Hadiths of the Fly

We in the West like to think that we invented medicine, yet the Muslims
were practising medicine while we were living in mud huts. All medicine
is based on observation of natural events, cause and effect. Read about
bacteriophages and the fly.

Hadiths of the Fly

(BACTERIOPHAGES)
By Sheikh Gibril Haddad

Only in modern times was it discovered that the common fly carried
parasitic pathogens for many diseases including malaria, typhoid fever,
cholera, and others. It was also discovered that the fly carried parasitic
bacteriophagic fungi capable of fighting the germs of all these diseases.

The Prophet Muhammad - upon him and his House blessings and peace -
alluded to both facts 1,400 years ago when he said, as narrated from
Abu Hurayra and Abu Sa`id al-Khudri by al-Bukhari and in the Sunan:

< completely (falyaghmis-hu kullahu) before removing it, for under one of
its wings there is venom and under another there is its antidote.>>

A version from Abu Hurayra in Abu Dawud, Ahmad, and al-Tahawi's
Sharh Mushkil al-Athâr (8:341 #3293) adds:

< carries the poison, so immerse it completely.>> Ahmad and al-Tahawi
add: <>

A sound-chained version in Ahmad, al-Tahawi, al-Nasa'i, and Ibn Majah
(the latter two mention only the second half) states:

< some butter and date pastry. A fly fell into the dish. Abu Salama began to
submerge it (yamquluhu) with his finger. I said, "Uncle! What are you
doing?" He said: "Truly, Abu Sa`id al-Khudri told me that the Messenger
of Allah said, 'In one of the fly's two wings there is poison and in
another, its antidote. If it falls into food, submerge it in it; for it sends the
poison first and keeps the cure last.'">> Al-Tahawi in Sharh Mushkil
al-Athâr (8:339 #3289) has, < doing?>>

Al-Bazzar in his Musnad and al-Diya' al-Maqdisi in al-Ahadith al-Mukhtara
(5:206) narrate from Thumama ibn`Abd Allah ibn Anas through
trustworthy narrators according to Ibn Hajar in Fath al-Bari (10:250) and
al-Qastallani in Irshad al-Sari (5:304):

< motioned with his hand and immersed it (faghamasahu) three times then
said: "Bismillah" and he said that truly, thus did the Messenger of Allah
order them to do.>>

Shah Wali Allah al-Dihlawi mentioned in Hujjat Allahal-Baligha that this
hadith shows God-given knowledge of the many diseases a fly
potentially carries as well as illustrates the Creator's wisdom in giving
every venomous species some immunity or antidotal protection to its own
poison insuring its survival. Shaykh Muhyi al-Din Ibn `Arabi in one of his
Wasaya specified that

the fly always keeps its "antidotal wing" off the substance in which it
finds itself mired so as to try and use it to fly away. The Ulema said that
this behavior is Divinely-inspired instinct similar to that of the bees, the
ants, the hoopoe, and the earth in the Qur'an cf. al-Tahawi, Sharh
Mushkil (8:343-344) and al-Khattabi, Ma`alim al-Sunan (4:459).

Ibn Hajar wrote in his commentary on this hadith:

"I found nothing among the variants to pinpoint the wing that carries the
antidote but one of the Ulema said he observed that the fly protects itself
with its left wing so it can be deduced that the right one is the one with
the antidote.... Another said that the poison may be that of pride
(takabbur) occurring in one's soul causing him to disdain eating that food
or avoid and discard it altogether, while the antidote takes place by
subduing the soul and forcing it to be humble."

Ibn Hajar also cited al-Jawzi's remark that flies pounded with antimony
(stibnite) benefit eyesight but al-`Ayni in `Umdat al-Qari (7:304) cites Ibn
al-Baytar al-Maliqi's recipe as flies pounded with egg yolk.

Dr. Ghyath Hasan al-Ahmad in his book al-Tibb al-Nabawi fi Daw' al-`Ilm
al-Hadith ("Prophetic Medicine in the light of Modern Science") (1995
2:188-189) mentions that a Dr. Nabîh Dâ`ish ran an experiment at King
`Abdul al-`Aziz University in Riyadh in which he created ten bacterial
cultures from samples of sterilized fluid into which a fly fell without being
immersed; ten more bacterial cultures from samples into which a fly fell
and was immersed once; ten more from samples into which the fly was
immersed twice; and ten more from samples into which the fly was
immersed three times. The results showed that bacterial colonies thrived
in the first set but were stunted and depleted in the second, more so in
the third, and most in the fourth set.

