Invention of Eye Drops Through the Quran
وَتَوَلَّىٰ عَنْهُمْ وَقَالَ يَٰأَسَفَىٰ عَلَىٰ يُوسُفَ وَابْيَضَّتْ عَيْنَاهُ مِنَ الْحُزْنِ فَهُوَ كَظِيمٌ
And he [Ya’qub (Jacob)] turned away from them and said: "Alas, my grief for Yusuf (Joseph)!" And he lost his sight because of the sorrow that he was suppressing.
(The Noble Quran 12:84)
اذْهَبُوا بِقَمِيصِي هَـٰذَا فَأَلْقُوهُ عَلَىٰ وَجْهِ أَبِي يَأْتِ بَصِيرًا وَأْتُونِي بِأَهْلِكُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ
"Go with this shirt of mine, and cast it over the face of my father, he will become clear-sighted, and bring to me all your family."
(The Noble Quran 12:93)
For the first time, an Egyptian scientist, Prof. Dr. ‘Abdul Basit Muhammad Sayyid, manufactured drops for treating cataracts inspired by Prophet Yusuf’s (peace be upon him) shirt!
Dr. Sayyid explains: “It began with the Holy Quran. One day at Fajr I was reading the book of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, in the story of Yoosuf, peace be upon him. That amazing story made me pause, and I began to think of the verses which tell the story of the conspiracy of Yoosuf’s brothers against him, and how his father ended up after he lost him, how he lost his eyesight and was affected by cataracts, and then how the mercy of Allah reached him in the shirt of healing which the bringer of glad tidings threw on his face and he regained his sight.
“I began to wonder what could have been in Yoosuf’s shirt so that this healing could take place and his eyesight could be restored. Although I believe that the story tells of a miracle which Allah, Most High, caused to happen at the hands of one of His Prophets, namely Yoosuf, peace be upon him, I realized that in addition to the spiritual aspect that may be understood from the story, there was also a material aspect which we may understand through research and which would confirm the truthfulness of the Qur’an which tells us this story as it happened. So I began to research until Allah guided me to this matter.” (Ahmad Y. A.-H., 2010, p.395-396)
The following questions were posed to Dr. ‘Abdul Basit:
“Q: What could there have been of healing in the shirt of Yoosuf (peace be upon him)?
A: “After thinking about it, we could not come up with anything other than sweat. So our research was about the components of human sweat. We took lenses that had been extracted from eyes by traditional surgical methods, and we soaked them in sweat, and we found that gradual transparency began to occur in these opaque lenses.
“The next question was: Were all the components of sweat effective in this case, or was it just one of these components? By separating them, it was possible to reach one of the basic components, which is the compound urea, which can be chemically prepared ...”
After testing the drops, “it was found that the amount of light passing through [the lens of the eye] increased from 2 percent to 60 percent in a quarter of an hour ... and to 99 percent after an hour.” (Ahmad Y. A.-H., 2010, p.399-400)
“Q: Do you think that this research represents an incentive to do more research and applied studies based on the texts of the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah?
A: Definitely. The miracles of the Holy Qur’an never cease. I believe that focusing on studying the texts of the Qur’an and Sunnah with awareness will open new horizons in all fields, to serve mankind in all places.” (Ahmad Y. A.-H., 2010, p.402)
References
Interpretation of the Meanings of The Noble Quran in the English Language . (1996). Riyadh: Darussalaam.
Ahmad, Y. A.-H. (2010). Islamic Medicine. Riyadh: Darussalam.
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