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Scientific Research
Scientific Miracle in Cat saliva
March 17th, 2010
Scientific Miracle in Cat saliva
Research done by researcher M. Lujain Al Zin
Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) insured in several prophetic Hadiths (sayings) that cats are clean and not impure, and he named them as roamers in the house. He was using water from which the cat drank for ablution and he consider it pure.
The question here is: was the illiterate prophet (PBUH) a laboratorial physician to say that the cat is clean and not impure. The prophet said that the dog is impure, and this is known almost to everyone and proved scientifically, how he knew that there're no bacteria in the cat?
Let's review this research and the laboratorial facts mentioned therein. We have performed some experiments and had scientific outcomes compatible to what the prophet has said fourteen centuries ago.
Some documented scientific and experimental facts on the cat
Among the cat's known habits is to clean itself. Even though Moncrif wrote in 1727 that "by virtue of their meticulous cleanliness, cats could teach us a lesson or two," and although according to Pasteur "cats are the only clean animals" in creation, cats do nonetheless require some daily care (1).
Picture(1): if we look at this small cat's palms carefully we notice that it's clean because the cat licks them permanently with other body organs. The mother also licks its kittens while breast-feeding and breeding period to convey them the sense of cleanliness care.
Given the skin's exposure to the external environment, it is not surprising that it also contains cells with a defensive role, a bit like the white blood cells. It also contains many cells that modulate the sensory function of the dermis (2).
Picture(2): Cross section in the cat's skin. It shows the extent of the cat's skin sensitivity as there're anti-bacteria cells in the cat's skin.
The tongue surface is coverd with saw shaped pointed juts,this big bent conical juts makes it a real rasp or very useful brush for grooming(3).
Picture(3): shows the outer surface of the cat's tongue. and We notice that there're juts called teat help in cleanning the hyrax.
Cats are equipped with the pest grooming tool, their tongue. The rough surface removes dead hair, brushes out mats and tangles, and fluffs the coat(4).
Picture(4): it shows that the cat's tongue is an effective tool to clean the fur and that it cleans its body more than the human being.
It's not surprising that cats like milk, but the way they use their tongue to slurp it up is hardly what you would suspect. Anyone who has ever felt a cat's tongue knows it is covered with sharp barbs. The barbs are useful for grooming - they act like the comb teeth. For a long time, people thought cats used these barbs as tiny buckets to carry liquid to the mouth for swallowing. Slow-motion movies provide proof that that is not the way a cat's tongue works(5).
Picture(5): shows how cats drink water. It bends its tongue down as a ladle to carry water to its mouth.
Instead of this way which some imagined that cats drink with, the cat makes the interior side of the tongue on a liquid or milk to carry the liquid so that nothing would return to the bowl.
When the cat wants to excrete or urinate it searches for the driest place with sand to dig small hole to do that and when it finishes it fills the hole up properly. We notice that it makes sure of that with its sensitive nose.
We'd mention below the laboratorial analysis of the bacteria and microbes on the cat, if any fund.
Laboratorial analysis:
After testing different groups of samples for different ages of cats and from different areas on the animal's body (back, palm and foot, around the mouth and tail) as we took samples to study we planted on implantation environments of bacteria (negative gram – positive gram – EMB - Moler henton - Blood agar), and we took special samples from the interior wall of the mouth and the tongue surface to find the following outcomes (6):
Picture(6): it shows the process of planting samples taken from the cat within Blood agar environment by laboratory physician Samer Muftah Khayat.
1- all results for samples taken from the outer surface was negative even after several re-implantations.
Picture(7): it shows the process of implanting samples taken from the cat within Moler henton environment.
2- Percentage of implanted samples which gave negative results is 80% for samples taken from the mouth wall.
Picture(8): we notice here how the result was negative (i.e. there's no bacteria).
3- Samples were taken from the tongue surface and gave negative outcomes.
Picture(9): we notice here how the environments results were negative for the tongue surface (i.e. there's no bacteria).
