What is the authenticity of the hadith: “If a fly falls into the vessel of any one of you, let him submerge it and then remove it, for in one of its wings is a disease and in the other is a cure”?
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The questioner : Is the hadith authentic?
The Shaykh : Yes, it is authentic.
The questioner : ... knowing that the fly is impure and ... .
The Shaykh : The condition for contradiction is opposition on a specific point. That is, if the hadith said that the fly is not impure and medicine said that it is impure, that would be the contradiction.
The questioner : Excuse me, this hadith affirms that thing.
The Shaykh : Excuse me, please be quiet so it is your turn to speak. Now, the questioner should first deal with the issue in his mind, and then someone else can speak.
The hadith does not contradict the medicine that says the fly is impure. But I feel that you have not clarified what medicine says about the fly, because your statement that medicine rules that the fly is impure is not a matter for medicine. All people, whether doctors or not, whether educated or not, know that the fly is impure. This fact is indicated by the question of one of the Iraqis to 'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar ibn al-Khattab. He said to him, “O Ibn 'Umar, a fly lands on impurity and then lands on my garment. What do you think? Is my garment impure?” This is not a reference to its impurity, but Ibn 'Umar answered the questioner by saying: “O people of Iraq, you ask me about the small matter and burden me with the great one. You killed al-Husayn, and now you ask about a fly landing in such a place and then on such a garment”. The point is that the fact that the fly is impure does not require medical expertise; this is common knowledge. So you mean something else. You mean that the fly, as medicine attests, is a carrier of germs, is that not so?
The questioner : They all put it on impurities ... .
The Shaykh : No, I mean by my statement that a person should be precise in his expression. Because when you said “impure,” that impurity does not require medical expertise; it is known to all people. But your final statement that because it is impure, it carries germs—that is the medical point that the general public does not know. As for the impurity, everyone knows it, even in a time when there was no medicine claiming that there are germs invisible to the naked eye, as Ibn 'Umar said to the questioner. Was there medicine in his time? The discovery of these small germs? Of course, there was not. But the fact that it is impure is known by observation. The point is that the fact that medicine rules that the fly carries germs does not contradict the hadith, because the hadith itself affirms this medical fact. It did not say to you, “In one of its wings is a disease,” meaning that this is the disease that medicine has acknowledged. So it does not contradict medicine. But the truth is that Prophetic medicine brought news from the revelation of the sky. Naturally, when medicine looks into it through experiment today, this is the reality. And if this is clarified to you, then the question is incorrect, because medicine today does not contradict or oppose the hadith. And that is why I began my answer by saying to you that there is no contradiction, because according to your previous expression, medicine rules that the fly is impure. If the hadith had ruled that the fly is not impure, there would be a contradiction there, because the discussion is about a specific point being negated and affirmed. That is how contradiction occurs.
But the truth is that the Prophetic hadith affirmed a medical fact before medicine arrived at it through experiment today, and it affirmed another fact that medicine has not yet discovered. The first is the disease, the germs that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) described as a disease. This was, of course, discovered by medicine centuries after the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And the other fact contained in it, which medicine has not yet reached, is that there is a cure in the other wing. This has not been discovered by medicine. And medical science, like all science, its scholars testify that the more they increase in knowledge, the more they become aware of their ignorance, in accordance with the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He):[Al-Isra 17:85]. So does any scholar in any science say, “My knowledge has reached this point, and what I do not know is more than what I know”? Do you not agree with me that they say this?
The questioner : They say it.
The Shaykh : So the Prophetic hadith brought a fact that medicine has not addressed, neither negatively nor positively.
So it brought a fact that medicine has been ignorant of until today. It may discover it in the future, soon or far off. This is knowledge with Allah. Or it may never discover it, and this would be something that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has kept to Himself.
So there is absolutely no contradiction between the hadith of the fly and medicine. Is that clear? Please.
If a fly falls into the food of any one of you, let him submerge it. Its right wing is a disease
إذا وقعت الذباب في طعام أحدكم فليغمسه جنحه الأيمن داءThe Shaykh : Yes, it is authentic.
The questioner : ... knowing that the fly is impure and ... .
The Shaykh : The condition for contradiction is opposition on a specific point. That is, if the hadith said that the fly is not impure and medicine said that it is impure, that would be the contradiction.
The questioner : Excuse me, this hadith affirms that thing.
The Shaykh : Excuse me, please be quiet so it is your turn to speak. Now, the questioner should first deal with the issue in his mind, and then someone else can speak.
The hadith does not contradict the medicine that says the fly is impure. But I feel that you have not clarified what medicine says about the fly, because your statement that medicine rules that the fly is impure is not a matter for medicine. All people, whether doctors or not, whether educated or not, know that the fly is impure. This fact is indicated by the question of one of the Iraqis to 'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar ibn al-Khattab. He said to him, “O Ibn 'Umar, a fly lands on impurity and then lands on my garment. What do you think? Is my garment impure?” This is not a reference to its impurity, but Ibn 'Umar answered the questioner by saying: “O people of Iraq, you ask me about the small matter and burden me with the great one. You killed al-Husayn, and now you ask about a fly landing in such a place and then on such a garment”. The point is that the fact that the fly is impure does not require medical expertise; this is common knowledge. So you mean something else. You mean that the fly, as medicine attests, is a carrier of germs, is that not so?
The questioner : They all put it on impurities ... .
The Shaykh : No, I mean by my statement that a person should be precise in his expression. Because when you said “impure,” that impurity does not require medical expertise; it is known to all people. But your final statement that because it is impure, it carries germs—that is the medical point that the general public does not know. As for the impurity, everyone knows it, even in a time when there was no medicine claiming that there are germs invisible to the naked eye, as Ibn 'Umar said to the questioner. Was there medicine in his time? The discovery of these small germs? Of course, there was not. But the fact that it is impure is known by observation. The point is that the fact that medicine rules that the fly carries germs does not contradict the hadith, because the hadith itself affirms this medical fact. It did not say to you, “In one of its wings is a disease,” meaning that this is the disease that medicine has acknowledged. So it does not contradict medicine. But the truth is that Prophetic medicine brought news from the revelation of the sky. Naturally, when medicine looks into it through experiment today, this is the reality. And if this is clarified to you, then the question is incorrect, because medicine today does not contradict or oppose the hadith. And that is why I began my answer by saying to you that there is no contradiction, because according to your previous expression, medicine rules that the fly is impure. If the hadith had ruled that the fly is not impure, there would be a contradiction there, because the discussion is about a specific point being negated and affirmed. That is how contradiction occurs.
But the truth is that the Prophetic hadith affirmed a medical fact before medicine arrived at it through experiment today, and it affirmed another fact that medicine has not yet discovered. The first is the disease, the germs that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) described as a disease. This was, of course, discovered by medicine centuries after the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And the other fact contained in it, which medicine has not yet reached, is that there is a cure in the other wing. This has not been discovered by medicine. And medical science, like all science, its scholars testify that the more they increase in knowledge, the more they become aware of their ignorance, in accordance with the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He):
And mankind have not been given of knowledge except a little."
وما أوتيتم من العلم إلا قليلاThe questioner : They say it.
The Shaykh : So the Prophetic hadith brought a fact that medicine has not addressed, neither negatively nor positively.
So it brought a fact that medicine has been ignorant of until today. It may discover it in the future, soon or far off. This is knowledge with Allah. Or it may never discover it, and this would be something that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has kept to Himself.
So there is absolutely no contradiction between the hadith of the fly and medicine. Is that clear? Please.