Islam and Science: Difference between revisions

==Islamic practices and health==

===Islamic medicinal practices===

{{Main|Islamic medicinal practices}}

Islamic scriptures record and encourage various folk medicinal practices common in Arabia at the time of [[Muhammad]] and his [[Sahabah|companions]] in the seventh century and perhaps introduced some new practices, including the use, in diverse ways, of: camel urine, a mixture of saliva and dust, Muhammad's bodily fluids and hairs, Indian incense, averting one's gaze from women, prayer, the wings of houseflies, cupping, and black cumin.

===Camel urine as a curative===

Muhammad prescribed camel urine as medicine.{{Quote|{{Bukhari|8|82|794}}|Narrated Anas:Some people from the tribe of 'Ukl came to the Prophet and embraced Islam. The climate of Medina did not suit them, so the Prophet ordered them to go to the (herd of milch) camels of charity and to '''drink''', their milk and '''urine''' (as a medicine).}}

===Dipping flies into drinks===

Muhammad advised that if a fly lands in one's drink, one ought to dip it in further and then consume the drink. {{Quote|{{Bukhari|4|54|537}}|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."<!-- As narrated from Abu Hurayra and Abu Sa`id al-Khudri by al-Bukhari and in the Sunan, prophet Muhammad said: If a fly falls into one of your containers [of food or drink], immerse it completely (falyaghmis-hu kullahu) before removing it, for under one of its wings there is venom and under another there is its antidote.(Sahih Al-Bukhari: Volume 4, Book 54, Number 537) -->}}Beyond the unsanitary nature of the practice, Muslim scholars arguing for efficacy of the practice on the grounds that there are bacteriophages present on flies' wings encounter the following scientific challenges: (1) bacteriophages are not limited to any specific wing of the fly (2) bacteriophages in their natural state and concentration are not antidotal to bacterial diseases, particularly for temperate or lysogenic phages, (3) bacteriophages are ineffective against non-bacterial diseases, and (4) phage therapy is not a generally-accepted medical therapy at present because it is largely ineffective and requires large quantities of purified, possibly genetically-engineered, phages not present in the natural condition.