4- the type of bacteria appeared during the study in general was a bacterial groups considered natural groups which co-exists in the human being with certain percentages (enterobacter, streptococcus and staphylococcus) and was less than 50000 colonies.
Picture(10): we notice here that this result from the mouth wall is positive; however, it is considered natural for laboratory technicians and that the bacteria percentage is less than that in human being (and it's of natural groups co-exist with human being).
5- We didn't find in the implantation any complicated bacteria group.
Picture(11): researcher Mohammed Lujain Al Zin is counting bacteria and defining its type, which found on the mouth wall. and It was natural group.
As you see the laboratorial analysis authenticated by several sources confirms that the cat doesn't have bacteria or microbes on it and that its saliva is pure and decontaminator.
Statements of Physicians specialized in microbiology:
Physician Georges Maksoud (head of laboratories department in veterinary hospital) said: you can rarely find bacteria on the outer surface of the cat and if you find them this means that the cat is sick.
Dr. Jean Jostavinsin says: after analyzing certain samples to compare the saliva of the human being to dog and cat, we found that the bacteria of the dog is the highest, followed by the human being by quarter to the dog and then the cat by the half compared to the human being.
The treating veterinarian in veterinary hospital in Damascus; Dr. Saeed Rafah said: cats have a purifying substance called Lizozim.
Picture(12): it shows how the cat licks its palm and then cleans what it can by its claws.
When we watched cats, we noticed that it hates water and steps far from it and we found that water is the ideal place for bacteria especially if it is stagnant. and Cats maintains a fixed temperature; therefore, it goes far from the sun; however, it doesn't come near water in order not to have proper environment for bacteria to live in and this explains why there's no bacteria on cats fur which it keeps always dry(7).
Some facts from the holy tradition:
The cat's Saliva is clean because it's not impure: Kabshah, daughter of Ka'b ibn Malik, reported: Aba Qatadah visited (me) and I poured out water for him for ablution. A cat came and drank some of it and he tilted the vessel for it until it drank some of it. Kabshah said: He saw me looking at him; he asked me: Are you wondering, my niece? I said: Yes. He then said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: It is not unclean; it is one of those (males or females) who roams among you(8).
From Ali Bin Al Hussein, from Anas Bin Malik reported: (the Prophet (PBUH) went to a land in the Madinah called Bat'han, and he said "Anas pour water to me for ablution", I did, when the prophet (PBUH) finished defecation he came to the vessel meanwhile a cat came and licked from the vessel, then the Prophet (PBUH) stood until the cat drank then he performed ablution, and when I mentioned to the Prophet (PBUH) about the cat, he said "Anas, the cat is like a house appliances, it would not contaminate anything and will not impure it" (9).
Dawud ibn Salih At-Tammar quoted his mother as saying: (that her maidservant gave as present a plate of cooked meat with wheat to Aisha, she found Aisha praying. She made a sign to her to place it down, she did while women are in Aisha house, then A cat came and ate some of it, when the cat done, Aisha told the women to eat, the women avoided the place where the cat ate from, then Aisha turned the plate then she ate from the place where the cat ate. She stated: Prophet (PBUH) said: It is not impure: it is one of those who roams among you, and I saw Prophet (PBUH) performing ablution from the water which the cat drank(10).
Abi Kutada said: the Prophet (PBUH) said that the cat is not impure, it's one of those who roams among you. narrated by Malik and Ahmad and the four Sunas followers. Therefore, the cat has clean body, pure saliva so water or food remained from it is pure(11).
