Say, "I seek refuge in the Lord of daybreak
From the evil of that which He created
And from the evil of darkness when it settles
And from the evil of the blowers in knots
And from the evil of an envier when he envies."
(Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of the Daybreak…) [113:1-5] The commentators of the Qur'an said: “The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, had a Jewish servant boy. The Jews approached him and kept after him until he gave them some fallen hair from the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, as well as a few teeth from his comb. The Jews used these to cast a spell of black magic on him. The person who was behind this was the Jew Labid ibn al-A'sam. He then put the hair in a well belonging to Banu Zurayq called Dharwan. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, fell ill for a period of six month, during which the hair of his head fell off; he imagined that he slept with his wives when he did not, and was withering away without knowing the reason. As he was one day sleeping, he saw two angels coming to him. One of them sat at his head and the other at his feet. The angel who sat at his head asked: 'What is wrong with the man?' The second angel responded: 'A spell of black magic was cast on him'. The first one asked: 'And who is responsible for this sorcery?' The second angel answered: 'It is Labid ibn al-A'sam, the Jew'. The first angel asked again: 'What did he use to cast black magic on him?' The second angel said: 'He used a comb and fallen hair'. The first angel asked: 'Where is it now?' The second angel said: 'It is inside the spadix of a palm tree beneath the stepping stone which is inside the well of Dharwan', at which point the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, woke up. He said: 'O 'A'ishah, do you not think that this is from Allah to inform me of the cause of my illness?' He then sent 'Ali [ibn Abi Talib], al-Zubayr [ibn al-'Awwam] and 'Ammar [ibn Yasir] who drained the water of that well as one would drain the dust of henna. They lifted the stone and got the spadix out and found therein some of the hair of the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, as well a few teeth from his comb. They also found with it a string with eleven knots knitted with needles. Allah, exalted is He, then revealed Surah al-Falaq and Surah al-Nas (al-Mu'awwidhatayn). With each verse that the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, read one knot was untied and the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, felt some lightness. When the last knot was untied, the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, got up as if he was released from a cord to which he was tied up. Gabriel, peace be upon him, kept saying: 'In the name of Allah I cast this incantation on you to protect you from anything that might harm you and that Allah heals you from the resentful envier and the evil eye'. Those around him said: 'O Messenger of Allah, should we not head toward that evil person and kill him?' He said: 'As for me, Allah has cured me, and I dislike causing evil to other people'. This is of the forbearance of the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace”. Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Ja'far informed us> Abu 'Amr Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Hiri> Ahmad ibn 'Ali al-Mawsili> Mujahid ibn Musa> Abu Usamah> Hisham ibn 'Urwa> his father> 'A'ishah, may Allah be well pleased with her, who said: “A spell of black magic was cast on the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, such that he used to imagine that he did things when he did not. He was at my place, one day, and he began imploring Allah in earnest. Then he said: 'Did you not feel, O 'A'ishah, that Allah has answered me about that which I have enquired?' I said: 'And what is that, O Messenger of Allah?' He said: 'Two angels came to me…', and he mentioned the whole story”. The whole story is narrated by Bukhari from 'Ubayd ibn Isma'il from Abu Usamah. The same narration has different channels of transmission in both the authentic collections of Bukhari and Muslim. The book Asbab Nuzul al-Qur'an concludes here, and praise be to Allah, the One, the Munificent, and may Allah bless our master Muhammad, his household and all those who follow them in excellence.
قال المفسرون: كان غلام من اليهود يخدم رسول الله فأتت إليه اليهود ولم يزالوا به حتى أخذ مشاطة النبي وعدة أسنان من مشطه فأعطاها اليهود فسحروه فيها وكان الذي تولى ذلك لبيد بن أعصم اليهودي ثم دسها في بئر لبني زريق يقال لها ذروان فمرض رسول الله وانتثر شعر رأسه ويرى أنه يأتي نساءه ولا يأتيهن وجعل يدور ولا يدري ما عراه فبينما هو نائم ذات يوم أتاه ملكان فقعد أحدهما عند رأسه والآخر عند رجليه فقال الذي عند رأسه: ما بال الرجل قال: طب قال: وما طب قال: سحر قال: ومن سحره قال: لبيد بن أعصم اليهودي قال: وبم طبه قال: بمشط ومشاطة قال: وأين هو قال: في جف طلعة تحت راعوفة في بئر ذروان. والجف: قشر الطلع والراعوفة: حجر في أسفل البئر يقوم عليه المائح فانتبه رسول الله فقال: يا عائشة ما شعرت أن الله أخبرني بدائي ثم بعث علياً والزبير وعمار بن ياسر فنزحوا ماء تلك البئر كأنه نقاعة الحناء ثم رفعوا الصخرة وأخرجوا الجف فإذا هو مشاطة رأسه وأسنان مشطه وإذا وتر معقد فيه أحد عشر عقدة مغروزة بالإبر فأنزل الله تعالى سورتي المعوذتين فجعل كلما قرأ آية انحلت عقدة ووجد رسول الله خفة حتى انحلت العقدة الأخيرة فقام كأنما نشط من عقال وجعل جبريل عليه السلام يقول: بسم الله أرقيك من كل شيء يؤذيك ومن حاسد وعين الله يشفيك فقالوا: يا رسول الله أولا نأخذ الخبيث فنقتله فقال: أما أنا فقد شفاني الله وأكره أن أثير على الناس شراً.
أخبرنا محمد بن عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن جعفر أخبرنا أبو عمرو محمد بن أحمد الحيري أخبرنا أحمد بن علي الموصلي أخبرنا مجاهد بن موسى أخبرنا أبو أسامة عن هشام بن عروة عن أبيه عن عائشة رضي الله عنها قالت: سحر النبي حتى إنه ليتخيل إليه أنه فعل الشيء وما فعل حتى إذا كان ذات يوم وهو عندي دعا الله ودعا ثم قال: أشعرت يا عائشة أن الله قد أفتاني فيما استفتيته فيه قلت: وما ذاك يا رسول الله قال: أتاني ملكان وذكر القصة بطولها. رواه البخاري عن عبيد بن إسماعيل عن أبي أسامة ولهذا الحديث طريق في الصحيحين.
