By Asmahanim Amir
Pix Ikhwan Hashim

KUALA LUMPUR, 15 May 2015 – A Book analysing and describing plants and selected food based on the verses of  the Quran and Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and authoured by researchers of The National University of (UKM), was launched here on April 28.

The book translated as  ‘The Beauty of Islamic Nutrition and Medicine’ is a joint effort by the Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) together with the Faculty of Islamic Studies (FPI), is  sponsored by Bank Muamalat and published by  the company Telaga Biru Sdn Bhd.

The book explains the scientific research that had been done including habitat, population, cultivation, nutrition and ways of preparing herbs for medical treatment.

In addition, the book ‘The Beauty of Islamic Nutrition and Medicine’ can also be used as a guide to practitioners of alternative medicine.

Lecturer in Food Science from Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) Prof Dr Aminah Abdullah, who is one of the co-authours said the work was an idea she got after she wrote a book Fruits in the Quran: Its Implication to Health.

“From there we started the research with Dr Fazsly Rahim and Dr Wan Nasyirudin Wan Abdullah and several other lecturers to publish this book.

“We started writing in 2013 and expected to complete it after a year, but we had some unavoidable problems, so its publication was postponed to this year,” she said after the launch of the book at the International Book Festival.

She said she and several other authors at FST wrote about the scientific aspects  while the FPI dealt with Quran and Sunnah.

“It means that this is a collaboration of two faculties. This combination is very good and we need to do more of this. If we wrote about Islam, we were concerned it might not be accurate. So we submitted to FPI to verify the Islamic information,” she explained.

Dr Aminah said she had already discussed with Telaga Biru Sdn Bhd and Bank Muamalat to translate the book into English and adaptation to the Indonesian  Language.

“We as the original authors can translate it to English. For adaptation to Bahasa  Indonesia, we need to use people from Indonesia to do it. Maybe I will use my ex-students to adapt this book to the Indonesian language,” she added.

She also revealed that authours from Universiti Malaya, Universiti Sains Malaysia and Mardi also contributed to selected topics in the book.

Meanwhile, Managing Director of Telaga Biru Sdn Bhd, Dr Zahazan Mohamed said people should read the book because it is written in detail by experts on nutrition  and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad.

“How do we practice the nutrition of Sunnah? Everything is explained in this book,” she said.

She said its not just elements of halal that Muslims need to observe in nutrition, but also to do so in moderation.

Present at the launch were Chief Executive Officer of Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad, Dato’ Mohd Redza Shah Abdul Wahid and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Industry and Community Partnership), Prof Dr Imran Ho Abdullah.

The book is sponsored by Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad and sold at a price of  RM70 in the Peninsular and RM74 in Sabah and Sarawak.