of faith. A Muslim with strong faith will never go near the harmful things no matter how much persuasion is applied on him but a Muslim with weak faith will fall for them. I have personally seen the people who crossed the red line usually have weak faith and as a result, the suffering goes on by themselves and their families including their own children since they get hooked to the use of forbidden materials, the worst of them being drug abuse.
So, if a person keeps away from all that have been forbidden in Islam, notably booze, drugs, pork and to some extent cigarettes, cigars and the other social aspects where the line has been clearly drawn, will it be guaranteed that he or she will always enjoy good health and will never fall sick? No, a healthy person with strong faith may also fall sick at times with Allah’s will to test his or her faith and also to purify him or her and increase his or her status in exchange for the illness if borne out with forbearance. Modern medical science also favors falling sick from time to time to strengthen the immune system.
The purpose of this educative series and the article is not to hurt any religious or commercial sentiments either consciously or even unwittingly.
Sohail Zubairi is an Islamic finance specialist, AAOIFI-certified Shariah advisor and auditor as well as CIAE-certified Islamic arbitrator and expert. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Next week: Discussion on SDG 3 shall be expanded.