Islam conducive to science and democracy

How was the Black Death finally conquered? Declared David Riesman, Professor of the History of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania: "Isolation of the sick and quarantine came into use. These practices not only eliminated the plague as a pandemic menace for the first time in history but also led to general laws against infectious diseases, thereby laying the foundations upon which modern hygiene rests" (Medicine in the Middle Ages, p. 260).

States Dr. D. T. Atkinson, "in the Bible greater stress was placed upon prevention of disease than was given to the treatment of bodily ailments, and in this no race of people, before or since, has left us such a wealth of laws relative to hygiene and sanitation as the Hebrews. These important laws, coming down through the ages, are still used to a marked degree in every country in the world sufficiently enlightened to observe them. One has but to read the book of Leviticus carefully and thoughtfully to conclude that the admonitions of Moses contained therein are, in fact, the groundwork of most of today's sanitary laws. As one closes the book, he must, regardless of his spiritual leanings, feel that the wisdom therein expressed regarding the rules to protect health are superior to any which then existed in the world and that to this day they have been little improved upon" (Magic, Myth and Medicine, Atkinson, p. 20).

Did the Bible get written? If so then folk were taking care of themselves before the Bible.

a leper with the multitude, and sick person at home. no quarantine there. i might point out that this leper was breaking judaic law too.

a leper with the multitude, and sick person at home. no quarantine there. i might point out that this leper was breaking judaic law too.

the first modern hospital, instituting the idea of keeping the sick separate (until they got well, not just the "40 days," the origin of the word "quaratine") was built under the direction of a roman, galen, who worked in rome well before christian influence.

"It is most singular that a description of leprosy, as found in the thirteenth chapter of Leviticus, could have been written so long before our time. It is to be noticed that such an accurate description of this dread malady as it appears in the Biblical narrative is not to be found in the literature of any nation for the next seventeen hundred years" (ibid; p. 25-26).

For Tal, I said that reliance on the Bible led to some problems for those during the plagues. Although quarantine may have been mentioned in the Bible, and it may have helped a bit in preventing the spread of a disease, treatment was not aided and indeed hindered.

Balavignus was a distinguished Jewish physician who lived during the first part of the 14th century in Europe. He lived at a time when London and Paris were reeking with garbage and filth -- when refuse was simply thrown in the gutter and left to stink. Balavignus was a student of the Old Testament and was familiar with the medical information set forth in it.When the Black Death broke out in 1346 and swept through Europe, like a hurricane, killing millions, Balavignus saw that the miserable sanitation throughout Europe was a major factor in the quick spread of the disease. He instituted a cleanup movement among the Jews of Strassburg. He had all refuse burned. The rats consequently left the Jewish ghettos and moved into the Gentile sectors of the city. As a result, the Jews' mortality rate from the plague was only five percent of what it was among their non-Jewish neighbors!This striking fact did not go unnoticed by their superstitious Gentile neighbors. The general population soon saw the difference, and were amazed. But instead of emulating the Jewish hygienic measures, the surrounding people began to suspect the Jews of causing the plague by poisoning their wells! As a result, a general massacre was launched. Balavignus himself, persecuted and tortured, was finally compelled to "confess" that he and others were "responsible" for the frightful disease!How was the Black Death finally conquered? Declared David Riesman, Professor of the History of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania: "Isolation of the sick and quarantine came into use. These practices not only eliminated the plague as a pandemic menace for the first time in history but also led to general laws against infectious diseases, thereby laying the foundations upon which modern hygiene rests" (Medicine in the Middle Ages, p. 260).

Wait a minute, are you using a source that you believe to be false to prove a point?Wow.

The bible (assuming you think it is true) doesn't list the people's nationalities.

Bible still has you beat.

"It is most singular that a description of leprosy, as found in the thirteenth chapter of Leviticus, could have been written so long before our time. It is to be noticed that such an accurate description of this dread malady as it appears in the Biblical narrative is not to be found in the literature of any nation for the next seventeen hundred years" (ibid; p. 25-26).

"It is most singular that a description of leprosy, as found in the thirteenth chapter of Leviticus, could have been written so long before our time. It is to be noticed that such an accurate description of this dread malady as it appears in the Biblical narrative is not to be found in the literature of any nation for the next seventeen hundred years" (ibid; p. 25-26).

Author of Leviticus writes:2: When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or a bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests:
3: And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh: and when the hair in the plague is turned white, and the plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean.

24: Or if there be any flesh, in the skin whereof there is a hot burning, and the quick flesh that burneth have a white bright spot, somewhat reddish, or white;

29: If a man or woman have a plague upon the head or the beard;
30: Then the priest shall see the plague: and, behold, if it be in sight deeper than the skin; and there be in it a yellow thin hair; then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a dry scall, even a leprosy upon the head or beard.

47: The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a woollen garment, or a linen garment;
48: Whether it be in the warp, or woof; of linen, or of woollen; whether in a skin, or in any thing made of skin;
49: And if the plague be greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the skin, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is a plague of leprosy, and shall be shewed unto the priest:
50: And the priest shall look upon the plague, and shut up it that hath the plague seven days:
51: And he shall look on the plague on the seventh day: if the plague be spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in a skin, or in any work that is made of skin; the plague is a fretting leprosy; it is unclean.
52: He shall therefore burn that garment, whether warp or woof, in woollen or in linen, or any thing of skin, wherein the plague is: for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire.

the translators take great pains that leprosy actually can refer to a large number of skin diseases, not just what we today characterize as infection by the Mycobacterium leprae bacterium.