Bukhari

Chapter of Sahih Bukhari Hadith No. 5782: «بَابُ إِذَا وَقَعَ الذُّبَابُ فِي الإِنَاءِ:»
Relevance between the Chapter Heading and the Hadith:
In the translation of the chapter heading, Imam Bukhari rahimahullah stated that when a fly falls into a vessel (what should be done?), and for the solution to this, the hadith presented under the chapter contains the solution itself. Thus, the relevance between the chapter heading and the hadith is clear.

Allamah Abdul Haq Ilhami rahimahullah writes:
«ذكر البخاري فى الباب حديث أبى هريرة و مطابقة للترجمة ظاهرة .»
“That is, the hadith which Imam Bukhari rahimahullah has narrated under the chapter from Abu Hurairah radi Allahu anhu, its conformity with the chapter is evident.”

Benefit:
In the present era, the ahadith of the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam are being targeted from various angles, and efforts are being made to make his noble statements a subject of ridicule. Amidst this barrage of objections, the aforementioned hadith has also been subjected to several criticisms by the deniers of hadith, so that they may distance the general public from the ahadith of the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. The fact that one wing of the fly contains cure and the other contains disease is an unalterable reality, which modern science has also proven today. However, our belief is that science does not have the status to confirm the ahadith of the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam; rather, if science introduces a new research, we present that research before the Qur’an and Hadith. If both these revelations accept that research, then there is nothing preventing us from accepting it. However, if the Qur’an and Hadith reject that research, then in the view of the scholars, that research holds no value. This is the correct and true stance.

In summary, alhamdulillah, many people, either due to ignorance or prejudice, denied the hadith about the fly, but today even non-Muslims have accepted the statement of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. There is a very good dialogue and interesting information that took place between Dr. Hamidullah and Dr. Maurice Bucaille, which will not be without benefit to mention here. This conversation has been quoted in Dr. Mahmood Ahmad Ghazi’s book “Muhazirat-e-Hadith.” However, for the benefit of the readers, we present this text verbatim so that our discussion may be strengthened by it.

Dr. Mahmood Ahmad writes:
In the twentieth century, people worked on some new topics and studied the science of hadith from a new perspective. One very interesting example of this is that it shows that work on the science of hadith has also begun from this new angle. You must have heard the name of the famous French author Dr. Maurice Bucaille. At one time, he was probably the president of the Medical Association of France. He is a scientist and a very prominent heart specialist. He was the personal physician of the late King Faisal, and he was called to Riyadh from time to time to treat King Faisal.

Once, he was called to Riyadh and stayed as a state guest in a hotel, waiting for several days to meet King Faisal. Obviously, a summons from the king could come at any time, so he could not go anywhere and had to stay in his room at all times, ready to go whenever called. In his hotel room, there was a copy of the Qur’an with an English translation. To pass the time, he began to leaf through it. Being a Christian, he had never had the opportunity to read the Qur’an before. While going through the English translation, he noticed that there are some statements in the Qur’an of a scientific nature, such as how rain falls, the stages of human birth, and details of other such matters.

Since he himself was an expert in medical science and science was his field, he began to read these statements with greater interest. After reading it once, he read the Qur’an again, marking the places where there was any statement related to science. He stayed there for a few days and read the entire translation of the Qur’an several times, noting such statements. This led him to think that if similar statements are found in the Bible and compared with those in the Qur’an, something interesting might emerge.

After returning, he continued this activity, identifying such statements in the Bible and then conducting a comparative study of both sets of statements, using purely scientific standards. Obviously, he was not a Muslim and had no emotional attachment to the Qur’an. He examined the statements of the Qur’an and the Bible using purely objective and scientific criteria and concluded that all the scientific statements in the Qur’an are correct, while all the scientific statements in the Bible are incorrect. He published a book based on these findings, “The Bible, the Qur’an and Science,” which is available in Urdu, English, and many other languages.

After this book, his interest in Islamic studies increased further, and he learned a little Arabic as well. His relations and connections with Dr. Hamidullah increased, as both lived in Paris. Later, he thought that a similar study should be done of Sahih Bukhari. He began to study Sahih Bukhari and made a separate list of all the statements of a scientific nature in it. He selected about a hundred such statements and began to examine them one by one to see what results scientific research yielded regarding each statement. After collecting all these statements and reflecting on them, he wrote a paper and showed it to Dr. Hamidullah. Dr. Hamidullah himself narrated this incident to me.

Dr. Hamidullah said that when I read this paper, it was written in it that out of the hundred statements I have selected from Sahih Bukhari, ninety-eight have been proven correct by scientific research, but two statements are incorrect. Of the two statements that Dr. Maurice Bucaille considered incorrect, one is the statement of the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam recorded in Sahih Bukhari, in which he said that when a fly falls into food, immerse it completely and then remove it, because one wing of the fly contains disease and the other contains cure. Dip both wings into it so that the part containing the cure also enters the food. When it falls, it first puts the diseased part into the food. Dr. Bucaille thought this was incorrect, that there is no cure in any wing of the fly; the fly is a dirty thing, and if a fly falls into food, the food should be discarded. He said this is scientifically incorrect.

