Palliative Care
Compassion, comfort, and dignity at the end of life
What is Palliative Care?
Palliative care is specialised medical and emotional support for people facing serious illness. It focuses on improving quality of life, relieving pain, and providing comfort — not just for the patient, but also for their family.
It does not mean “giving up” or stopping care. Instead, it means giving care differently — focusing on comfort, dignity, and peace.
The World Health Organization defines palliative care as:
“An approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing problems associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification, impeccable assessment, and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual.”
What Does It Mean in Practice?
- Relief from pain and distressing symptoms
- Support with emotional and spiritual needs
- Care at home, in hospital, or in hospice
- Helping families cope and prepare
- Supporting decisions about treatment, care, and end-of-life wishes
Understanding the Terminology
Palliative Care
Holistic support for serious illness, at any stage, not only at the very end.
End-of-Life Care
Palliative care specifically in the final days or weeks of life.
Hospice Care
Specialised palliative care, often provided in dedicated centres.
Note: Many people confuse these terms, and some assume that “palliative” means “the doctors are doing nothing.” In reality, it means care is shifting towards comfort, not cure.
Misunderstandings About Palliative Care in Islam
Some Muslims feel that accepting palliative care means giving up hope or neglecting the duty to seek treatment. Others fear that it may involve stopping food, fluids, or basic care.
Islam Teaches Balance
Seeking treatment is encouraged, but if cure is no longer possible, focusing on comfort is not only acceptable, it is merciful.
Life and death are in Allah’s hands. Choosing palliative care does not hasten death — it simply allows a natural process to unfold with dignity.
Providing Pain Relief
The Prophet ﷺ said: “Seek treatment, O servants of Allah, for Allah has not created a disease except that He has also created its cure, except for one: old age.” (Abu Dawud)
This hadith shows the importance of treatment, but also reminds us that death is inevitable. Palliative care acknowledges this reality with compassion.
The Islamic View on End-of-Life Care
- Preserving dignity is a key Islamic value.
- Relieving suffering is encouraged.
- Withholding burdensome treatments that no longer benefit the patient is permissible, as long as basic care (food, drink, comfort, prayer support) continues.
- The Prophet ﷺ himself emphasised visiting and comforting the sick, showing that presence and compassion are acts of worship.
In Summary
Palliative care is not about abandoning a patient. It is about surrounding them with mercy, dignity, and holistic care in their most vulnerable moments. For Muslims, this aligns with the Qur’anic principle of mercy:
“And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds.”
(Qur’an 21:107)
Caring for those at the end of life is an opportunity to reflect this Prophetic mercy.