# Was magic done on the Prophet? Why he rejects the report

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/pifqxkwyrwg/s/4/
- Date: 2018-04-15 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Magic: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (15:23–25:03)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiFqxkWyrwg&t=923s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/pifqxkwyrwg/

**Topics:** Magic, the evil eye and superstition; Reports that disrespect the Prophet; Sahih al-Bukhari (BukhariGate)

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth rejects the report that the Prophet was bewitched, even though it is in al-Bukhari, as an insult to the Prophet that clashes with the Quran.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says he considers the reports of magic being done on the Prophet an affront to the honour of the Prophet.

**Evidence, his words at 19:16:** “like this to this extent I consider this an affront to the honour of the Prophet Muhammad” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiFqxkWyrwg&t=1156s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth says the Arabs believed the Jews had a culture of magic, and that after the Hijrah a rumour spread that the Jews had bewitched the Muslims so that no boy would be born to them, until Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr [?] was born, which he says mattered because the belief threatened tawhid. He then turns to the report in al-Bukhari and Muslim that a man bewitched the Prophet for forty days or six months with a comb and hair placed in a well, during which he is described as forgetful and imagining marital relations he had not had, and he calls this an affront to the honour of the Prophet circulated by Muslims themselves. He cites the Quran's rebuke of those who said 'you follow only a bewitched man', rejects the claim that he was protected only in religious matters, comparing it to papal infallibility, and distinguishes physical harm such as the injury at Uhud from unseen harm the Prophet would not even know about. Echoing Shaykh Akram, he says the hadith clashes with the Quran and is unacceptable even though it is in al-Bukhari, and he asks how testimony and confessions could be relied on if the Prophet could believe he had done something he had not.

## Sources and names cited

- the Hijrah
- Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr [?]
- tawhid
- report: magic was done on the prophet and he became impotent
- Sahih al-Bukhari
- Sahih Muslim
- Quran 17:47 (you follow only a bewitched man; also 25:8; verse not numbered by him) [?] (reference uncertain; possibly https://quran.com/17/47)
- Quran 5:67 (Allah will protect you from the people; verse not numbered by him): https://quran.com/5/67
- the battle of Uhud
- Shaykh Akram Nadwi

## Transcript (machine tier, 15:23–25:03)

[14:43] five or whatever is the thing is you see it's natural you can think like that that's so this is important that Allah mentioned that to show that people will be afraid but it was still a high al it didn't make it real it was still a high L just to kind of highlight that and many Allah my you heard people the chef mentioned the names of allah ma addressed this some allah ma have highlighted that this was the understanding of imam abu hanifa as well that way highlighting that there is no you know it's just an illusion nothing beyond that there were people obviously you've heard quotes from even haslam a voice hapless for a Eenie

[15:23] you've got people like even assured who I quoted most of all Marathi shall to the great Musharraf of al-azhar and people like this as well have added to this discourse showing that look this isn't a reality okay so it is important to see that but weirdoes if we trace back into Islamic history let's go right back to the this thing that I said that the Arabs believed that the Jews were really had a culture of magic when the Muslims do did Hydra to Medina right the Jews said this rumor got spread that they

[16:03] have done magic on the Muslims that no Muslims can have any that no Muslim that no baby boy can be born to the Muslims so this was the rumor that was praying and you know what for months on end all the women who were pregnant giving birth there was no boy to be burnt born so this story to reinforce the belief that maybe they have because we you know the Jews they really good at magic so up until you see like I believe almost a year goes by and then Abdul Leibniz

[16:42] obeyed but they allow on whom I is born now this is why the Prophet was so happy when he was born not just because oh look it's it's great you know he's born guys is that you know yeah we proved him wrong but that this belief of these could have in essence destroyed for certain people the concept of tawheed of the true understanding of allah being in control this was it's a key pillar it is the pillar no key is the pillar of faith so it's important to

[17:21] understand that you heard this whole thing about magic being done on the prophet sallahu salam and you heard chef go into you know some excellent good a good explanations on that and and giving a good background and a backdrop to that i just wanted to add to that first of all this incident this incident is narrated that hadith is classed as you've heard Asahi I mean it is transmitted whether it's in Bukhari and Muslim and the rewires of it about this Jewish person called libido blossom who apparently does this magic on the Prophet this is what the whole

[18:00] thing and this is the story let me tell you the story the story is that the Prophet from some narrations 40 days to general popularly six months he is out of it and and the Prophet doesn't know up until the end he's made a way that oh actually this is a magic spell done unto you by la Vida blossom who is this la Vida blossom we never really hear of this character again he comes and disappears with this story pretty much now he's done magic on the Prophet and then depending on the narrations somebody goes to this well and they realized that in the hadith in Bukhari

