Hubāb, from Zayd ibn Arqam, who said: “A Jewish man bewitched the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he suffered from this for several days. Then Gabriel came to him and said: ‘A Jewish man has bewitched you and tied knots for that purpose.’ The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, sent ‘Alī, who retrieved them and brought them back. Each time a knot was untied, he felt relief, until the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, rose as though released from a tether. He never mentioned this to the Jew, nor did he ever let it show on his face.”

Ibn ‘Abbās and ‘Ā’isha said: “A Jewish boy used to serve the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Some Jews approached him and persisted until he obtained hair combed from the Prophet’s head, along with several teeth from his comb. He gave these to the Jews, who used them to bewitch him. The man who carried this out was Labīd ibn al-A‘sam, a Jew. These two surahs were then revealed concerning this.”

Al-Baghawī said: “It has also been said: ‘Needles had been stuck into it. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, then revealed these two surahs, which contain eleven verses: Sūrat al-Falaq has five verses, and Sūrat al-Nās has six. Each time he recited a verse, a knot came undone, until all the knots were undone. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, then rose as though released from a tether.’” He said: “It is reported that he remained affected by it for six months, and that it became severe for three days, whereupon the two surahs of refuge were revealed.”

They said: The witchcraft that afflicted him was a passing illness, one of the illnesses from which Allah healed him. There is no deficiency or blemish in this whatsoever, for prophets can suffer illness, as well as loss of consciousness. He, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, lost consciousness during his illness, and he fell when his foot became dislocated, grazing his side. Such trials are among the means by which Allah raises his rank and grants him honor.

The prophets are the most severely tried of all people. They suffered at the hands of their peoples through killing, beating, abuse and imprisonment. It is therefore nothing unprecedented for the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to be afflicted by some form of witchcraft at the hands of an enemy, just as he was tried by the man who struck him with a projectile and wounded his head, and by the one who cast the afterbirth «1» onto his back while he was prostrating, and by other such things. None of this entails any deficiency or disgrace for them. Rather, it is part of their perfection and their lofty ranks before Allah.