Is there a glad tiding that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) gave for doctors?

There is a great demand for and interest in the science of medicine today and medicine is regarded as a holy profession. There were doctors in the Era of Bliss too.

- Is there a glad tiding that the Prophet (pbuh) gave for doctors, encouragement to be a doctor, a hadith about it and encouragement by our religion to be a doctor?

- Can a doctor be more advantageous in terms of the hereafter?

- It is definitely a great thawab to be a means of saving the lives of people but does being a doctor have religious risks?

Dear Brother / Sister,

"...If anyone slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people..." (al-Maida, 5/32)

According to the verse above, to save a life is a valuable duty like saving all people. Its thawab will definitely be great.

If a doctor becomes a means of saving patients with medical interventions, if an administrator does his best to stop a fierce war, if an officer saves people from starving by sending them food and saves the survivors of a disaster, it means they all do the same task.

Due to the importance of service to life, our scholars evaluated medical science as fard al-kifaya. (see Ihyau Ulumiddin, 1/23) From this point of view, it can be said that a religious doctor receives the thawab of fard with the knowledge he learns and service he does.

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) advised the Companions to take care of their health and ordered them to seek and find the best doctor when they got sick. An example regarding the issue emphasizes his exemplary sensitivity about it:

Zayd bin Aslam narrates:

"The wound of a person got worse. The Prophet (pbuh) summoned two doctors from the tribe of Sons of Anmad. He asked them, 

"Which one of you is a good doctor?" they said,

"This one." Then, they asked, "O Messenger of Allah! Is medicine something good and useful?" The Prophet said, 

"Allah gives an illness and sends cure for it." (see Önder Çağıran, Tıbbi Nebevi, 1. Baskı, Boğaziçi Yayınları, Istanbul 1996)

According to another narration, Sad Ibn Waqqas became ill and the Prophet (pbuh) went to his house to visit him. When he saw Sad lying in his house, he said,

"Call Harith bin Kalda; he is a good doctor; let him treat you." (Abu Dawud, Tibb 12)

This narration shows how important specialization in medicine is.

On the other hand, the Prophet (pbuh) attracted attention to the responsibility of being a doctor by saying,

"If a person tries to act as a doctor though he does not have knowledge, he will pay for the harm he causes." (Abu Dawud, Diyat 23; Nasai, Qasama 41)

We want to underline the following issue: The most important point that those who serve the lives of others should be careful about is trying to save their eternal lives too. If those who give so much importance to the temporary worldly lives of others forget about their eternal lives, it means they have not understood the meaning and importance of life.  

As a matter of fact, Badiuzzaman Said Nursi wrote the following letter to a doctor:

"Hello! O my sincere and dear friend, fortunate doctor who can diagnose his own illness!"

"The spiritual awakening that your ardent letter shows is worth congratulating. You should know that the most valuable thing among beings is life. The most important duty is service to life. The most valuable service tı life is to work so that the temporary life will be transformed into the eternal life. All of the value and importance of this life originates from its being a seed, beginning and source of the eternal life. Otherwise, to concentrate on this temporary life in a way that will poison and destroy the eternal life is a foolish act like preferring a sudden lighting to the eternal sun." (see Barla Lahikası, 68. Mektup)

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