Head of Islamic Medical Association : Take no vaccines

[Lord of the Abyss]

Link

Muslim urged to shun 'unholy' vaccines
Abul Taher

A MUSLIM doctors’ leader has provoked an outcry by urging British Muslims not to vaccinate their children against diseases such as measles, mumps and rubella because it is “un-Islamic”.

Dr Abdul Majid Katme, head of the Islamic Medical Association, is telling Muslims that almost all vaccines contain products derived from animal and human tissue, which make them “haram”, or unlawful for Muslims to take.
Islam permits only the consumption of halal products, where the animal has had its throat cut and bled to death while God’s name is invoked.

Islam also forbids the eating of any pig meat, which Katme says is another reason why vaccines should be avoided, as some contain or have been made using pork-based gelatine.

His warning has been criticised by the Department of Health and the British Medical Association, who said Katme risked increasing infections ranging from flu and measles to polio and diphtheria in Muslim communities.

Katme, a psychiatrist who has worked in the National Health Service for 15 years, wields influence as the head of one of only two national Islamic medical organisations as well as being a member of the Muslim Council of Britain. Moderate Muslims are concerned at the potential impact because other Islamic doctors will have to confirm vaccines are derived from animal and human products.

There is already evidence of lower than average vaccination rates in Muslim areas, reducing the prospect of the “herd immunity” needed to curb infectious diseases such as measles, mumps and rubella.
Katme’s appeal reflects a global movement by some hardline Islamic leaders who are telling followers torefuse vaccines from the West.

In Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of India, Muslims have refused to be immunised against polio after being told that the vaccines contain products that the West has deliberately added to make the recipients infertile.

Katme said he was bringing the message to Britain after analysing the products used for the manufacture of the vaccines. He claimed that Muslims must allow their children to develop their own immune system naturally rather than rely on vaccines.

He argued that leading “Islamically healthy lives” would be enough to ward off illnesses and diseases.

“You see, God created us perfect and with a very strong defence system. If you breast-feed your child for two years — as the Koran says — and you eat Koranic food like olives and black seed, and you do ablution each time you pray, then you will have a strong defence system,” he said.

“Many vaccines, especially those given to children, are full of haram substances — human parts, gelatine from pork, alcohol, animal/monkey parts, all coming from the West who do not have knowledge of halal or haram. It is forbidden in Islam to have any of these haram substances in our bodies.”

Katme singled out vaccines such as MMR as ones to avoid, despite doctors saying that they are essential to keep a baby healthy. Others included those for diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis and meningitis.

Dr Shuja Shafi, a spokesman for the health and medical committee of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “In terms of ingredients in vaccines, there are so many things that are probably haram, but in the absence of an alternative we are allowed to take it for the sake of our health.”

So, once again religious stupidity rears it's head. Note, for an extra bit of stupidity, that this is a psychiatrist who's giving out medical advice.

[Aaron]

I'd say tough shit for them but their willingly putting their children in harms way because of this and risking the nations health as well.

[lazerus]

Cruel at this sounds, my first thought in response to this was "Well, that will help deal with the fact that mulsems have more kids."

[Admiral Valdemar]

So long as they all go merrily on their way to a quarantine town and all promptly drop dead, I'm not losing sleep over it.

Stupid people who make stupid decisions over lethal matters deserve death. My only concern is for the children and other dependants and the rest of the community where they'll risk causing epidemics thanks to fucking over the herd immunity effect needed for vaccines to work because they believe in fucking færy tales.

[CJvR]

Can't someone give that idiot a 9mm lobotomy?

Normaly I would cheer on religous fanatics refusing modern medical treatment, unfortunately they are not the ones likely to suffer from this version of Islamic insanity.

[Ritterin Sophia]

And people are taken aback when I say in an ideal world, Theists would be institutionalized.

[wilfulton]

Stupid people who make stupid decisions over lethal matters deserve death. My only concern is for the children and other dependants and the rest of the community where they'll risk causing epidemics thanks to fucking over the herd immunity effect needed for vaccines to work because they believe in fucking færy tales.

I was about to spout out that that was actually a good idea because then we'd be rid of them. But from what you're saying I gather that if they become carriers of something like say measels, then it could mutuate into a form that could potentially infect their vaccinated neighbors rather than just those that said "here I am, naturally select me!"

And if that's the case, how likely would something like that be to actually happen?