The second thing he considered incorrect is also a narration from Sahih Bukhari. There was a tribe in Arabia called the ‘Urainah, who were notorious bandits and used to rob throughout Arabia. Some people from this tribe came to Madinah and accepted Islam, or claimed to have accepted Islam, and asked the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam for some privileges and assistance. The Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam gave them a place to stay in Madinah and appointed some Companions to host them. The climate of Madinah did not suit them, and they became ill. The details of their illness were that their complexion turned yellow, their bellies became swollen, and they developed a particular type of fever, which is now called “yellow fever.” When the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam saw this illness, he told them to go to a certain place outside Madinah, where the state camels of the treasury were kept, and to stay there, drink the milk of the camels, and also drink their urine. It sounds strange, but it is recorded in Bukhari. So they followed this treatment, and after staying there for a few days, they were cured. When they recovered, they killed the guard appointed by the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam at the camel enclosure, took the camels from the treasury, and fled. The Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was informed that not only had they fled with the camels, but they had also brutally killed the Companion appointed there, cutting off his hands and feet, gouging out his eyes with hot rods, and leaving him alive in the scorching desert sun, where he died in agony. The Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was greatly saddened by this, and the Companions radi Allahu anhum were also very angry. The Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam sent the Companions radi Allahu anhum to pursue them, and they were captured and executed in retribution.

On this, Maurice Bucaille said to Dr. Hamidullah that this too is not correct; scientifically, it is wrong, because urine is the body’s “refuse.” The part of food that the human body cannot accept is expelled from the body, and any drink whose part is unacceptable to the human body is expelled and is not suitable for the human body. Therefore, the question of treatment with it does not arise.

In response, Dr. Hamidullah said to Dr. Bucaille that I am neither a scientist nor a medical doctor, so I cannot say anything scientifically about your arguments, but as a layman, I have some doubts, and if you answer them, then do publish this research with your objections. Dr. Sahib said that I had read a couple of science books in matriculation, and at that time someone told me that when scientists conduct experiments, if an experiment is proven correct twice, scientists give it a fifty percent rating, and when it is proven correct three or four times, its rating increases further. Even if something is proven in four or five experiments, you say that it is one hundred percent correct, even though you have not conducted the experiment a hundred times. After three or four experiments, you accept it as correct. Dr. Maurice said, yes, that is indeed the case. If the same result comes from four or five experiments, we say it is one hundred percent certain. At this, Dr. Hamidullah said, when you have declared ninety-eight out of a hundred statements from Sahih Bukhari correct after experimentation, then why do you not accept these remaining statements as correct without dispute? When after five experiments you accept something as one hundred percent, then according to your own standard, this is wrong. Dr. Bucaille accepted that indeed, his conclusion and objection were incorrect.

Secondly, Dr. Hamidullah said that to my knowledge, you are an expert in medical science and treat humans; you are not an expert in animals. So you do not know how many types of animals exist in the world. Then Dr. Sahib said, I do not know what branches and sub-branches exist in zoology and what is taught in them, but if there is a branch in zoology about something, you are not an expert in that branch. Do you know how many types of flies exist in the world? Have you conducted a survey of what types of flies exist in which seasons in the world? Unless you spend forty or fifty years in the laboratory examining every part of every type of fly found in every season in Arabia and then prove that there is no cure in the wing of any fly, how can you establish the assumption that there is no disease or cure in the wing of a fly? Dr. Maurice Bucaille agreed that indeed, he had made a mistake.

Then Dr. Sahib said, even if you prove through research that there is no cure in the wing of a fly, how will you know that such flies did not exist fourteen hundred years ago? It is possible that they did, and perhaps their species has become extinct. Animal species come and go; it is a daily experience that a species of animal appears and then disappears. History mentions this, and scientists themselves say that such and such animal used to exist in such and such form. Dr. Maurice also accepted this as correct.

Then Dr. Hamidullah said, as for the matter that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam ordered the drinking of camel urine, even though the Shari’ah has declared urine impure, that is absolutely correct; it is indeed the rejected material of the animal body. This is also correct. But Dr. Sahib said, as a layman, I understand that some diseases are treated with acid. Are acids not included in medicines? Are acids not present in the urine of animals? It is possible that some treatments today are done with pure and, according to you, clean acids, so if in Arabia it was customary to use a naturally obtained acid containing a specific amount of acid as a treatment, what is so impossible or unscientific about that?

Then Dr. Sahib said, some years ago I read a book by an English traveler who traveled throughout the Arabian Peninsula. His name was Doughty. In 1924, 1925, and 1926, he toured the entire Arabian Peninsula and wrote two books, which are considered excellent books on the geography of the Arabian Peninsula. One is called “Arabia Deserta” and the other “Arabia Petra,” i.e., the desert part of the Arabian Peninsula and the mountainous part. He said that this person traveled so extensively there, and in one of his memoirs, he writes that during his travels in the Arabian Peninsula, he once fell ill, his belly swelled, his complexion turned yellow, and he developed a disease like yellow fever, for which he sought treatment everywhere in the world but found no relief. Eventually, in Germany, a prominent doctor advised him to return to the place where he contracted the disease, as there might be some local or traditional treatment there. He says that when he returned, the Bedouin servant he had hired saw him and asked how long he had been ill. He replied that it had been several months and he was very worried. The servant said, come with me now, and took him to a camel enclosure in the desert, telling him to stay there for a few days and drink nothing but camel milk and urine. After a week of this treatment, he was completely cured, to his great surprise.

