Tatbib (medical treatment: the physician, his look, hire and liability)

التطبيب

Tatbib is medical treatment. Learning medicine is a communal duty, practising it is lawful, and it may be recommended by intention to follow the Prophet ﷺ or to benefit Muslims, or obligatory where one physician is specifically needed. A physician may look at the place of illness as far as needed. The Shafiis and Hanbalis require a chaperone when the physician is a stranger to the woman patient. Hiring a physician is lawful for a term, not for the cure; the Hanbalis forbid making the medicine a condition, and Ibn Qudama allows a cure fee as a reward rather than a hire. The physician owes compensation for harm caused by ignorance, negligence, or treatment without consent; he owes none if he is skilled, authorised, and does not exceed the usual. ¹ ² ³ ⁴ ⁵ ⁶

Overview

Tatbib is medical treatment. ¹

Related terms and ruling

Tadawi is taking medicine; tatbib is the diagnosis of the illness and treatment of the patient. ¹ Practice is recommended when meant to follow the Prophet in having the people treated, or to benefit Muslims, and obligatory when only one physician is available. ¹

Evidence that treatment is lawful

The Prophet visited a sick man and said «call the physician of such a clan»; «God has sent no disease without sending its cure»; «there is no harm in charms if they hold no shirk». Aisha reports that the Prophet's illnesses multiplied and physicians of the Arabs and foreigners came to him. Al-Shafii said there are two kinds of knowledge, of religion and of bodies. ²

The physician's look at the private parts

All agree that a physician may look at and touch the private parts for treatment, only as far as needed, lowering his gaze as much as he can; a woman should be trained to treat women. ²

A chaperone

The Shafiis and Hanbalis require, when the physician is a stranger to the woman patient, someone present to prevent what is forbidden, on the hadith «no man is alone with a woman but that the devil is the third». The Shafiis require that no woman skilled in treatment be available, and set an order of preference. ³ The Malikis allow looking at a woman's private parts only when the illness cannot be known otherwise. ³

Hiring a physician

Hiring a physician for treatment is lawful by agreement; the Shafiis require him to be skilled so that his error is rare. The hire is fixed by a term, not by the cure; if the patient is cured before the term ends, the contract ends for the rest of the term. ³ ⁴ The Hanbalis forbid making the medicine a condition on the physician; the Malikis have a view allowing it. Ibn Qudama allows a bargain for the cure, as a reward and not a hire. If the pain ceases before the physician begins, the contract ends. ⁴

The physician's liability

He is liable if he is ignorant of medicine, or is negligent and the harm spreads, or treats without valid consent. If he is authorised, skilled and does not exceed the usual, he is not liable; the same holds for the circumciser, the cupper and the bloodletter. ⁵ If an expert errs, the blood-money falls on his kin; a non-expert is punished. ⁶

Sources

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5299

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5300

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5301

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5302

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5303

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5304

Hadi (the whitish fluid before childbirth: its ruling on ablution and purity)

Hadi, in the technical sense, is a term of the Malikis: a whitish fluid that comes from a pregnant woman near childbirth; some define it as a fluid coming at the birth or at a miscarriage. It differs from madhi, wadi, semen, menses and postpartum bleeding in its outflow from the womb, and menses requires bathing while hadi does not. The Malikis have two views on whether hadi breaks ablution: the accepted one says it does, the other says it is nothing, since it is not habitual. The Malikis hold hadi impure, and the Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis agree on the impurity of what comes from a pregnant woman before the birth.