It is established that house flies are carriers of dangerous pathogens of
animals and humans. Even the muscaphobic critics of this hadith are
forced to admit that no one at the time of the Prophet, upon him peace,
knew that flies carry such harmful organisms. Whence the observation
that "under one of its wings there is venom"?

Second, from the perspective of logic, if the fly did not carry some sort
of protection in the form of an antidote or immunity, it would perish from
its own poisonous burden and there would be no fly left in the world.

Further, the transmission of what the fly carries in or on its body is not
an automatic fact. For example, the microbe responsible for ulcers and
other stomach ailments can live on houseflies, although it remains to be
seen whether flies transmit the pathogen.
http://www.sciencenews.org/sn_arc97/6_7_97/ref1.htm1

There has long been evidence of bacterial pathogen-suppressing
micro-organisms living in houseflies. An article in Vol. 43 of the
Rockefeller Foundation's Journal of Experimental Medicine (1927) p. 1037
stated:

"The flies were given some of the cultured microbes for certain
diseases. After some time the germs died and no trace was left of them
while a germ-devouring substance formed in the flies - bacteriophages.
If a saline solution were to be obtained from these flies it would contain
bacteriophages able to suppress four kinds of disease-inducing germs
and to benefit immunity

against four other kinds." Cited in `Abd Allah al-Qusami, Mushkilat
al-Ahadith al-Nabawiyya wa-Bayanuha (p. 42).

More recently, a Colorado State University website on entomology
states, "Gnotobiotic [= germ-free] insects (Greenberg et al, 1970) were
used to provide evidence of the bacterial pathogen-suppressing ability of
the microbiota of Musca domestica [houseflies] .... most relationships
between insects and their microbiota remain undefined. Studies with
gnotobiotic locusts suggest that the microbiota confers previously
unexpected benefits for the insect host."

http://lamar.colostate.edu/~insects/systems/digestion/plenuryrd.html

So then, flies are not only pathogenic carriers but also carry microbiota
that can be beneficient. The fly microbiota were described as
"longitudinal yeast cells living as parasites inside their bellies. These
yeast cells, in order to perpetuate their life cycle, protrude through
certain respiratory tubules of the fly. If the fly is dipped in a liquid, the
cells burst into the fluid and the content of those cells is an antidote for
the pathogens which the fly carries." Cf. footnote in the _Translation of
the Meanings of Sahih al-Bukhari by Muhammad Muhsin Khan_ (7:372,
Book 76 "Medicine,"Chapter 58, Hadith 5782).

These fly microbiota are bacteriophagic or "germ-eating". Bacteriophages
are viruses of viruses. They attack viruses and bacteria. They can be
selected and bred to kill specific organisms. The viruses infect a
bacterium, replicate and fill the bacterial cell with new copies of the
virus, and then break through the bacterium's cell wall, causing it to
burst. The existence of similar bacteria-killing mechanisms in two
bacteriophages suggests that antibiotics for human infections might be
designed on the basis of these cell wall-destroying proteins. (Science
292 (June 2001) p. 2326-2329).

Bacteriophagic medicine was available in the West before the forties but
was discontinued when penicillin and other "miracle antibiotics" came
out. Bacteriophages continued to flourish in Eastern Europe as an
over-the-counter medicine. The "O1-phage" has been used for diagnosis
of all Salmonella types while the prophylaxis of Shigella dysentery was
conducted with the help of phages. Annales Immunologiae Hungaricae
No. 9 (1966) in German.
"Phage therapy" is now making a comeback in the West:

"First named in 1917 by researcher Felix d'Herelle at France's Pasteur
Institute, bacteriophages (or just phages for short) are viruses that prey
upon bacteria. They have a simple structure - a DNA-filled head attached
by a shaft to spidery "legs" that are used to grip onto the surface of a
bacterium. Once a phage latches onto a bacterium, it injects its payload
of genetic material into the bacterium's innards. The bacterium then
begins to rapidly produce "daughter" copies of the phage -- until the
bacterium becomes too full and ruptures, sending hundreds of new
phage particles into the open world.

