Microbe, Contagion and Quarantine in Islam

Relevant Islamic traditions, contains indications of the fact that some diseases originate from absolutely tiny creatures that are not visible by naked eyes and that these tiny creatures are of various kinds and contribute to the transmission of the disease from one person to another as well as from one region to another. It would be quite natural to bring up the question as to whether Islam that had anticipated the existence of such creatures has made any suggestions as to how to bring them under control. Using the library method and studying Islamic narrations, one could maintain that the very notion of the disease transmission and the role of tiny creatures in its transmission had been accepted in Islam and our Infallible Imams (‘a) have worked out various solutions such as banning the entrance of people into a city where the contagious disease has broken out as well as evacuating the area where the disease is spreading. They have also attested to the efficacy of quarantine by offering their own particular definition of it.