“My Schoolwork Is Distracting Me from Islam!”

[Muslim01]

Pre-Med students, take heed insha'allah:

 

Q: I am a student in medical school, and my delving into studying this makes me feel as if my heart is being hardened. So, what do you advise me to do, and how can I combine between studying medicine and studying the Shari’ah?

 

A: I differ with the brother in his saying that studying medicine leads to the hardness of the heart.

 

If he is referring to the time when he is studying for exams, then this can happen in any field of knowledge. This can even happen when studying Tafsir, Fiqh, Hadith, etc. However, if one is in a field such as medicine, and he witnesses the wonders of the Creation of Allah, and the secrets that Allah has placed in the human body – because of which many people have come into faith, and were drowning in disbelief when they saw and pondered over it – how much more would it be for the believer who is obliged to think and ponder? I believe that if the brother were to describe for us the anatomy of the eyeball, or the functions of the liver, the kidney, or the pancreas, we would increase in faith in Allah just as if we were to have heard some verses from the Qur’an, or some ahadith of the Messenger.

 

The point is that one’s faith can actually be increased by any of this, and if we are strong in such sciences and methodologies, and purify our intentions and goals when approaching them, we could go as far as to refer to such sciences as the supplementary sciences of Tawhid, just as in academic terminology, we refer to some sciences as specialty sciences, and to others as supplemental sciences. So, the true sciences of Tawhid that we teach are the basis. However, the supplemental sciences of Tawhid include medicine, anatomy, chemistry, physics, etc., since they all facilitate the contemplation over the Kingdom of Allah, and over the heavens and the Earth, and in the human soul. Allah Said: {“We shall show them Our signs in the heavens and in their own selves, so that it becomes clear to them that it is the Truth.”} [Surah Fussilat; 53]

 

So, it is necessary for us to make an effort to look and to ponder over the heavens, the Earth, the mountains, the animals, the plants, the water - even the colors – and the origins of the human, how the clot is formed, how the fetus is formed, how the human gains knowledge after this, among all the numerous other concepts that strengthen one’s faith.

 

However, if the brother is looking to what will happen after graduation, the problem in regards to medicine is in what happens after graduation, as you can work for eight hours in an environment filled with evils. You might even be unable to call to Allah as you should, as you would be constantly busy with surgeries, appointments, etc. So, we say: everyone will do what they were created for, and this Ummah was not created to all be doctors, or scholars of Fiqh, or scholars of Hadith, or preachers. Rather, Allah made a variety in this. So, this person was made to be a preacher, and it is not proper for him to distract himself and turn to something else. And this person was given knowledge of Fiqh and the Qur’an by Allah, including beautiful recitation and exceptional knowledge of the Religion, and such a person should not turn away from this and become a mechanical engineer, for example. However, for the person who was not granted other than this, we do not say to him to ignore his reality and leave what you were created for and was made easy for you, and to go to that which you are not good at. Rather, everyone should work in that which he is best at. This way, the Ummah will be complete, as we will all be doing which we are best suited for and Allah Created us for, and at the same time, we would all be calling to Allah. So, this preacher is making Da’wah from one place, and that doctor from another, and that person from another. It might even be that people who would never have been guided at the hands of the numerous students of knowledge who speak, preach, and teach in the mosques would be guided and accept Islam at the hands of the doctor.

- Shayhk Safar al-Hawali