We are living in a strange world. Muhammad made clear scientific mistakes, but modern-day Islamic apologists turn these scientific mistakes into MIRACLES and successfully deceive and indoctrinate millions of people.
What To Do If A Fly Falls In Your Drink?
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: "If a housefly falls in the drink of anyone of you, he should dip it (in the drink) and take it out, for one of its wings has a disease and the other has the cure for the disease."
Muhammad claims that one of the wings of a fly contains disease, while the other wing contains the cure for said disease. Therefore if a fly falls in your drink you should dip it in, throw it away, and continue drinking. This is wrong and straight-up harmful for many reasons:
First of all, there is no difference between a fly's wings regarding it carrying antidotes or diseases. In this case, Muslims will claim Muhammad's odd descriptions were only metaphorical and not to be taken literally.
Second, it's true that flies have antimicrobial properties on their surface. The surface of most, perhaps all, plants and animals have these properties, like human skin for instance (Source). A fly’s physiology is vastly different from that of a human, and thus the pathogens that harm flies differ from those that harm humans. There is no reason for a fly to hold "cures" for pathogens that do not affect it. (Source)
However, if Muhammad was right, then flies wouldn't be one of the reasons why food poisoning and dysentery occurs. They are strongly suspected of transmitting at least 65 diseases to humans, including typhoid fever, cholera, poliomyelitis, yaws, anthrax, tularemia, leprosy, tuberculosis and many more. (Source)
Wikiislam debunks this hadith in great detail, so check it out if you want.
Flies walk and feed on faeces, dead animals, and garbage then step on your food. Their antimicrobial properties only benefit them, and not humans. You have a high chance of getting ill if you dip a faeces-stained fly in your water and then drink it. Just get another cup (Flies carry a large number of pathogens that cause serious diseases in humans and domestic animals)
Islamic apologists will try to prove the hadith by linking Islamic sites or papers made by Muslims themselves, and some aren't even peer-reviewed by actual scientists (Example 1, Example 2), and some were peer-reviewed under the responsibility of King Saud University, King Abd al-Aziz University, etc. and some were from Darrusalam University (Such as this one). Do you see the connection? Sometimes the articles they present are from non-muslim parties but only talk about the antimicrobial properties of the fly (which is explained above) and not about the fly's wings having a cure for a disease, or if it's ever okay to dip a fly that's full of bacteria into your drink. (Example 1, Example 2, Example 3, Example 4)
Some Islamic apologists try to defend this hadith by claiming antibiotic material can be extracted from the wings of a fly. That's true, but it's done after a long and tedious process of lab alterations... and NOT by dipping the whole fly in your drink as Muhammad claims.
Honey As A Cure For Loose Bowels
A man came to The Prophet (ﷺ) and said: "My brother is suffering from loose bowels." He (ﷺ) said: "Let him drink honey." So he drank it. Then he came and said: "O Messenger of Allah! He has drunk honey, but it has only made him more worse." So The Prophet (ﷺ) said: "Let him drink more honey." So he drank it. Then he came and said: "O Messenger of Allah! I gave him some more to drink, but it has only made him even worse." The Prophet (ﷺ) said: "Allah has told the truth, and your brother's stomach has lied. Give him more honey to drink". So he gave him some more honey to drink and he was cured.
Muhammad suggests honey as a cure for diarrhea, even though honey is actually a laxative and is high in sugar (Source) and would only make the problem worse, this is also evident by the guy having worse diarrhea after he was fed honey. (Source). However, Muhammad refuses to acknowledge the problem and says "Allah has told the truth, and your brother's stomach has lied", claiming this misinformation comes from the creator of the universe and not from Muhammad himself. what does "your brother's stomach has lied" even mean???
The guy eventually recovers after honey worsens his state, yet the hadith tries to give credit to Muhammad's suggestion. This is a perfect example of The Placebo Effect, where one gives you medicine that doesn't work but you believe it does because when you eventually recover, you begin associating your recovery with said medicine even though it did nothing. (and in this case, it had worsened the problem)
Using honey to cure loose bowels is very counter-intuitive and worsens your diarrhea (Source), as evident by even the hadith itself, because it's a laxative and is high in sugar. (Source)
Black Seeds Heal Every Single Disease
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: "There is healing in black cumin for all diseases, except death."
While it is true that black seeds are very healthy, boost your immune system, and can also heal some diseases (Source), it's a big stretch to say they heal ALL diseases. What about cancer, Gaucher, AIDS, tay-sachs, haemophilia, Huntington's, and many more?
Islamic apologists try to defend this hadith with mental gymnastics, claiming it actually means "The black cumin cures all diseases it can cure", which is nonsensical and contradicts what Muhammad said. If he really meant it like that, he would've said "some diseases" or "many diseases" and not just plain "all diseases" without any further explanation.
Water Is Always Pure
Some people asked Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) whether they might perform ablution out of the well of Buda‘a, which was a well into which menstrual cloths, dead dogs and garbage were thrown. He (ﷺ) replied: "Water is pure and is not defiled by anything."
I passed by The Prophet (ﷺ) when he was performing Wudu' from the well of Buda'ah. I said: "Are you performing Wudu' from it when garbage is thrown into it?" He (ﷺ) said: "Water is not made impure by anything."
