The Casting of a Spell

The Casting of a Spell

1992 3-4 March-April 14 The Casting of a Spell (333) The following incident concerning an act of ill-will against the Prophet of Islam has been recorded in the books of Hadith, although the Prophet himself was loth to mention it. It seems that a man by the name of Lubaid ibn Asam, a resident of Medina, was an expert in magic and in the 7th year of Hijra was approached by some Jews from Khybar to cast a powerful spell over the Prophet. They offered him three gold coins and he acceded to their request. He then set about obtaining a few strands of the Prophet’s hair and some teeth from his comb. Casting a magical spell over these, he wrapped them in a bunch of dates and threw them into the well of Zarwan which belonged to one Banu Razique. All this was done in the greatest of secrecy.

The spell worked and the Prophet remained under its influence for several days. During this time he suffered terribly. Then he prayed to God to alleviate his affliction. An angel came down to him to explain to him what had actually happened. The Prophet then went to the well and had all the things under the magical spell removed and destroyed. He was then instructed by God to recite two surahs from the Qur’an (113, 114) which would guard him against ills of this kind.

The Prophet was content with the undoing of the spell and, subsequently, he hardly ever mentioned it. There was a danger that if the Muslims had come to know about the incident they would have punished the magician. When asked why he did not speak of this incident, the Prophet replied that “as far as the magic was concerned, God cured me of it, and I do not like the idea of inciting the people against anyone.”

A believer should be more interested in solving a problem than in defaming the man who is the cause of the problem.