Will the Liar Stand Up? Autism and the MMR Vaccine
What follows below is an excerpt from Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman. I read this book when it first came out 5 years ago. At the time, I was sharing on Twitter photos of pages with passages that stood out to me. Silberman is a great science journalist and writer, but more importantly, he does his homework. I know this because it’s part of my work to know his sources. I highly recommend reading this book. In the genre of popular science writing, I think it’s the most exhaustive and easily accessible reading on autism, its history, and its current state (I’m happy to be corrected and get another recommendation).
During these interesting times much that has been lurking under the surface in our midst is gaining currency for no other reason than it being shared widely. I chose to share this passage in particular because it’s the most succinct in how it goes to the credibility of a certain figure that is enjoying some reverence in some Muslim circles where they continue to unscrupulously share cleverly produced “documentaries” featuring him.
If there is anything this Ummah is known for having mastered more than any other people, it’s the verification of reports. That’s what our entire tradition rests on — identifying liars and fabricators so that we can be sure of the veracity of what has been transmitted to us. It’s the first point any Muslim debating a Christian about the veracity Bible will make. To put it in the words of Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak:
إن الإسناد من الدين، ولولا الإسناد لقال من شاء ما شاء
“Attribution [i.e. connected chain of transmission] is from the religion and had it not been for attribution then whoever wanted to say anything could’ve said it.”
What Silberman wrote about Andrew Wakefield and his “studies” in this passage and elsewhere in the book is a brief summary. The details can be easily found in numerous independent sources he provides in the notes at the end of the book and in additional ones you can find online. There’s a mountain of it.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِن جَاءَكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَإٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوا أَن تُصِيبُوا قَوْمًا بِجَهَالَةٍ فَتُصْبِحُوا عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلْتُمْ نَادِمِينَ
“O you who believe! if an evil-doer comes to you with a report, look carefully into it, lest you harm a people in ignorance, then be sorry for what you have done.” [Quran 49:6]
For my Muslim brothers and sisters out there, if any of you have been sharing anything produced by this man, and those who have know exactly what I’m talking about, here’s a reminder of a Hadith and a warning from our Beloved ﷺ:
كفى بالمرء كذبًا أن يحدث بكل ما سمع
“It is enough for a person to prove him or herself a liar when they go on narrating whatever he hears.” [Sahih Muslim]
WAKEFIELD’S CASE SERIES BECAME one of the most influential journal articles in the history of public health — a considerable accomplishment for someone who admits that he knew nothing about autism before he undertook the study. But it would also become on elf the most widely and thoroughly refuted. Investigations and inquiries launched in the years following its publication by journalist Brian Deer, the General Medical Council, the British Medical Journal, and other watchdogs uncovered numerous problems with its methodology, ethics, and reporting.
Children described in the study as “normal” before receiving the vaccine had actually been flagged for developmental issues such as hand flapping and language delay. Two children who were reported to have suffered from autistic enterocolitis after the MMR had never been diagnosed with autism at all. Wakefield had also been creative in calculating the time between administration of the vaccine and the onset of regression, making it appear as if the children had suffered symptoms within days of receiving the MMR, when his own records showed that weeks or months had elapsed. The father of one boy in the one study told Deer, “If my son really is Patient 11, then the Lancet article is simply an outright fabrication.”
Even more damningly, Deer discovered that Wakefield had failed to disclose to the Lancet editors a substantial financial agreement with lawyers planning to mount a class-action suit against vaccine manufacturers. As these and other irregularities came to light, ten of the study’s co-authors took their names off the paper, and the study itself was finally retracted by the Lancet in 2004. Wakefield was stripped of his medical license in England by the General Medical Council in 2010, and the editors of the British Medical Journal denounced his study as “an elaborate fraud” in 2011.
Multiple attempts by independent researchers to confirm a link between autism and the MMR vaccine have failed. In 2003, researchers writing for the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine performed a systematic meta-analysis of a dozen epidemiological studies and concluded, “The current literature does not suggest an association between ASD and the MMR vaccine. While the risk of autism from MMR remains theoretical, the consequences of not vaccinating are real.”
Mohamed Ghilan earned a Ph.D. in Neuroscience in 2015 and is currently a 4th-year medical student. He is the founder of Al-Andalus Academy, an online learning platform delivering traditional Islamic teachings and an online book club where non-fiction books are explored and discussed through an Islamic lens during live webinars.
Visit Al-Andalus Academy to learn more about available programs and short courses.
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