has reached advanced years, and this is the youngest of my children; so confer your blessing upon him.’

He said,

‘Come here, young boy,’

then took me by the hand, wiped over my head, and said,

‘May Allah bless you,’

or,

‘Blessings have been conferred upon you.’

I later saw Ḥanzalah: people would bring to him someone whose body was swollen, and he would pass his hand over the affected area, saying, ‘Bismillah,’ and the swelling would disappear. In another version the same was done for a sheep or a camel.

It is also related about Abū Sufyān—whose personal name was Madlūk—that he went to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, embraced Islam, and the Prophet prayed for him, wiped his head with his hand, and invoked blessing upon him. The front part of his head, the very place the Prophet’s hand had touched, remained black, whereas the rest of his hair turned white. Al-Bukhārī likewise recorded this in his History.