while al-Walīd ibn ʿUqbah was governor. The magician would pick up a sword, slit his own throat, and suffer no harm. Jundub stepped forward, seized the sword, struck off the man’s head, and then recited: “Will you then resort to sorcery while you can see?” (1) — 21:3.
Ismāʿīl ibn Muslim narrated, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, from Jundub al-Khayr:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The prescribed punishment for the sorcerer is that he be struck down with the sword.” (2)
Ibn Lahīʿa reported—from Abū al-Aswad—that al-Walīd was in Iraq when a magician performed before him. The man would sever another’s head, call to him, the body would rise, and the head would return to its place. The spectators exclaimed, “Glory be to Allah! Glory be to Allah!”
One of the righteous Emigrants witnessed this. The next day he wrapped his cloak about his sword, came to the show, drew the blade, and beheaded the magician, saying, “If he is truthful, let him revive himself.” Al-Walīd imprisoned the man, but the jailer smuggled him out because of his piety. (3)
Abū Mikhnaf Lūṭ related—from his maternal uncle—from a man who said: “A sorcerer arrived from Babylon and began astounding the people: he would show them a rope stretched out in the mosque with an elephant standing upon it…"