"Doctors used phages as medical treatment for illnesses ranging from
cholera to typhoid fevers. In some cases, a liquid containing the phage
was poured into an open wound. In others, they were given orally, via
aerosol, or injected. In some cases, the treatments worked well - in
others, they did not. When antibiotics came into the mainstream, phage
therapy largely faded in the west.

"However, researchers in eastern Europe, including the former Soviet
Union, continued their studies of the potential healing properties of
phages. And now that strains of bacteria resistant to standard antibiotics
are on the rise, the idea of phage therapy has been getting more
attention in the worldwide medical community. Several biotechnology
companies have been

formed in the U.S. to develop bacteriophage-based treatments - many of
them drawing on the expertise of researchers from eastern Europe."
http://www.sciencefriday.com/pages/2000/Jul/hour1_072100.html

Research on the medical application of bacteriophages is now
considered to be in its most promising stage. A University of Pittsburgh
researcher said in June 2001, "Given the sheer number and variety of
bacteriophages lurking on the planet, the viruses may represent a sizable
untapped reservoir of new therapeutics." Science 292 (June 2001) p.
2326-2329.

Possibilities for use of bacteriophages in disease control is discussed in
the article "Smaller Fleas ... Ad infinitum: Therapeutic Bacteriophage
Redux" in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the
United States of America [PNAS] Vol. 93 No. 8 (April 16, 1996), 3167-8.
http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/tocrender.fcgi?iid=1253

The fact that the fly carried pathophagic or germ-eating agents was
known to the ancients, who noticed that wasp and scorpion stings are
remedied by rubbing the sore spot with a decapitated fly as mentioned in
al-Antaki's Tadhkira (1:140), al-`Ayni's citation of Abu Muhammad Ibn
al-Baytar al-Maliqi's (d. 646) al-Jami` li-Mufradat al-Adwiya wal-Aghdhiya
in `Umdat al-Qari (7:304), and al-Sha`rani's Mukhtasar al-Suwaydi fil-Tibb
(p. 98). Avicenna preferred the use of a live chicken slit in two and
applied to the wound cf. Ibn al-Azraq, Tas-hîl al-Manafi` (1306 ed. p.
171=1315 ed. p. 147). A similar use is current even today for camel urine
according to a University of Calgary website:
http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/beginnings/camels.ht
ml

In the two world wars the wounds of soldiers exposed to flies were
observed to heal and scar faster than the wounds of unexposed
soldiers. Even today, fly larvae, or maggots, are used medicinally to
clean up festering wounds. They only eat dead tissue and leave healthy
tissue alone.

Is the fly ritually filthy (najis)? No. The Jurists concur that the fly is pure
(al-dhubab tahir) and does not defile a liquid even if its quantity is small
and even if it dies in it except, according to al-Shafi`i, if one of the
aspects of the liquid is affected (smell, color, taste) Cf. al-Baghawi,
Sharh al-Sunna (11:260-261) and al-Qastallani, Irshad al-Sari
(5:304-305).

The Prophetic Sunna is an endless manual of healthy living and practical
husbandry for people of all walks of life, especially the poor. The
Prophet, upon him peace, at all times directed his Umma to avert waste
and penury even in unsanitary conditions. Just as the hadith on camel
milk and urine reveals knowledge of dietetics and natural medicine, so
does the hadith of the fly reveal knowledge of preventive medicine and
immunology. In this respect the command in these hadiths, as in many
others, denotes an advisory Sunna of permissibility, not a literal
obligation. "The command [of immersing the fly] denotes counsel (al-amru
lil-irshad) so as to counter disease with cure." Al-Qastallani, Irshad
al-Sari (5:304).

Despite the abundance of supporting evidence for the authenticity of
these medicinal narrations (camel and fly) on the one hand and for their
scientific viability on the other, certain voices continue to reject them on
both counts. Principle skepticism of authentically transmitted narrations
that pertain to facts demonstrated by ancient and modern science, or
whose scientific worth is just now coming into view, is the wont of
stagnant minds and diseased hearts for which there is no cure save the
mercy of our Lord.

