Is leprosy mentioned in the Qur'an?

**Yersinia** · July 27, 2009, 04:12 PM

I am doing a presentation on leprosy for school and I would really like to learn about the Islamic perspective of it throughout the ages. I know most people considered leprosy to be a moral disease before its etiologic agent was discovered...

I have been trying to find it in my translated copy of the Qur'an but with no luck. Is leprosy mentioned in the Qur'an? If so where? And what about hadiths?

**Visna** · July 27, 2009, 04:30 PM

The Qu'ran touches upon leprosy when it mentions how Jesus healed the sick. That's about as much as I know.

EDIT. Oh and if memory serves Muhammed says something along the lines of running away from lepers like one would run from a lion.

2nd EDIT.
Found a verse here.
"When Allah saith: O Jesus, son of Mary! Remember My favour unto thee and unto thy mother; how I strengthened thee with the holy Spirit, so that thou spakest unto mankind in the cradle as in maturity; and how I taught thee the Scripture and Wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel; and how thou didst shape of clay as it were the likeness of a bird by My permission, and didst blow upon it and it was a bird by My permission, and thou didst heal him who was born blind and the leper by My permission; and how thou didst raise the dead by My permission; and how I restrained the Children of Israel from (harming) thee when thou camest unto them with clear proofs, and those of them who disbelieved exclaimed: This is naught else than mere magic;"
Qu'ran 5:110

**cenkiss** · July 28, 2009, 03:30 AM

What is thee and thou?Why are you using them?

**CtrlAltDe1337** · July 28, 2009, 11:12 PM

Originally Posted by cenkiss

What is thee and thou?Why are you using them?

They are from old English. In old English, Thee, thou, thine, thy = "you" singular (one person only).
You, ye = "you" plural (more than 1 person). So you can read them both with "you" and its in modern English.

**Copperknickers II** · July 29, 2009, 06:35 AM

Originally Posted by cenkiss

What is thee and thou?Why are you using them?

It is middle english, we often use it when translating anything that was written in the middle ages or before, especially religious works, sort of in the same way that the old church used Latin

Nominative

I am
Thou art
He/She/It/Who is
We are
You are
They are

Accusative/Dative
Me
Thee
Him/her/it/whom
Us
Ye
Them

Genitive
My
Thy
His/her/its/whose
Our
Your
Their

As for leprosy, it is mentioned but there are doubts about whether they are describing actual leprosy or similar diseases is many cases.

http://www.geocities.com/rr_eem/ez2.htm

"Warning against the leprosy disease, the prophet Mohammed (PBUH) said “Escape away from the Leprous the way you escape away from the Lion”"

**Watchman** · July 29, 2009, 09:09 AM

The "thou-thee" Middle English seems to get used a lot in translations of religious texts. I guess it's actually appropriate for the Quran, which AFAIK is written in a rather poetic and florid (nevermind archaic; Classical Arabic is pretty far removed from the everyday kind...) language.

**Pious Agnost** · July 28, 2009, 03:41 AM

They both mean 'you', and she is quoting the Qu'ran directly.

**cenkiss** · July 28, 2009, 03:43 AM

Why is he translating it like Bible?

**Pious Agnost** · July 28, 2009, 03:44 AM

Because that is how her Qu'ran would have put it

**Genius of the Restoration** · July 28, 2009, 04:18 AM

It's just an old translation into English. The Pickthall translation Visna quoted was first published in 1930. 'Thee' and 'thou' aren't Bible-specific words. Look at almost any document written in Middle English for an example. The translator perhaps thought it sounded better or appeared to be more grammatically correct or something. Maybe it used to be a convention to translate religious texts like that.

**Taiji** · July 28, 2009, 05:04 AM

I think thou is 'your' more than 'you'. It's old fashioned english. Since the text is old fashioned, to some writers it's appropriate to embellish it thus with old fashioned terms.

It adds to that 'wisdom of the ancients' kinda crap that some people get off on.

Here is the original from Visna's post (just up the page a bit):

"When Allah saith: O Jesus, son of Mary! Remember My favour unto thee and unto thy mother; how I strengthened thee with the holy Spirit, so that thou spakest unto mankind in the cradle as in maturity; and how I taught thee the Scripture and Wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel; and how thou didst shape of clay as it were the likeness of a bird by My permission, and didst blow upon it and it was a bird by My permission, and thou didst heal him who was born blind and the leper by My permission; and how thou didst raise the dead by My permission; and how I restrained the Children of Israel from (harming) thee when thou camest unto them with clear proofs, and those of them who disbelieved exclaimed: This is naught else than mere magic;"
Qu'ran 5:110

... now I'll translate it into plain english:

When God said: Oi Jesus! Son of Mary! Remember what I did for you and your mum; how I made you stronger using 'holy spirit', so that when you were a kid you talked pretty much like you do now; and how I taught you a load of religious scripture stuff; and how I let you make a clay bird and then I magically turned it into a real one, and you healed a blind dude and a leper because I gave you super powers; and you brought the dead back to life, because of the super powers again; and how I stopped the jews from killing you when you disrespected their faith, and the jews who didn't believe you exclaimed: This is all just a trick;"
Qu'ran 5:110 (Taiji's translation into modern english)

There, I can actually see some sense in it now...

**Burnum** · July 28, 2009, 05:43 AM

Originally Posted by Taiji

I think thou is 'your' more than 'you'. It's old fashioned english. Since the text is old fashioned, to some writers it's appropriate to embellish it thus with old fashioned terms.

It adds to that 'wisdom of the ancients' kinda crap that some people get off on.

... I'll translate it to proper english:

Oi Jesus! son of Mary! Remember what I did for you and your mum; how I made you stronger using 'holy Spirit', so that when you were a kid you talked pretty much like you do now; and how I taught you a load of religious scripture stuff; and how I let you make a clay bird and then I magically turned it into a real one, and you healed a blind dude and a leper because I gave you super powers; and you brought the dead back to life because of the super powers again; and how I stopped the jews from killing you when you disrespected their faith, and the jews who didn't believe you exclaimed: This is all just a trick;"
Qu'ran 5:110

There, I can actually see some sense in it now...

Please don't mock the Qur'an.

**Trey** · July 28, 2009, 05:53 AM

Originally Posted by Burnum

Please don't mock the Qur'an.

Do you actually expect anything to get respect around here?

**Gromovnik** · July 28, 2009, 08:58 AM

Originally Posted by Burnum

Please don't mock the Qur'an.

Or else...

**Taiji** · July 28, 2009, 05:51 AM

Originally Posted by Burnum

Please don't mock the Qur'an.

Sure, I assume you mean to imply that I am mocking it already, so then please explain what you think I have done that constitutes mockery and show what I should have done instead. Or let's see your 'non-mocking' translation of that passage into plain english in other words.

If on the other hand it's just a recommendation for the future then don't worry, mocking the koran would bore me.

**Taiji** · July 28, 2009, 06:04 AM

Actually I was hoping my translation might get some respect

**Watchman** · July 28, 2009, 06:42 AM

It was prity cool i liekd alot actually.

**Taiji** · July 28, 2009, 06:56 AM

Thankyou Watchman

**Каие** · July 28, 2009, 11:31 AM

The Quran doesn't really mention it, but Muslims knew of it. Research Saladin and King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem during the Crusades. Baldwin was a leper and Saladin used to send his physicians to help treat him. They knew of it, and it's nature.

**Watchman** · July 28, 2009, 02:16 PM

Or, well, obviously they didn't have any better inkling than anyone else before the developement of the microscope and germ theory regarding the *actual* workings thereof, but ought to have been familiar enough with it and its symptoms.