THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE DIABETIC PATIENTS AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT: THE ISLAMIC VIEW

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus, is a serious disease that may lead to severe conditions such as blindness, end-stage of renal
disease, limb amputation and a variety of debilitating neuropathies. Previous research indicated that diabetes
is caused by a complex interaction of patient’s genetics, life-style and environmental factors. It also
highlighted that providing quality and healthy built environment to citizens including diabetic patients would
prevent the decline of the patient condition. Accordingly, the Islamic built laws derived from Islamic Sharia
have set the grounds of how to provide healthy built environment for citizens. Little research was conducted in
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in regards to the effect of environmental conditions on the health status of
diabetic people. In 2011, the present researchers have surveyed a number of diabetic patients to find out the
possible impact of built environment settings on the patient’s lifestyle thus how far it would affect the progress
of the diabetes. The results showed a close link between a poor home and environmental settings, the patient’s
lifestyle, and the health status. The paper argues that certain changes to the built environment must be done
and to provide a healthy and safe environment for diabetic patients. The Islamic built laws would largely help
in provisioning such healthy environment that helps people to live to abandon their bad habits and adopt
healthier lifestyle.