Dr. Hamidullah said to Dr. Maurice: See, this is written by a Western author in 1925-26. So it is possible that this was a previous method of treatment. Maurice Bucaille withdrew both his objections and published his paper without them.

Abdullah al-Qasimi rahimahullah also strongly refuted the deniers of hadith in defense of the aforementioned hadith. He rahimahullah said that the hadith about the cure in the wing of the fly is narrated with an authentic chain, and some physicians have objected to this hadith, saying that the fly usually sits on filth and its wings are contaminated, so how can there be cure in it? In response, he writes, the summary of which is:

“That is, an English magazine, issue number 1037, published in 1927, states that the fly eats certain ‘objectionable’ things in agriculture, which are causes of certain diseases, and on one wing there are bacteria, and on the other wing there are bacteria that kill those bacteria.”

Dr. Mohsin Khan further elaborates on this issue, writing:

“Medically, it is now well known that the fly carries some germs on its body, as the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam stated 1400 years ago, when people knew very little about modern medicine. Similarly, Allah has created some organs and other means that destroy these germs, such as penicillin, mold, and staphylococci, which kill germs. Recent experiments show that a fly carries both the disease (germs) and the antidote to those germs. Generally, when a fly touches a liquid food, it contaminates it with its germs; therefore, it should be immersed in the liquid so that it also releases the antidote to those germs, which will counteract them.”

Dr. Sahib further writes:

“I wrote, through a friend, to Muhammad al-Sam’i, the head of the Department of Hadith at Al-Azhar University, Cairo (Egypt), who wrote an article on the medical aspects of this hadith. In it, he stated that microbiologists have proven that there are fermentative cells living as parasites in the fly’s stomach, and these fermentative cells, in order to multiply, enter the fly’s respiratory tracts, and when the fly is immersed in a liquid, these cells are released into the liquid, and the substance of these cells is an antidote to the germs carried by the fly.”

In Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah’s renowned book on medicine, “Medicine of the Prophet,” it is clearly written:

“The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam ordered that if a fly falls into food, it should be immersed in it. In this way, the fly will die, especially if the food is hot. If the death of the fly in the food rendered the food impure, the Prophet alayhis salam would have ordered it to be discarded. On the contrary, the Prophet alayhis salam instructed to preserve it. The honeybee, wasp, spider, and other insects also fall under the category of the housefly, because the ruling derived from this hadith is general. Why are dead animals impure? The explanation is that their blood remains in their bodies; therefore, insects or creatures that do not have blood are pure.”

Some physicians have stated that if a housefly is rubbed on the sting of a scorpion or wasp, relief is obtained due to the cure hidden in its wings. If the head of a housefly is separated and its body is applied to a boil that appears inside the eyelid, then, insha’Allah, relief will be obtained.

Hadith Commentary:
Allah, the Most Pure, has created many things in such abundance that witnessing the proliferation of their species is astonishing. All such things are, on one hand, harmful to human health, and on the other hand, there is also an aspect of benefit in them.
Among these is the fly as well.
The noble statement of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is absolutely true and based on veracity, for he is the most truthful, the one who is always truthful. In this, a treatment by means of the opposite (ilaj bil-did) has been prescribed to repel the harm of the fly.
In the current science of medicine, treatment by means of the opposite (ilaj bil-did) is acknowledged as correct.
Thus, the truthfulness of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is established.

Hadith Commentary:
(1)
In a narration from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri radi Allahu anhu, it is reported that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said:
"In one wing of the fly there is poison and in the other its antidote. When it falls into food (or drink), immerse it in it, for it keeps the wing with poison forward and the wing with the antidote behind."
(Sunan Abi Dawud, Book of Medicine, Hadith: 3504)

(2)
In light of this hadith, when a fly falls into milk, water, tea, or the like, it is not permissible to waste the food or drink. Allah Ta'ala has placed an antiseptic substance in one wing of the fly, which has the ability to eliminate the germs of many diseases. On this basis, when the fly is immersed, that antiseptic substance comes out from the fly's wing and mixes into the item, thereby neutralizing the poisonous effects. This is the power of Allah Ta'ala, that He creates two opposing things in a single entity. The honeybee produces honey from its saliva, and in its sting there is poison; similarly, the venom of a snake is deadly, yet its flesh is the greatest antidote for its own venom. Recent experiments in modern medicine have also revealed that a fly carries, along with the germs of disease, the antidote for those very germs. Generally, when a fly touches a liquid food, it contaminates it with its germs; therefore, it should be immersed in the liquid so that its antidote is also included, which will counteract the disease-causing germs.

(3)
Some physicians have also stated that if a housefly is applied to the sting of a scorpion or a wasp, relief is obtained due to the healing property present in its wings.
Wallahu a‘lam (And Allah knows best).