Hajj Gibril

(GF Haddad)

Qasyoun@ziplip.com

Flies are annoying nuisances. Even a few can make people miserable by
their determined attempts to land on virtually any surface. More
importantly, flies pose a serious public health threat. They can carry a
wide range of germs from filthy breeding sites to the dinner table or
spread some diseases within herds or flocks.

__________________________________________________________
__________________________________

Common House Fly
Fruit Fly
Horse Fly

Although many winged insects are commonly called "flies," the name is
strictly applicable only to members of the insect order: Diptera ("true
flies"). It is one of the largest insect orders and contains over 85,000
species; all are relatively small and have soft bodies. Mouth parts are of
the sucking type, but there is great variation. Some, like the
blood-suckers, are serious pests. Flies are beneficial as scavengers
and predators or other insect pests.

Diptera are divided into three large groups: Nematocera (crane flies,
midges, gnats, and mosquitoes); the Brachycera (horse flies, robber flies
and bee flies); and Cyclorrhapha (flies that breed in vegetable or animal
material, both living and dead.)
http://www.arthropod.net/animal-info/insects/diptera.htm

Abu Huraira (radiallaahu 'anhu) narrated that the Prophet Sall Allahu alaihi
wa sallam said, "If a house fly falls in the drink of anyone of you, he
should dip it (in the drink), for one of its wings has a disease and the
other has the cure for the disease." Bukhari v.4 no.537 p.338.

In another narration Abu Huraira (radiallaahu 'anhu) related that the
Prophet Sall Allahu alaihi wa sallam said, "If a fly falls in the drink of
anyone of you, he should dip (in the drink), for one of its wings has a
disease and the other has the cure (antidote for the disease) Hadith
no.673 v.7th Bukhari v.4 ch.15 before no.531 p.335.

"Narrated Abu Huraira (radiallaahu 'anhu): Allah's Messenger Sall Allahu
alaihi wa sallam said, 'If a fly falls in the vessel of any of you, let him dip
all of it (into the vessel) and then throw it away, for in one of its wings
there is a disease and in the other there is healing (1) (antidote for it) i.e.
the treatment for that disease." Bukhari v.7 no.673 p.452-453.

Under the Book Classification: 'The Beginning of Creation', Volume 4,
Book 59, Chapter 17, Page 322, Hadith No. 3320 appears a Sahih
(Authentic) Hadith Narrated by Abu Hurayrah. 14 The text reads:

The Prophet said, "If a housefly falls in the drink of anyone of you, he
should dip it (in the drink), for one of its wings has a disease and the
other has the cure for the disease." (Hadith No. 4: 537 in CD Alim)
14 'The Translation of the Meanings of SAHIH AL-BUKHARI,
Arabic-English translation by Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan, published by
Darussalam, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The text of the Hadith and the
footnote appear in Volume 7, Book 76 Entitled 'The Book of Medicine',
Chapter 58, Hadith Number 5782, Pg. 372.

The same Hadith is also repeated in Volume 7 - with this very interesting
footnote:

(1) (H. 5782) Medically it is well-known now that a fly carries some
pathogens on some parts of its body as mentioned by the Prophet
(s.a.s.), [before 1400 years approx. when the humans knew very little of
modern medicine]. Similarly Allah (S.W.T.), created organisms and other
mechanisms which kill these pathogens, e.g., Penicillin Fungus kills
pathogenic organisms like staphylococci and others etc. Recently
experiments have been done under supervision which indicate that a fly
carries the disease (pathogens) plus the antidote for those pathogenic
organisms. Ordinarily when a fly touches a liquid food it infects the liquid
with its pathogens, so it must be dipped in order to release also the
antidote for those pathogens to act as a counter balance to the
pathogens. Regarding this subject I also wrote through a friend of mine
to Dr. Muhammad M. El-Samahy chief of Hadith Dept. in Al-Azhar
University, Cairo (Egypt), who has written an article upon this Hadith,
and as regards medical aspects, he has mentioned that the
microbiologists have proved that there are longitudinal yeast cells living
as parasites inside the belly of the fly and these yeast cells, in order to
repeat their life cycle, protrude through respiratory tubules of the fly and
if the fly is dipped in a liquid, these cells burst in the fluid and the content
of those cells is an antidote for the pathogens which the fly carries.

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