In terms of food qualities in Tibb Medicine, salt is classified as hot and moist.
Ibn Qayyim in "Medicine of the Prophet" said, "Ibn Maja relates that … Your chief seasoning is salt … salt preserves man’s food, guards his body and improves everything it is mixed with, even gold and silver, for it contains a power which increases the yellowness of gold and the whiteness of silver. It contains powers to cleanse and dissolve, and expel the thick moistures and dry them up, to strengthen bodies and prevent their putrefaction and corruption; it is beneficial for ulcerated scab.”
As-Suyuti in "Medicine of the Prophet" said, "Salt food dries up and emaciates the body … whoever of you being of moderate stature eats salt, he will be afflicted with vitiligo and scabies. And for this blame no one but yourself.”
As-Suyuti refers to “massalah milah” (rectified salt) and said, “rectified salt is hot and dry in the third degree. Moderate use of it beautifies the colour of the skin. It sets up a flow, excites to vomiting, and stimulates the appetite. Immoderate use of it generates itch.”
As-Suyuti also said:
- There is a tradition that the Prophet said: The Lord of your dish is salt. This saying is reported by Ibn Maja.
- In the Ma'alim-ul-Tazayyal occurs the following tradition, quoting Umar: Verily God sent down four blessings from Heaven -iron, fire, water and salt.
- From the man who first eats salt Almighty God wards off three hundred and thirty kinds of disaster, the smallest of these being leprosy.
- Begin with salt, for verily it is remedy for seventy diseases.
Chishti in "The Traditional Healers Handbook" recommends, “sun-dried, unprocessed sea salt.” And warns against most processed salt because it has an abrasive action internally.
In a western medicine study in August 2017, high salt intake has been associated with a doubled risk of heart failure. (EurekAlert!, the online, global news service operated by AAAS, the science society.)