Again, this should be common sense. You shouldn't put water that has been touched by dirty blood-stained clothes, dog corpses, and garbage all together IN your mouth and on your face.
Muhammad should've just been honest and told them they were living in the desert with barely any source of water, instead of saying "water is not made impure by anything" for billions of people to follow after his death, but I guess he just wanted to sound wise. Even then he could've avoided water with dog corpses floating in it, and resorted to doing ablution with sand as it's probably safer (Tayammum)
The Camel Urine Incident
Some people came to The Prophet (ﷺ) and embraced Islam. The climate of Medina did not suit them, so their skin turned yellow and their stomachs became swollen. So The Prophet (ﷺ) ordered them to go to drink camel's milk and urine (as medicine). They did so, and after they had recovered they apostatized and killed the shepherd of the camels and took the camels away. The Prophet (ﷺ) sent some people in their pursuit and so they were caught and brought, and The Prophet (ﷺ) ordered that their hands and legs should be cut off and that their eyes should be gouged out with heated pieces of iron, and that their wounds shall not be cauterized until they die. Then he (ﷺ) left them in the sun in that state until they died. Anas said: "I saw one of them licking the ground from thirst, until they died." Then Allah revealed the following verse: "Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and spread mischief in the land is death, crucifixion, cutting off their hands and feet on opposite sides, or exile from the land..." (5:33)
Ignoring Muhammad's extremely barbaric punishment for these guys, it seems like Muhammad told these guys to drink camel urine and milk as a cure for their swollen bellies, which seems like they had liver problems. However, there are many reasons why drinking camel urine can be dangerous:
There is a large amount of creatine and creatinine in camel urine, which are toxic to humans. (Source)
MERS is a disease that was first discovered in 2012 in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and camels were identified as reservoir hosts. This disease spreads through close contact, directly or indirectly, with camels and can also spread among infected humans. The camel urine could not only sicken a person but allow a pathogen to cross the species barrier and cause a major epidemic. (Source 1, Source 2) This is why the World Health Organization has advised to avoid drinking camel urine or raw camel milk. (Source 1, Source 2)
A few men have been hospitalized after drinking camel urine and milk on their way back from Umrah (Source)
Camel urine and milk were tested on multiple cancer patients, the average amount consumed was 60 ml/day. None of the patients who continued to use camel urine and milk showed any clinical benefit. There was no improvement in tumour-related symptoms, and patients showed radiological progression and an increase in tumour markers. Two patients developed brucellosis, and one patient developed severe respiratory failure with lung infiltration with no obvious cause. It had no clinical benefit and may even have caused zoonotic infection. (Source 1, Source 2)
7 Dates In The Morning Makes You Immune To Poison (& Magic)
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: "Whoever takes seven 'Ajwah dates in the morning will not be affected by poison or magic on that day, until night."
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: "The 'Ajwah dates are from Paradise, and they are a healing from poison."
There's no way of knowing whether this myth is true or not, because well... Who in their right mind would eat 7 dates and then drink poison right after?
And if a Muslim actually tried this and died, they'll just claim the dates weren't the specific kind Muhammad was referring to, or that Allah wanted the Muslim to die.
It is ironic too since Muhammad himself died of poison that lasted many years (Bukhari:5777, Bukhari:4428), and nothing could ever cure him, not even the dates he claimed were a cure for poison. He was also affected by magic once. (Bukhari:6391)
Drinking The Fat Of A Sheep's Tail Cures Sciatica
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "The cure for sciatica is the fat from the tail of a Bedouin sheep (or wild sheep), which should be melted and divided into three parts, one part to be taken each day on an empty stomach."
This one wasn't really proven to be false yet. Although I heard that sheep fat tail is a regional delicacy in saudi arabia (correct me if I'm wrong on this), yet nobody has reported saudis having a lower rate of sciatica.
Recitation Will Eventually Heal A Sick Person... Unless They Die
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: **"There is no Muslim worshiper who visits one who is ill - other than at the time of death - and he says seven times: '**I ask Allah the Magnificent, Lord of the Magnificent Throne to cure you' except when he will be cured."
Muhammad found a good loophole around this baseless claim of his, by adding "other than the time of death" into his sentence. Yet again this is The Placebo Effect, you can pretend those prayers are what cured you, and not the actual medicine. Likewise, if you didn't receive any medicine and died, that would be considered "the time of death" and Muhammad still wouldn't be proven wrong.
Exorcism Treats Poisonous Stings
I asked `Aisha about treating poisonous stings (a snake-bite or a scorpion sting) with a Ruqya (i.e. Excorcism). She said, "The Prophet (ﷺ) allowed the treatment of poisonous sting with Ruqya."
Here's another one that's not proven to be incorrect yet, because no one would want to be stung and poisoned on purpose. But if it ever happened and the ruqya failed, Muslims will just come up with excuses like "he did the ruqya wrong" or "Allah wanted the man to die". So it's not even worth a try.
Conclusion
People came to Muhammad specifically for advice because he had contact with the creator of the universe, yet the stuff he gave is simply misinformation that is harmful and/or outright dangerous to try. And on top of that, he attributes some of this false information to said creator of the universe, proving he didn't have any contact with god.
Credit: Taha
Hassan Radwan