He said to him, “Do you know what the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—just said a moment ago?” He added: “I know a word which, were he to utter it, what he feels would leave him: ‘I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan.’ ”
The man retorted, “Do you think I am mad?!” Al-Bukhārī also recorded this report.
Muslim likewise transmits—from ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ al-Thaqafī—that he came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and said, “O Messenger of Allah, Satan has come between me and my prayer and my recitation, confusing me.” The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, replied, “That is a devil called Khanzab. When you sense him, seek refuge with Allah from him and spit lightly to your left three times.” He said, “I did so, and Allah removed him from me.”
Abū Dāwūd relates—from Ibn ʿUmar—that when the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was traveling and night descended upon him, he would say:
“O earth, my Lord and your Lord is Allah. I seek refuge in Allah from your evil, from the evil that is within you, from the evil of whatever moves upon you, from lions and spotted predators, from snakes and scorpions, from the inhabitants of this land, and from the father and whatever he begets.”
Khawlah bint Ḥakīm reports: I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say, “Whoever stops at a place and then says, ‘I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from the evil He has created,’ nothing will harm him until he departs from that place.” Mālik, Muslim, and al-Tirmidhī also recorded it; al-Tirmidhī said, “A sound, uncommon ḥadīth.”
There are many things from which protection is sought, all firmly attested in the transmitted reports. Allah’s help is sought.
Ninth point. In Arabic usage istiʿādhah means seeking protection and taking refuge in something in order to shield oneself from what is disliked. They say ʿudh-tu bifulān wa-istaʿadh-tu bihi, meaning, “I sought refuge with him”; he is my ʿiyādh, that is, my place of safety. Likewise, aʿadhtu someone else with him and ʿawwadz-tuhu carry the same meaning.
They also say: ʿawdhun billāhi minka, meaning, “I seek refuge in Allah from you.” A poet recited:
“She cried out, trembling and afraid:
‘A refuge with my Lord from you—and safety!’ ”
When faced with something they detest, the Arabs exclaim ḥujran lahu (with a ḍammah on the ḥāʾ), meaning “Keep it away!”—an expression of seeking protection from it. Al-ʿawdhah, al-muʿādhah, and al-taʿwīdh are all synonymous. As for the form aʿūḏu, its original ḍammah was transferred to the ʿayn because pronouncing it on the wāw was cumbersome, so the wāw was left quiescent.