Part 11

"He said, 'No, you throw!' And suddenly their ropes

and staffs appeared to him. by their magic, to be slithering

Here we must note the words of Allah Almighty, "appeared to

him," referring to Musa, peace be upon him. It appeared to him

that the staffs and ropes which Pharaoh's magicians threw had

been transformed into snakes. In other words the magicians had

bewitched Musa's eyes so that he saw the ropes and staffs, which

they had thrown in the form of snakes. He did not see them as the

ropes and staffs that they actually were. This is corroborated by the

"Musa felt in himselfa feeling ofalarm." (20:68)

In other words Musa himself felt afraid. This is an indication

that his eyes had been bewitched. If he had seen the ropes and

staffs of Pharaoh's magicians as the ropes and staffs that they real­

ly were, he would not have felt alaimed. Why should he feel fear

when he saw staffs and ropes cast down in front of him and they

remained as they were without their nature changing? He must,

therefore, have seen them in the form in which the magicians of

Pharaoh wanted them to appear to him. No transformation did in

fact take place but Musa imagined that the ropes and staffs had

been changed into snakes. The sorcerers of Pharaoh had bewitched

his eyes. Because he was the Messenger of Allah, Allah Almighty

"We said, 'Have no fear. You will have the upper hand.

Throw down what is in your right hand. It will swallow up

what they have done. They have only done a magician's

trick. Magicians do not prosper wherever they go?"

Thus although the eyes of Musa were bewitched, Allah - glory

be to Him and may He be exalted! - braced him with revelation

and told him not to fear, but to cast his staff so that the miracle

would take place. That still happened despite the fact that Allah

had instructed Musa about what would happen with the magicians,

both in respect of the miracle of the transformation of the staff into

a snake and the illusion which would occur. This is not in any

sense a shortcoming. Musa was a mortal Messenger, and he was

subject to the laws of his humanness - but he was also supported

and sustained by Allah Almighty.

Now we come to the Messenger of Allah Muhammad, may

Allah bless him and grant him peace. AI-Bukhari relates in his

Sahih collection (l 0: 192) and Muslim in his Sahih collection

(4:1719) from ';\,jsha, mayAllah be pleased with her.who said;

"The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant

him peace, was bewitched by one of the Jews of Banu

Zurayq called Labid ibn al~A 'sam. So the Messenger of

Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, began to

imagine that he had done something when he had not. One

day - or night - the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless

him and grant him peace, made supplication for a long

period and then said, '0 'A'isha, are you aware that Allah

has informed me about the matter I asked him about? Two

men came to me. One of them sat at my head and the other

at my feet. The one who was at my head asked the one

who was at my feet (or vice versa), "What is wrong with

the man?" The other man said, "He is under the effect of

magic." He asked, "Who has bewitched him?" He said,

"Labid ibn al-A'sam." He said, "What was it done with?"

He replied, "With a comb and the hair stuck to it and the

skin of the pollen of a male date-palm." He said, "Where

is it?" He said, "In the well of Dhi Arwan."

"The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and

grant him peace, went to that well with some of his

Companions. Then he said, '0 'A'isha, by Allah, its water

was red like an infusion of henna and its date-palms were

like the heads of shay tans. ' 'Messenger of Allah, did you

bum it?' He replied, 'No. Allah has cured me and I dis­

liked to let evil spread among the people, so I ordered that

the well be filled in. ,,,

So ends the haditli which is related in.al-Bukhari and Muslim

about what happened to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless

him and grant him peace. This hadith has provoked much debate

What is important is the documentation of the hadith. As for

thefact that magic was worked on the Messenger of Allah, may

Allah bless him and grant him peace, there is nothing particularly

significant in that. It is in fact a response to the Challenge issued

by Allah in His Book. Allah Almighty challenges men and jinn in

the Noble Quran when He says:

"Say: 'If both men and jinn had banded together in

order to produce the like of this Qur' an, they could never

have produced its like, even if they backed each other

And the Almighty also says:

"Or do they say, 'He hasfabricated it'? Say: 'Then pro­

duce a surah like it and call on anyone you can apart from

Allah if you are being truthful.'" (10:38)

The Challenge to Men and Jinn

The challenge in the Noble Quran is thus addressed to both

men and jinn. What did men do? What did the jinn do? Men resist­

ed the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, harmed

him and opposed him and tortured the believers and proclaimed

enmity to the deen and tried to stop people from believing. They

plotted to murder the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant

him peace, but Allah made their actions in all of this come to noth­

ing. Thus men failed both in their open enmity and injury and also

in their secret conspiring and plotting.

The only option that remained for them was to use another,

greater, power. It had to be greater and stronger than any human

power because all the powers of man had failed in their attempt to

frustrate the call to the deen of Allah and to plot against His Mes­

senger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. This power was

that of the jinn. Allah Almighty wanted to confront them with a

similar failure in respect of the power of the jinn so that all people

might know that neither the strength of man nor that of the jinn

would ever succeed in overcoming the Messenger of Allah.

Therefore they sought the assistance of magic. Allah - glory be

to Him and may He be exalted! - indicated to the Messenger of

Allah that they had bewitched him, and guided him to the place

where the spell was hidden and informed him how the magic was

carried out. He did so in order that the whole world might know

that no creature had any power over Muhammad, may Allah bless

him and grant him peace, whether they openly declared their enmi­

ty or concealed that enmity and plotted to kill him, or sought the

help of another species, the jinn. Allah Almighty, who sent him,

revealed to him what had happened and nullified the devices of all

those who plotted, whether man or jinn.

Not an InJlictment but a Challenge

Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was

bewitched by the Jews, This is not any kind of indictment of him

but rather a challenge to men and jinn to do their worst against the

Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Allah Almighty included the jinn in the challenge in relation to the

Quran and the Path of Islam. .

It must be realised from these noble ayats which challenge men

and jinn that the real challenge is accomplished in respect of the

faculties of the jinn. They tried to harm the Messenger of Allah,

may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and failed. This was

known. It was not for men alone but for jinn and men because the

Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,

was sent to both jinn and men. So everyone must be shown that

the devices of both men and jinn together will not harm him at all.

If this magic had been a hidden event and had not been made

public with people being aware of it, they could have said that the

Quran had challenged men and jinn and that whereas men had

taken up the challenge and failed, the jinn had not taken it up.

Perhaps if they had taken up the challenge, they would have been

successful. So Allah - glory be to Him and may He be exalted! ­

wanted to establish for all to see that if the jinn took up the chal­

lenge they too would fail.

The Miracle of the Hijra

We must note the fact that men and jinn plotted against the

Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, on

several occasions, and that the plot to kill the Messenger of Allah, .

may Allah bless him and. grant him peace, on the eve of the hijra

was a plot hatched by various groups of the shaytans, both among

men and jinn, who all participated in it. Allah Almighty wanted to

challenge all who plotted in secret against the Messen-ger of

It had to be that the Divine Power preserving the Messenger of

Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, would be appar­

ent. Allah Almighty did not wish to conceal His Messenger, may

Allah bless him and grant him peace, in a safe place where the

unbelievers could not reach him. So He had him remain in his

house and the unbelievers knew that he was in his house. Nor did

Allah Almighty wish His Messenger, may Allah bless him and

grant him peace, to leave the house before the arrival of the strong

men who had been chosen to carry out the plot to assassinate him.

Those men arrived and surrounded the house of the Messenger of

Allah while he was in it. So all the components of the plot were in

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him

peace, was asleep in his house and the men who had come to kill

him were surrounding tae house. Then what happened? The

Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,

came out of his house and Allah took away sight from the eyes of

the men who had come to kill the Messenger of Allah and made