[K. A. Pital]

Ahh... religion. Always at it's best.

I hope "Islamic health" results in fewer people who believe in that religious crap, pardon my cruelty.

[Trytostaydead]

I don't know how it goes in England, but in the US a Psychiatrist is an MD. A psychologist is not.

[Durandal]

Sounds like the problem of fundamentalist Muslims could just end up solving itself.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Take the vaccine or be deported. Fuck them thinking they can have religious freedom at the expense of endangering everyone else.

[Darth Fanboy]

Technically they breathe the same air as swine and infidels. This should be enough to convince hardcore Islamic fundamentalists to stop breathing the tainted air.

Unfortunately if you replace muslim with "Christian" and vaccinations with "learn science" you have pretty much the same problem we have in the West.

[mr friendly guy]

I don't know how it goes in England, but in the US a Psychiatrist is an MD. A psychologist is not.

In Australia a psychiatrist is also a doctor. However if we take LoA logic to a lesser extent, he is as a psychiatrist commenting outside his field of knowledge. While he might have more knowledge than the average laymen, I would rather trust an expert, say a doctor who specialises in public health.

This type of stupidity compromises our herd immunity. And as tempting as it is to say deport them, we run into a few problems with rights. Since non-muslims are also entitled to refuse vaccinations (eg Christian fundies in the US, the "OMG vaccines are deadly pseudoscience" crowd) its intrinsically unfair to target Muslims ONLY for this piece of stupidity.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Mothers who "know best" instantly become M.D.s when speaking of their children, because a man who spent a decade training to become a physician is not well equipped enough to talk with authority on the health of a mother's child. This is just the MMR alarmism, but with a religious flavour, rather than dumb bitch flavour.

They should be deported if they refuse treatment by word of the HPA and Dept. of Health alone.

[Trytostaydead]

I don't know how it goes in England, but in the US a Psychiatrist is an MD. A psychologist is not.

In Australia a psychiatrist is also a doctor. However if we take LoA logic to a lesser extent, he is as a psychiatrist commenting outside his field of knowledge. While he might have more knowledge than the average laymen, I would rather trust an expert, say a doctor who specialises in public health.

This type of stupidity compromises our herd immunity. And as tempting as it is to say deport them, we run into a few problems with rights. Since non-muslims are also entitled to refuse vaccinations (eg Christian fundies in the US, the "OMG vaccines are deadly pseudoscience" crowd) its intrinsically unfair to target Muslims ONLY for this piece of stupidity.

I know. I was merely responding to the OP who made a comment about psychiatrists giving medical advice.

[General Trelane (Retired)]

In Australia a psychiatrist is also a doctor. However if we take LoA logic to a lesser extent, he is as a psychiatrist commenting outside his field of knowledge. While he might have more knowledge than the average laymen, I would rather trust an expert, say a doctor who specialises in public health.

Agreed. Could this psychiatrist be censured by his professional organization? Of course, that would be taken as proof of religious persecution.

[kheegster]

Muslims and Jews are allowed to eat pork if it means the difference between starving to death and living. Vaccinations, even if derived from non-halal products, can make the difference between life and death, so this guy is talking shit even from within the assumptions of his own religion.

[Molyneux]

Muslims and Jews are allowed to eat pork if it means the difference between starving to death and living. Vaccinations, even if derived from non-halal products, can make the difference between life and death, so this guy is talking shit even from within the assumptions of his own religion.

I don't know about Muslims, but ANY Jewish commandment may be broken for the purpose of keeping someone alive (and healthy). Anyone thinking otherwise is fooling themself - and I include some of the weirder Orthodox Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Scientists and any anti-medicine wackos in that statement.

[Broomstick]

Muslims and Jews are allowed to eat pork if it means the difference between starving to death and living. Vaccinations, even if derived from non-halal products, can make the difference between life and death, so this guy is talking shit even from within the assumptions of his own religion.

I don't know about Muslims, but ANY Jewish commandment may be broken for the purpose of keeping someone alive (and healthy).

Actually, the word to use isn't "may", it is "must".

The goal of preserving human life takes precedence over all other commandments and laws handed down by G-d (as true Jews will not spell out the name of the Almighty)

Actually, Muslims are far more freaky about pigs than Jews are. Jews are forbidden to eat them, but touching one does not make a Jew unclean the way it makes a Muslim unclean.