Abu Dawud

Benefits and Issues:
➊ In modern medical science, it is an established fact that the fly carries on some parts of its body such germs that cause disease. The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) informed about this fourteen hundred years ago, at a time when mankind knew nothing about modern medicine or about living creatures that carry germs. Along with this, the Noble Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) further explained that within the body of this fly there is also a defensive element that provides protection from this disease. This has become clear through modern experiments. Every kind of vaccine strengthens this very defense system within the body, due to which, even when the germs of disease reach the body, they fail to cause illness. Regarding this, Dr. Muhammad M. Al-Samahi, the director of the Department of Hadith at Al-Azhar University, wrote in an article that the fly carries with it both the germs of a disease and the antidote—a defensive element that strengthens protection against the disease. When it sits on a liquid, it transfers those germs into it. However, by its natural disposition, it avoids submerging those parts of its body that contain the protective elements. If the fly is fully submerged, then those protective elements (the antidote) are also transferred into the liquid, thereby reducing the risk of disease. See: Commentary on Sahih Bukhari, Hadith 3320, by Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan.

Hadith Commentary:
1.
Hafiz Ibn Hajar rahimahullah has written:
It is better to omit this heading because, apart from the mentioned hadith, the other forthcoming ahadith have no connection with this heading.
(Fath al-Bari: 6/434)
However, as we have already clarified, such headings are not fundamental but rather supplementary, established with a particular benefit in mind.
Fundamentally, these ahadith are related to the previous heading, because one of Imam Bukhari rahimahullah’s main objectives is to mention those ahadith in which, in some way, animals are mentioned. Thus, in this hadith, the fly is mentioned; however, to inform about its strange and wondrous habit, a supplementary heading has been established.

2.
In the hadith narrated from Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri radi Allahu anhu, the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said:
“In one wing of the fly there is poison, and in the other there is an antidote. Therefore, when a fly falls into any food, it should be immersed (in it). It keeps the wing with poison underneath and the wing with the cure above.”
(Sunan Ibn Majah, Book of Medicine, Hadith: 3505)
Modern medicine has also confirmed that in one wing of the fly there is poison and in the other there is an antidote, although the noble statement of the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is not in need of confirmation from Western medicine. Nevertheless, those who object to the hadith can be shown the truth as a mirror.

3.
Among the creations of Allah ta‘ala, there are countless such wonders, just as in the belly of the honeybee there is honey and in its sting there is poison; in the mouth of the viper there is both poison and antidote.
But it is unfortunate that nowadays the so-called enlightened class mocks such ahadith, even though they are completely unaware of the facts and devoid of modern knowledge.

Benefits and Issues:

➊
When a fly falls into water, milk, tea, or similar items, it is not permissible to waste the food or drink.

➋
Allah Ta’ala has placed a germicidal substance in one of the fly’s wings,
which possesses strong capability to eliminate the germs of various diseases.
When the fly is immersed in whatever it has fallen into,
that germicidal substance comes out from the fly’s wing and mixes into that item.

➌
Allah Ta’ala has placed the cure for many diseases close to their causes.
For example, the treatment for regional diseases is often found in the herbs of those very regions.
This is a special mercy of Allah upon mankind.

➍
Modern research confirming the facts mentioned in the hadiths is also a proof of the Prophethood of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam),
and evidence of the reliability of the hadiths.

Lexical Explanation:
«اَلذُّبَابُ» “Dhaal” with a dammah and “ba” in its lightened form. It refers to something well-known to everyone, that is, the fly. It is called «ذباب» because «ذَبَّ» means: to remove and to drive away. Whenever it is driven away, it returns again, so it has to be driven away repeatedly.
«شَرَاب» refers to every drinkable liquid.
«فَلْيَغْمِسْهُ» with a kasrah under the “meem.” It is derived from «غَمْسٌ», which means: water or liquid, that is, to immerse in a flowing substance, to dip.
«لِيَنْزِعْهُ» means to take out, to pull out. In both forms, the “laam” is the laam of command, and thus the meaning is that it should be immersed and then taken out.
«اَلْجَنَاح» refers to the “wing” by which a bird flies and soars.
«دَاءٌ» means illness and disease, and in one narration, «سَمًّا» (poison) is also transmitted.

Benefits and Issues:
➊ Imam Abu Dawud rahimahullah has narrated the addition that when a fly begins to fall into a drink, it extends the wing that carries the disease in order to save itself. According to Imam Ahmad and Ibn Majah rahimahumallah, the fly extends the wing that carries poison and keeps the one in which there is cure behind. [مسند أحمد : 3/ 24، 67، وسنن ابن ماجه، الطب، باب الذباب
يقع فى الإناء، حديث : 3504]
➋ The purpose of immersing and dipping it and then taking it out is so that the disease and poison are removed through the wing that contains the cure.
➌ The mentioned hadith is clear evidence that if a fly falls into a liquid (flowing) substance and dies, that substance does not become impure (najis). From this, the ruling is also derived that any living creature whose body does not contain flowing blood, such as: the honeybee, spider, wasp, etc., and other similar insects—if they fall into water and die, that water does not become impure, because the cause of impurity is the blood in the animal that stops due to its death. In those animals in which blood does not circulate, this (cause of blood stopping) does not exist, so if such animals fall into a liquid, the substance will not become impure.