[18:38] mentions been immersed on wah wah shot ah there's the comb with some hair wrapped around it's usually it's always here here is so ominous that it's always used in all of these magical tricks I mean sorry in these magical kind of stories it's always they got some hair and scattered here everywhere but anyway so there's some hair in this well and then the Prophet they take this out and everything's better during this incident this alleged incident the Prophet is reported to be forgetful clumsy all is a pillar that this is how they described him the incidents go to the facts

[19:16] sexually impotent they go to the fact incredibly clumsy that he could and forgetful that he couldn't that he would miss Forge memories of sexual encounters with his wives in saying oh they he believed he did have sex but they told him no you didn't like this to this extent I consider this an affront to the honour of the Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu leaves a lemn as Muslims it is a disgrace that this literature that this concept is not being floated around by non-muslims or by people but by

[19:54] Muslims themselves are prepared to compromise the honor of the prophet muhammad salallahu alaihe salam on hurling all these insulting comments at him in the name of some kind of oh no but it's it's a hadith and and I'll get to that in how I believe this hadith has oh this concept not a hadith but this concept has been preserved so this is the understanding and you've heard the verses of the Quran when Allah says that calleth ollie moon those press it the tyranny of their oppression the

[20:32] inter turban owner allah raja lemah surah now you only follow a man who magic has been done on - so tell me and people will say yeah but that was before in Makkah well if it could happen in in Medina why can't it happen in Makkah why is the idea so absurd why is Allah saying that you know that look at what they look at the kind of nonsense that they're saying why is it so absurd the way allies addressing it called Ballu you know the loose Sabeel that they've lost the plot but yeah if it happened in my team the other thing is how do we distinguish them between hadith as as

[21:10] you heard chef Akram say that the Prophet for six months is engaging in things how do you differentiate between hadith normal teachings that the Prophet was doing in this time and magic and people could say well oh no Allah protected him during the religious pots so it's a bit like the papacy you know the Pope effect so the Pope according to the Catholic Church is infallible he's protected when he's speaking about religion only so this but that's that's such an absurd and arbitrary statement because especially considering the fact that the Prophet himself in these narrations is saying he apparently he

[21:49] didn't even know magic was done on to him so now somebody could say well yeah true these verses of the Quran do say that you know in total unilateral dilemmas hoorah and Allah is condemning this and Allah says as you heard the verse many times Allah who yeah simul come in earnest Allah will protect you from people go forth you know spread that man and people say ah but was the profit protected in the Battle of a hood during his teeth get damaged so why didn't a la protect him you see there is a distinction let's just clarify there is a clear

[22:28] distinction between the apparent physical phenomena of this world which we can ourselves engage in so if something is coming to me yes it can hit me I know what it is I can defend myself as well I can do that this I am fully conscious of I'm engaging in my world but if we're speaking about the unseen which I have no idea of I don't even know it's happening that is absurd because how am i smart because according to this the bet because according to us the best of creation is the prophet muhammad salallahu alaihe long and he doesn't

[23:07] even know so for mother look happiness you know what do you think about the rest of us but we've got no hope if if the Prophet himself cannot be saved from the unseen we're not talking about the physical realm because there you can defend yourself or set up mechanisms but so this is where that statement is just absurd and you heard that this hadith as the chef said that it it doesn't matter if it's in sahih Bihari asahi Muslim the hadith clashes with the Quran the hadith

[23:46] is unacceptable meaning allah ma of Alesana have highlighted and problematized this hadith including you heard over carol just saw sighs min what animal Hadean oh it's misconstrued it's a misconstrued event as you heard some good examples actually and i like the example about maulana or Haider Dean's kind of comment because I thought that's a it gave a real life but such a true statement of Wow how people can mix things up and so now I wanted to also a good point here is tell me if the Prophet could say on this in this

[24:24] Haditha yes I engaged in sexual into no I did and the wife saying no actually you didn't then what about those testimonies that were done before the Profi about people doing a crowd about Xena you know like nice and these are the kind of testimonies we have way they said oh I committed Xena and they're getting punished because they believed they did but surely if the Prophet himself could believe that he did and get it wrong according to this hadith then how can other people be held to account and they're not prophets where does the host where does the whole

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment PiFqxkWyrwg/s/4. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/pifqxkwyrwg/s/4/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.