The Prophet 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.” (Sahih Al-Bukhari: Volume 4, Book 54, Number 537)

The new buzz on antibiotics

Tuesday, 1 October 2002

The surface of flies is the last place you would expect to find antibiotics, yet that is exactly where a team of Australian researchers is concentrating their efforts.

Working on the theory that flies must have remarkable antimicrobial defences to survive rotting dung, meat and fruit, the team at the Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, set out to identify those antibacterial properties manifesting at different stages of a fly�s development.

“Our research is a small part of a global research effort for new antibiotics, but we are looking where we believe no-one has looked before,� said Ms Joanne Clarke, who presented the group�s findings at the Australian Society for Microbiology Conference in Melbourne this week. The project is part of her PhD thesis.

The scientists tested four different species of fly: a house fly, a sheep blowfly, a vinegar fruit fly and the control, a Queensland fruit fly which lays its eggs in fresh fruit. These larvae do not need as much antibacterial compound because they do not come into contact with as much bacteria.

Flies go through the life stages of larvae and pupae before becoming adults. In the pupae stage, the fly is encased in a protective casing and does not feed. “We predicted they would not produce many antibiotics,” said Ms Clarke.

They did not. However the larvae all showed antibacterial properties (except that of the Queensland fruit fly control).

As did all the adult fly species, including the Queensland fruit fly (which at this point requires antibacterial protection because it has contact with other flies and is mobile).

Such properties were present on the fly surface in all four species, although antibacterial properties occur in the gut as well. “You find activity in both places,” said Ms Clarke.

“The reason we concentrated on the surface is because it is a simpler extraction.�

The antibiotic material is extracted by drowning the flies in ethanol, then running the mixture through a filter to obtain the crude extract.

When this was placed in a solution with various bacteria including E.coli, Golden Staph, Candida (a yeast) and a common hospital pathogen, antibiotic action was observed every time.

“We are now trying to identify the specific antibacterial compounds,” said Ms Clarke. Ultimately these will be chemically synthesised.

Because the compounds are not from bacteria, any genes conferring resistance to them may not be as easily transferred into pathogens. It is hoped this new form of antibiotics will have a longer effective therapeutic life.

News in Science – The new buzz on antibiotics – 01/10/2002

Answer: All praise be to Allah. Yes, this is an authentic hadith, it is mentioned in al-Bukhari. A man lost his camel and came to the masjid and began yelling saying to the people, did you find my camel, and the Prophet responded to him in this manner. The correct understanding of this hadith is that the masajid should be places of dhikr of Allah and knowledge of the religion, and that speaking about dunya matters in the masjid should be minimized. Of course if every person who lost something came to the masjid to announce it, the masjid would become like a public market place, and it would not be conducive to prayer, dhikr, learning, and khushu’.

Posting announcements in the hallway, however, does not come under this ruling, since the hallway is not considered part of the Musalla. And Allah knows best. Wassalam,

Imam Faisal

Answer:

All praise be to Allah.

In reference to your question about seeing the Prophet in a dream, it
has been authentically reported that the Prophet said, “Whoever sees
me in his dream has indeed seen me, because the Shaitan cannot appear
in my image.”

However, many Ulema are of the opinion that the Shaitan can appear in
the form of another person, and then claim to be the Messenger of
Allah.

In order to confirm that one has really seen the Prophet in his dream,
he must study the Shamaa’il of the Prophet, i.e. his physical
characteristics, as described in authentic ahadith.  If one sees in
his dream what is in accordance with his Shama’il, then he has truly
seen the Prophet.

One book to refer to is the book Shamail al Muhammadiyya, collected by
Imam at-Tirmidhi.

As you know, the Prophet was handsome, tall but not excessively, had
dark hair that extended beyond his earlobes, fair skin with
reddish color, wide shoulders, a slight elevation on the bridge of his nose, and had large hands.

We must bear in mind that nothing one sees in his dream can make permit what Allah has forbidden, and dreams cannot be used as a basis for deriving Fiqh or Shariah rulings.

Below are some authentic ahadith regarding the Prophet’s physical description:

Rabee’ah ibn Abi ‘Abd al-Rahmaan said: “I heard Anas ibn Maalik (may
Allaah be pleased with him) describing the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him). He said: ‘He was of average height,
not too tall and not too short, with a pinkish colour, not very white
and not dark, and his hair was neither very curly nor very straight.
The Revelation came to him when he was forty years old, and he stayed
in Makkah for ten years after the Revelation came, then in Madeenah
for ten years. When he died, there were no more than twenty white
hairs on his head and in his beard.” (al-Bukhaari, 3283).

Al-Baraa’ ibn ‘Aazib said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) was broad shouldered and had thick
hair coming down to his shoulders and earlobes. He was wearing red
garments. I have never seen anything more beautiful than him.”
(Reported by Muslim, Kitaab al-Fadaa’il, Baab Sifat Sha’r al-Nabi
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), no. 2338).

‘Ali said: “He was neither tall nor short, and had large hands and
feet. He had a large head and was big-boned, and the thin line of hair
(starting from his chest and extending to the navel) was long. When he
walked, he would lean forward, as if he was walking downhill. I have
never seen anyone like him, before or since.” (Reported by
al-Tirmidhi, 3570, who said this is a saheeh hasan hadeeth).

Jaabir ibn Samurah said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) was dalee’ al-fam, ashkal al-’ayn and manhoos
al-’aqib.” Shu’bah said: “I asked Maalik, ‘What is dalee’ al-fam?’ He
said: ‘Wide-mouthed.’ I asked, ‘What is ashkal al-’ayn?’ He said,
‘Big-eyed.’ I asked, ‘What is manhoos al-’aqib?’ He said, ‘His heels
were not fleshy.’” (Saheeh Muslim, Kitaab al-Fadaa’il, 2339).

And Allah knows best.

Wassalam,
Imam Faisal