Nabi Muhammad’s (صلى الله عليه وسلم) Medical Advice about Water
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Allah the most high said: And We have made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe? [ Al-Anbiya 40].It consists of hydrogen and oxyegen-H20. It’s the most essential factor to health; in fact it’s more than two thirds of our body. Our brain is 95% water, blood is 82% and our lungs are 90% water. Without water we would die. Nabi (ﷺ) gave etiquettes to how we should drink and use water. This advice was taken from a classical work titled, “ The Encyclopedia of Prophetic medicine”, by Abu Nuaym Al-Asfahani (430 H). This book details many illnesses and cures through holistic medicine inspired by divine revelation.
The Sweetest Tasting Water
The water from as-Suqya’ was considered the sweetest by the Prophet (ﷺ). Qutaybah said: it was a well on two days’ journey from Medina.
Water on an empty stomach cools the liver and water drank on a full stomach arouses desires.
Abu Hurayrah (Radi Allahu anhu) narrated the Prophet (ﷺ) said: “ The first thing said to the slave on the Day of Resurrection will be: “ Did I not give you a healthy body and cold water to drink?
The Best way to cool water is under a tree or in high place with shade.
“The Prophet (ﷺ) went out during an hour in which he would normally not go out, nor meet with anyone. Then Abu Bakr (Radi Allahu anhu) came to him. So he said:”What brought you O Abu Bakr?” He said: “I came to meet the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and to look at his face, and to make sure he was safe. It was not long before ‘Umar (Radi Allahu anhu) came. He said: “What has brought you O ‘Umar ?” He said: “Hunger O Messenger of Allah!”He said: “I also experienced some of that”
So they went to the home of Abu Al-Haitham At-Taiyyihan Al-Ansari (Radi Allahu anhu). He was a man with many date-palms and sheep, but he had no servants so they did not find him there. They said to his wife: “Where is your companion?” She said: “He has gone to fetch us some good water.” It was not long before Abu Al-Haitham came along hauling to a large water-skin which he put down. Then he came to hug the Prophet (ﷺ) and uttered that his father and mother should be ransomed for him. Then he went to grove of his and he spread out a mat for them. Then he went to a date-palm and returned with a cluster of dates which he put down. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: “Why don’t you select some ripe dates for us?” He said: “O Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)! I wanted you to select from the ripe dates and the unripe dates.” So they ate and they drank from that water. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “By the One in Whose Hand is my soul! This is among the favors which you shall be asked about on the Day of Judgement. Cool shade, tasty ripe dates, and cool water.”
The Water from the Longest River is the Purest.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Euphrates and Nile are all among the rivers of Paradise.
The best water is the kind that is filtered then left calm until its deposits sink to the bottom.
The Prophet (ﷺ) went to visit a man of the Ansar accompanied by one of his Companions who was watering his garden. The Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) said: If you have any water which has remained over night in a skin (we should like it), or shall sip (from a streamlet).
Fresh Water is better to wash with than Salt water. Using Salt Water for wudu and Ghusl causes itchy skins rashes and skin sores.
I heard Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) saying, “If there was a river at the door of anyone of you and he took a bath in it five times a day would you notice any dirt on him?” They said, “Not a trace of dirt would be left.” The Prophet (ﷺ) added, “That is the example of the five prayers with which Allah blots out (annuls) evil deeds.”
A Watering place where animals come to get water from in the South
Allah’s Messener (ﷺ) The worst well on the face of the Earth is the spring in Yemen known as the valley of Barhoot.
Water from the sky is the clearest and most soothing as long as it isn’t stagnant in a vessel for a long period of time.
Sa’eed Al-Khudri (Radi Allahu anhu) narrated the Prophet (ﷺ) passed by river on a hot summer day and the people had walked quite a bit. They were fasting ( and tired)so they stopped at the river bank and fell asleep. The Prophet (ﷺ) ordered them to drink the water.
The Best water for any kind of healing is Zamzam.
Ibn Abbas reported: The Messsenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “The best water on the face of the earth is Zamzam water. In it is food for nourishment and healing for illness.”
Jabir bin ‘Abdullah said:“I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: ‘The water of Zamzam is for whatever it is drunk for.’”
How to drink water according to the Sunnah
Imām al-Bukhārī narrates through Abū Qatādah from his father that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: “When one of you drinks (from a vessel), let him not breathe into it.” It is also related by Muslim, al-Tirmidhī.
And Abū Dāwūd narrated through Ibn ʿAbbās who said: “The Messenger of Allāh (صلى الله عليه وسلم) prohibited from breathing into a vessel or blowing into it.”
Drinking Hot Water
‘Uqbah ibn ‘Aamir (Radiyallahu anhu) narrated: “The Prophet (ﷺ) disliked drinking hot water. “
Swamp and flood waters cause respiratory illnesses in the environment.
Narrated `Aisha (Radi Allahu anha)
When Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) reached Medina, Abu Bakr (Radi Allahu anhu) and Bilal (Radi Allahu anhu) became ill. When Abu Bakr’s (Radi Allahu anhu) fever got worse, he would recite (this poetic verse): “Everybody is staying alive with his People, yet Death is nearer to him than His shoe laces.” And Bilal (Radi Allahu anhu), when his fever deserted him, would recite: “Would that I could stay overnight in A valley wherein I would be Surrounded by Idhkhir and Jalil (kinds of good smelling grass). Would that one day I could Drink the water of the Majanna, and Would that (The two mountains) Shama and Tafil would appear to me!”
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “O Allah! Curse Shaiba bin Rabi`a and `Utba bin Rabi`a and Umaiya bin Khalaf as they turned us out of our land to the land of epidemics.” Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) then said, “O Allah! Make us love Medina as we love Mecca or even more than that. O Allah! Give blessings in our Sa and our Mudd (measures symbolizing food) and make the climate of Medina suitable for us, and divert its fever towards Aljuhfa.” Aisha added: When we reached Medina, it was the most unhealthy of Allah’s lands, and the valley of Bathan (the valley of Medina) used to flow with impure colored water.
May Allah Ta’ala give us Taufeeq and Understanding