Notice that one of the Prophet (PBUH) companions was called Abi Hurira (the Father of the Kitten) and some differ about his real name because of this. Abu Hurira's name is Abdul Rahman Bin Sakhr as narrated by Al Nawawi, Scholars differ about his real name. It was said that his name was Abd Shams in pre-Islam era and when he converted to Islam the Prophet (PBUH) named him Abdul Rahman and gave him the agnomen of Abi Hurira. Hurria is the diminutive of cat. It's said that while he was grazing sheep in pre-Islam era he found a wild kitten so he carry it, and he used to put it on a tree branch to sleep at night, but in the morning he take it with him, he was fearing of beasts to hurt it; so they named him Abu Hurira. It was also said that this name was given by the Prophet (PBUH) when he saw him carrying a kitten in his sleeve. He said: what is this Abdul Rahman?! He replayed a kitten and then he named him Abu Hurira. It was said that he took care of the kitten in Islam as a pity while it was just entertainment in the pre-Islamic era. His pity on the Kitten was resulted from feeling the legal duty which obliges us to take care of animals(12).
Inimitability aspect:
According to these medical results and experiments that we performed in laboratories specialized in bacteria, it become clear to us that the cat has completely clean body and that it is more clean that the human being, and that almighty Allah gave the cat glands which protect its skin from bacteria and with a tongue includes protrusions to help the cat to clean its body and which reaches to almost to all areas up to the head to clean by its palm and that its saliva contains bacteria less than the human being by half and it had a purifying substance, and that when the cat drinks from the human being vessel nothing drops from its mouth in that vessel.
From the prophetic sayings that we mentioned, it shows us that the Prophet (PBUH) considers what cat's saliva is clean and he performed ablution in water that contain it, according to that the Prophet gives us medical notice about the cleanliness of the cat, otherwise, he would not have performed ablution by the remaining water and called one of his companions by its name.
How the Prophet (PBUH) knew that the cat is not dirty. He knew that because he's the prophet of Allah who doesn't speak arbitrarily. almighty Allah says "the Prophet doesn't speak out of desire(3) It is naught but revelation that is revealed" (Najm 3-4).
Reviewed and checked by the researcher Eng. Abdul Daem Al Kaheel. Analyzed by the laboratory physician Samer Muftah Khayat in Hamdan Specialized Hospital Laboratory in Douma city.
To contact the researcher Mohammed Lujain Al Zin:
Lujainzin@hotmail.co.uk
Mobile: 00963-933-503039, phone: 00963-11-5311791 – Fax: 00963-11-5331334
Translated by Ms. Raghad Auttabashi
Footnotes:
(1)http://www.aniwa.com/en/chat/document/en/chat/knowledge/the-pet-and-his-owner/cats-in-everyday-life/care/index.htm.
(2)http://www.aniwa.com/en/chat/document/en/chat/knowledge/anatomy---physiology/the-cat-s-skin/index.htm.
(3)http://www.aniwa.com/en/chat/document/en/chat/knowledge/anatomy---physiology/the-cat-s-digestion/contenu-de-paragraphe28345/index.htm.
(4)http://www.aniwa.com/en/chat/document/en/chat/knowledge/preparing-for-shows/coat-/index.htm.
(5)Video film on cat while drinking.
http://www.playingwithtime.org/cgi-bin/browser/gallerydisplay.p1?clipID=0018&page=2sort=clipName&searehCreiteria.
(6)We performed the medical tests in two medical laboratories in Hamdan Hospital and Yaman Hospital in Damascus.
(7)This legal rule is available in the Shafi jurisprudence: dry on dry and clean without disagreement.
(8)Narrated by Al Tirmizi (92), Nisa'ee (68), Abu Dawod (75), Ibn Maja (367) and corrected by Al Tirmizi. Ibn Hajar said in "Talkhis" Bukhari correction thereof.
(9)Hadith number 635 – The small lexicon> Ein chapter.
(10)Bai'haki biger Sunan> Purification book> Cat So'our chapter) classified – Abdul Razzak and Al Darkatni.
(11)Ibn Timiya, Explained collectors news – Sheikh Abdul Rahman Bin Nasir Al Barak explanation.
(12)Why he didn't name any of the companions Abi Karir to indicate to small donkey or Abi Muhair to indicate to the foal.
