Imam as-Sadiq (PBUH) said: All good deeds totally, including even the struggle in the Holy War in the way of Allah, comparing with enjoining right and forbidding wrong, is like a small amount of saliva compared with a deep ocean.

The platypus flat, beaverlike tail is used as a swimming rudder, a shovel, for fat storage, and by the mother for keeping eggs and young warm. The tail can store up to fifty percent of a platypus total load of body fat. Female platypus use the tail to carry leaves to the nesting chamber, and both sexes use it to sweep loosened soil out of the way when digging. The tail has no fine fur, only coarse, bristly hair on its upper surface to aid in carrying or sweeping.

Imam Ali (PBUH) said: Enjoining good is the most excellent deed of people.

Both sexes have the spurs when they are young. At four months of age, male spurs are protected by a covering of whitish, chalky material that sloughs off completely by the end of the first year of age. Females bear smaller, useless spurs, without venom, that they shed by ten months of age.

Imam Amir ul Mumineen Ali (PBUH) said to Imam al-Hasan and Imam al-Husayn (a) when Ibn Muljam (the curse of Allah be upon him) struck him (fatally with a sword): ... Fear Allah (and again) fear Allah in the matter of Jihad, (struggle for the Holy War), with the help of your property, lives and speech in the way of Allah...

Both hind limbs of the male bear hollow, pointed, poison spurs mounted on the insides of the ankles, just above the heels. There are venom glands, one in each thigh, called the "crural glands" because they are controlled by the crural nerves, which are major motor nerves of the hindlimbs. The glands secrete venom that is passed through ducts to the sharp spurs, which the platypus can erect like jacknife blades and stab into other animals.

The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Whensoever my Ummah undertake to enjoin right and prohibit evil and associate in establishing benevolence, they live happily and prosperously; but when they stop doing so, the blessings will be taken off from them.

The eyes are small and the external ears are mere holes in the skull, although the internal structure of the ears is like that of other mammals. There are two long grooves for protecting the eyes and ears, a single groove surrounding both the eye and ear on each side. These grooves are closed underwater, shutting both eyes and ears, when the platypus dives to hunt for food. Out of water, the senses of sight and hearing are sharp.

All four feet have five claws apiece and are webbed, but the webbing of the front feet extends in a flat flange beyond the toes when the platypus swims. Back on land or in its burrow, the animal folds the extra webbing under its forefeet and walks on its knuckles. The platypus uses the forelimbs and forefeet for swimming and digging, while using the hind feet and claws as combs to keep the fur clean and waterproof.

The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny) said: He who enjoins right and prohibits wrong is the vicegerent of both Allah and His Messenger on the earth.

The body is flattened and streamlined. The limbs are short and muscular. As in other monotremes, the limbs of the platypus are set in a permanent push-up position, the upper limb bones extending out from the sides of the body, horizontal to the ground, the lower limb bones going straight down. Although an excellent swimmer, the platypus is clumsy, and seldom does so anyway, except within its tunnels, since it burns up twice the body energy moving about on land as it does swimming underwater.

The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said: The one who sees a wrong action done should prohibit it by his deed, if he is capable, of course; and if he cannot do that, he should prohibit it by his tongue, but if he is not able to do even that, he may forbid it by his heart.