Dr Sylla Thiam combines science and Islam November 10, 2026

Public health is a huge research project. To make his contribution, Dr Sylla Thiam published a book in which he combines Islam and science in order to facilitate the health care of populations.

In front of his family, friends and colleagues, Dr Sylla Thiam, a public health doctor, presented last weekend in Dakar his book entitled “Acting on the determinants of health, what lessons can be learned from Islam to promote public health”.

A doctor, researcher and expert in public health, with more than twenty years of experience, the author proposes in his book an interdisciplinary approach which is structured around five major determinants. These include genetics, biology, nutrition, lifestyle, environment and the health system.

Through these determinants, he wants to show how the prescriptions of the Koran and the “Sunnah” can contribute to strengthening prevention. He recalled that public health strategies cannot fully produce their effects when they ignore the cultural and religious realities of the populations they address.

He also emphasizes that health strategies must be consistent with religious beliefs.

The 225-page work, prefaced by Professor Masserigne Soumaré, was presented during the dedication ceremony by Professor Lamine Gueye.

In his presentation, he makes it known that reading this book amounts to meditating on Islam and science, because the author used 206 modern scientific references, 32 other references on verses from the Koran, 78 quotes also taken from the Koran, and 49 hadiths from great scholars known in the Muslim world such as Bukhari, Muslim.

Professor Lamine Gueye specifies that “each assertion of the author, scientific deduction, Islamic recommendation is illustrated by an effort of justification, reasoning, use of references calling on modern or Islamic science”.

He believes that the work constitutes a great contribution to health and religious literature, with real originality.

Marie Bernadette SÈNE