Sunan Ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Majah 3545
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ نُمَيْرٍ، عَنْ هِشَامٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ عَائِشَةَ، قَالَتْ سَحَرَ النَّبِيَّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ يَهُودِيٌّ مِنْ يَهُودِ بَنِي زُرَيْقٍ يُقَالُ لَهُ لَبِيدُ بْنُ الأَعْصَمِ حَتَّى كَانَ النَّبِيُّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ يُخَيَّلُ إِلَيْهِ أَنَّهُ يَفْعَلُ الشَّىْءَ وَلاَ يَفْعَلُهُ . قَالَتْ حَتَّى إِذَا كَانَ ذَاتَ يَوْمٍ أَوْ كَانَ ذَاتَ لَيْلَةٍ دَعَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ ثُمَّ دَعَا ثُمَّ دَعَا ثُمَّ قَالَ " يَا عَائِشَةُ أَشَعَرْتِ أَنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ أَفْتَانِي فِيمَا اسْتَفْتَيْتُهُ فِيهِ جَاءَنِي رَجُلاَنِ فَجَلَسَ أَحَدُهُمَا عِنْدَ رَأْسِي وَالآخَرُ عِنْدَ رِجْلِي فَقَالَ الَّذِي عِنْدَ رَأْسِي لِلَّذِي عِنْدَ رِجْلِي أَوِ الَّذِي عِنْدَ رِجْلِي لِلَّذِي عِنْدَ رَأْسِي مَا وَجَعُ الرَّجُلِ قَالَ مَطْبُوبٌ . قَالَ مَنْ طَبَّهُ قَالَ لَبِيدُ بْنُ الأَعْصَمِ . قَالَ فِي أَىِّ شَىْءٍ قَالَ فِي مُشْطٍ وَمُشَاطَةٍ وَجُفِّ طَلْعَةِ ذَكَرٍ . قَالَ وَأَيْنَ هُوَ قَالَ فِي بِئْرِ ذِي أَرْوَانَ " . قَالَتْ فَأَتَاهُ النَّبِيُّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ فِي أُنَاسٍ مِنْ أَصْحَابِهِ ثُمَّ جَاءَ فَقَالَ " وَاللَّهِ يَا عَائِشَةُ لَكَأَنَّ مَاءَهَا نُقَاعَةُ الْحِنَّاءِ وَلَكَأَنَّ نَخْلَهَا رُءُوسُ الشَّيَاطِينِ " . قَالَتْ قُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ أَفَلاَ أَحْرَقْتَهُ قَالَ " لاَ أَمَّا أَنَا فَقَدْ عَافَانِيَ اللَّهُ وَكَرِهْتُ أَنْ أُثِيرَ عَلَى النَّاسِ مِنْهُ شَرًّا " . فَأَمَرَ بِهَا فَدُفِنَتْ .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
A Jew from among the Jews of Banū Zurayq, called Labīd ibn al-Aʿṣam, bewitched the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, so that the Prophet would imagine that he had done something when he had not. She said: One day—or one night—when this had happened, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, supplicated, then supplicated, then supplicated. Then he said: “ʿĀʾishah, do you know that Allah has given me an answer concerning that about which I asked Him? Two men came to me. One sat by my head and the other by my feet. The one by my head said to the one by my feet—or the one by my feet said to the one by my head: ‘What is ailing this man?’ He replied: ‘He has been bewitched.’ He asked: ‘Who bewitched him?’ He replied: ‘Labīd ibn al-Aʿṣam.’ He asked: ‘With what?’ He replied: ‘With a comb, combings, and the dried spathe of a male date palm.’ He asked: ‘Where is it?’ He replied: ‘In the well of Dhū Arwān.’”
She said: The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, went to it with some of his Companions, then returned and said: “By Allah, ʿĀʾishah, its water was as though it were an infusion of henna, and its palm trees as though they were the heads of devils.” She said: I asked, “Messenger of Allah, will you not burn it?” He replied: “No. As for me, Allah has healed me, and I disliked stirring up evil among the people because of it.” Then he ordered it to be buried.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The two men in the report are not identified here. The Arabic also leaves the direction of their question and answer exchange open, and that alternative is retained.
The Arabic says that he ordered the feminine-referenced matter to be buried; it does not explicitly say that the well itself was filled in. The referent is left unspecified in the translation.
‘Combings’ renders al-mushāṭah, the hair or material gathered in combing; the report separately names a comb and the dried spathe of a male date-palm cluster.
قَالَ فِي أَىِّ شَىْءٍ قَالَ فِي مُشْطٍ وَمُشَاطَةٍ وَجُفِّ طَلْعَةِ ذَكَرٍ .
The noun al-mushāṭah refers to hair or material from combing; the exact material is not specified more narrowly here.
Is ‘combings’ sufficiently clear for al-mushāṭah in this list of items associated with the spell?
فَأَمَرَ بِهَا فَدُفِنَتْ .
The feminine pronoun in ‘then he ordered it to be buried’ does not explicitly identify its referent in this sentence.
Should the referent remain unspecified rather than be made explicit as the well or the spell’s objects?