783 – Rāfiʿ ibn Khadīj d. — may Allah be pleased with him — reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The earnings of the cupper are vile.” Related by Muslim (1).

Vocabulary of the ḥadith
• kasp al-ḥajjām (the cupper’s earnings): kasaba – yaksibu – kasban means to seek money and accumulate it; hence the expression refers to what a cupper receives for performing cupping.
• khabīth (vile): the verbal root khubtha – yakhbuth – khubthan denotes the opposite of good. The word is the antonym of ṭayyib (wholesome) with regard to provision and other things; its plurals are khibāth and khubathāʾ. It may describe something unlawful, or something permissible yet base—the latter is intended here.

Points derived from the two ḥadiths
1 – Together the two reports demonstrate the essential permissibility of hire-contracts (ijārā) and count them among lawful, beneficial transactions. This ruling is established by the Quran, the Sunnah, scholarly consensus, and sound analogy. Ibn al-Mundhir said: “All the scholars of the ummah whose opinions we have preserved agree on their permissibility.” People are in pressing need of them, for the need for services resembles the need for tangible property.
2 – Ḥadith no. 782 shows that a cupper’s earnings are lawful; had they been forbidden, the Prophet ﷺ would not have paid the practitioner his wage.
3 – Ḥadith no. 783, on the other hand, states that such earnings are “vile.”
4 – The term “vile” is used for inferior food, as in Allah’s words: “Do not aim at the defective thereof for spending” (al-Baqarah 2:267). It is also applied to base earnings. Here it denotes the meanness of the income; hence it was authentically