disbelievers; even though they might accept some of what he brought, once they repudiate any part of it they are disbelievers with respect to everything he brought. What is obligatory, therefore, is to believe in it in its entirety, whether it agrees with our inclinations or clashes with them, for it is the truth.

Likewise, whoever brands as false any of the sound hadith is a disbeliever. Suppose someone rejects an authentic narration found in al-Bukhari, even though it is rigorously authenticated, and says, “I do not believe this hadith or accept it because it contradicts modern science.” Glory be to Allah! Is the Prophet’s ﷺ word to be treated with suspicion while the words of human beings are beyond suspicion? Moreover, modern science may in fact be perfectly consistent with the authentic hadith—praise be to Allah.

Take, for example, the hadith about the fly, which these people deny. It states that on one of its wings there is disease and on the other, the cure. Medicine confirms that poison is treated by its opposite, by what counteracts it, and the fly contains both opposites: when it falls into liquid it instinctively raises the wing that carries the remedy and submerges the wing that carries the poison. The Prophet ﷺ therefore commanded us to immerse it with the wing that holds the cure (1) so that the remedy overcomes the poison. This is affirmed by medical science and is not refuted by it; but because it offends the sensibilities of these ignoramuses they speak as they do. Such speech is disbelief—may Allah protect us. They also make repugnant statements about the Sunnah, rejecting it and sowing doubts