The Relationship between Giving Alms and Treatment of Diseases and Increased Longevity

Sudden deaths are on the rise today. Many people die of unpredictable accidents and diseases. There are generally two types of human death: Definite time and conditional time. In fact, the definite time of man's death is the destined life determined by God. Nothing can move it forward or backward. It is immutable for God; but conditional time arises in the event of sudden death due to accidents or diseases and human death occurs sooner than God has decreed. Good human behaviors are effective factors in treating diseases. In this regard, the Holy Quran and the lessons of Islam have introduced alms as the best way to treat diseases and increase a patient's life. In the present study, we examined the effects and benefits of alms on the treatment of the disease and increasing the patients’ life, and we have stated the necessary conditions for the realization of the intended effects using the Quranic verses and hadiths.

This is a comparative study. These Islamic sources have been used to obtain and analyze texts with the keywords of alms, treatment of disease, longevity, sudden death and spiritual health: The Holy Quran, Al-Mizan, Baharalanvar and the software of Jame' al-Ahadith and Jame' al-Tafasir. Also the searched databases include SID, Magiran, IranDoc, Pubmed, Research Gate and Science Direct. The authors reported no conflict of interests.

Based on the findings from the verses and hadiths, paying alms has a significant role in the treatment of diseased and subsequent delay in conditional time of death and increased longevity of the patients.

According to the teachings of Islam, one of the effects of giving alms is the treatment of diseases; Therefore, we investigated the conditions that God has introduced in the Qur'an for the acceptance of alms, and by observing these conditions, the effects of alms will appear. By paying alms according to the specified conditions, the lives of the patients can be saved and their longevity can be increased.