Sunan Ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Majah 3518
حَدَّثَنَا إِسْمَاعِيلُ بْنُ بَهْرَامَ، حَدَّثَنَا عُبَيْدُ اللَّهِ الأَشْجَعِيُّ، عَنْ سُفْيَانَ، عَنْ سُهَيْلِ بْنِ أَبِي صَالِحٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، قَالَ لَدَغَتْ عَقْرَبٌ رَجُلاً فَلَمْ يَنَمْ لَيْلَتَهُ فَقِيلَ لِلنَّبِيِّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ إِنَّ فُلاَنًا لَدَغَتْهُ عَقْرَبٌ فَلَمْ يَنَمْ لَيْلَتَهُ . فَقَالَ " أَمَا إِنَّهُ لَوْ قَالَ حِينَ أَمْسَى أَعُوذُ بِكَلِمَاتِ اللَّهِ التَّامَّاتِ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا خَلَقَ - مَا ضَرَّهُ لَدْغُ عَقْرَبٍ حَتَّى يُصْبِحَ " .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Ismāʿīl ibn Bahrām narrated to us: ʿUbayd Allāh al-Ashjaʿī narrated to us, from Sufyān, from Suhayl ibn Abī Ṣāliḥ, from his father, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: A scorpion stung a man, and he did not sleep that night. It was said to the Prophet, ‘So-and-so was stung by a scorpion and did not sleep that night.’ He said, ‘If he had said at evening, “I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from the evil of what He created,” the sting of a scorpion would not have harmed him until morning.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The report presents the protection conditionally: if the man had said the supplication at evening, the sting would not have harmed him until morning. حين أمسى is translated ‘at evening.’
فَقَالَ " أَمَا إِنَّهُ لَوْ قَالَ حِينَ أَمْسَى أَعُوذُ بِكَلِمَاتِ اللَّهِ التَّامَّاتِ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا خَلَقَ - مَا ضَرَّهُ لَدْغُ عَقْرَبٍ حَتَّى يُصْبِحَ " .
The protection is stated in the hypothetical construction لَوْ قَالَ ... مَا ضَرَّهُ; the translation preserves it as a counterfactual rather than changing it into a general guarantee.
Should the counterfactual relation and ‘until morning’ limit both remain explicit?