Flu Season and Worshipping with those in your Faith Community (on handshaking, et cetera)

from Posted article at www.religionnews.com/

For Dr. Faheem Younus, a Muslim and infectious disease specialist, distributing free flu shots is a matter of faith as well as health.

“I gave out my first free flu shot 12 years ago at a mosque in Queens, New York, after the service,” recalled Younus, now a clinical associate professor at the University of Maryland.

In the intervening years, he’s asked for spare vaccine from hospitals and health organizations and he’s distributed free flu shots at churches, mosques, homeless shelters and other institutions. At mosques, he said, there is often an immigrant population with little access to health care.

A member of the Ahmadiyya branch of Islam, Younus quotes the Quran as his inspiration: “God says, ‘You must exhort others to goodness and forbid that which is evil.’ Goodness to mankind is the first thing.”

Younus also noted that the ritual washing, called wudu, before Muslim services may help check the flu’s spread, although it is usually a water rinse that doesn’t use soap.

“Community and keeping the community safe is very important in Islam. Among the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad – blessings and peace be upon him – is that if there is an outbreak of infection, ‘stay in your place, don’t go to another place,’” Younus said.