‘She lost her menses without being pregnant!’

Yes. She is nineteen years old. She is from a well-cultured family. She started her menses earlier than her mother. But that is no more a matter for wonderment in our world today. Girls aged between eight and nine now carry pregnancies faster than the womb that bore them. In this age of ours, the faster the child comes to the world, the quicker it loses its innocence!

One day the girl noticed that it had been two weeks since the day she ought to have seen her  menses. She wondered what could be responsible. She eventually confided in her mother. Her mother was stunned beyond words. Like the dutiful wife, she brought the case to the attention of her husband. “This is strange”, he muttered. Then he remembered the hadith narrated by Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (pbuh) said, “the Almighty (God) has not sent down a disease without having sent down its cure”. In other words, in Islam, there can hardly be a disease except that its remedies are made available to humanity.

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Without much ado, the father in the house stepped out with her daughter to seek necessary intervention. But he was confronted with the unexpected-for-inexplicable: he was told that in order for her daughter’s menses to flow again, the girl will have to take some drugs. The challenge, however, was that she would have to be on that drug for a long period of time!

Yes. There have been great advances in the medical profession. Ironically, there are still much more that the profession can do for humanity. In fact, the other day, the Minister of State for Health was on air trying to explain the necessity for people to take COVID-19 vaccine. I was fascinated by his candour, conduct and forthrightness. He affirmed what we all know- that medicine does not and cannot have answers to all questions bordering on healthy life and living; that there are thousands of ailments out there for which only the Almighty holds clues to their cure. He said one other thing of great solemnity and profundity- “every drug is a potential poison”.

Face to face with that difficult option of having his daughter placed on a drug regimen without definite end in sight, our brother decided to seek an alternative opinion; an opinion that did not in any way lay claim to that which it cannot scientifically claim; an opinion that could not rival medical practice by whatever standard you may imagine. I am referring to that opinion of cultural practitioners to the effect that “food is poison; food is cure”.

In other words, our fathers and their own fathers and mothers learnt this from nature and experience – that diseases and ailments usually result from food habits, from what humans eat and from what they drink. Here I recall the story of this other boy who had developed the habit of eating bread and tea. He would take bread five times a day. He detested the consumption of all grains except rice and beans. He preferred everything and all things that are fried. He soon added extra pounds to his weight; he became very big. One day he began to experience difficulties breathing. For days, he did not experience bowel movements and when eventually he did, it was with much pain and stress. His circumstance reminded me of the Quran: “Whatever affliction befalls you, it is because of what your hands have earned..,(Quran 42: 30)

Then he got lucky. He was advised to change his eating habits; he was advised to abandon all fries and flour products. He was advised to not eat anything except that which is full of vegetables.  Thereafter, his breathing gradually returned to normal; he began to experience regular bowel movements and with ease and comfort.

Our brother whose daughter experienced sudden cessation of the monthly cycle was told to look for cinnamon powder, real honey, Apple-Cinder Vinegar (With Mother), turmeric powder and lemon (with coarse back). The girl who missed her period was told to take a teaspoonful of each of these items, mixed them together in a teacup and add warm water.

She was further instructed to drink the mixture first thing in the morning and late at night for a couple of days. By the grace of the Almighty, the girl’s period began to flow without much ado before the fifth day.

Upon further enquiry, it was discovered that the girl was like the boy whose story I told above- she was the beverage girl in the house: she would take bread and chocolate in the morning, fries in the afternoon and bread and tea in the evening! We owe our body the duty to cultivate healthy eating habits. Islam demands this of us; so does our Creator.