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Nursing means taking care and looking after the sick, the injured, and the young the old or the helpless, with love and sympathy. It is difficult to say ,at what point in history nursing was organized in a scientific way. Yet it is easy to understand that it must be as old as men’s feeling for his suffering fellow men. For only sympathy and love could move one human being to feel sorry for some one in distress, to look after him in sickness and try to do something for him and to restore him to health.

Islam regards nursing as very important. Our Prophet (peace be upon him) visited the sick regularly, comforted them and spoke kind words to them. He would go, even to inquire after his ailing enemies. He urged the Muslims to help those who were sick or suffering. On the battlefield, all Muslims soldiers were always very kind to the sick, old and the injured. They never killed their wounded enemies. Muslims ladies were very active on the battlefield giving water to the soldiers and attending the wounded and the sick. Hazrat Ghifaria, who accompanied the Holy prophet in the battle of KHYBER, was a good nurse. When the battle was won the Holy prophet presented a necklace to him. The holy prophet establish a hospital in Medina and placed it in the charge of a very competent nurse, Hazart rufadia by name .among those who helped in looking after and nursing the patients in this hospital were Hazrat Fatima(AS),the youngest and the dearest  daughter of Holy prophet and Hazart Asma.

Nursing was not at all popular in the beginning. Parents did not allow their daughters to become nurses.

This can perhaps be best shown in the story of the girl, who in 1851 became the founder of modern nursing and one of the greatest women in history. Her name was Florence Nightin gale. Florence was born in the town of Florence in Italy in 1820.

Her parents were wealthy and cultured English people and expected her to marry in to a noble family .but she had other ideas. She felt that the aim of her life was to serve suffering humanity. When she was twenty-four she decided that she should become a nurse. “Nothing is nobler then nursing.” she declared. At last after seven years of struggle, she was allowed to go for training at the Kaiserwerth institution of nursing in Germany. In 1853,she was given the management of a small hospital for sick women in LONDON. 1854, WHEN THERE WAS A WAR BETWEEN England and Russia, the British government asked her to go to the Crimea to manage the military hospital there. She played a great role. The nation thankfully offered her an amount of 45,000. With this money she founded an institution for nurses in London.

 By Shamim Bokhari (204/10)