Hadith #321

Arabic Text

English Translation

It was narrated from 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (رضي الله عنه) — via 'Abdallah ibn Yazid and Yunus, both from Dawud ibn al-Furat, from Muhammad ibn Zayd, from Abi al-A'yan al-'Abdi, from Abi al-Ahwas al-Jushami — that he said: 'While Ibn Mas'ud was delivering a sermon one day, a snake appeared moving along the wall. He cut short his sermon and struck it with his staff — or a cane (Yunus said: with his staff) — until he killed it. Then he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: Whoever kills a snake is as if he has killed a man who was a polytheist whose blood was lawful [to shed].'