- The Hadith of Abū Saīd al-Khudrī (may Allah be pleased with him).
Abū Nadrah narrated that Abū Saīd al-Khudrī said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to seek refuge from the evil eyes of the jinn and human beings. When the two surahs of refuge were revealed, he adopted them and left everything else. (1)
Abū Saīd (may Allah be pleased with him) also narrated that Gabriel came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and asked, “Are you ill, Muhammad?” He replied, “Yes.” Gabriel said, “In the name of Allah, I recite over you for healing from everything that harms you, from the evil of every soul and every eye that regards you with hatred. May Allah heal you. In the name of Allah, I recite over you for healing.” (2)
Abū Nadrah narrated from Abū Saīd—or Jābir ibn Abd Allah—that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) fell ill, whereupon Gabriel came to him and said, “In the name of Allah, I recite over you for healing from everything that harms you, from every envier and every evil eye. May Allah heal you.” (3)
- The Hadith of Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her).
The Mother of the Believers, Aishah bint Abū Bakr al-Siddīq (may Allah Most High be pleased with them both), said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) instructed me—or gave instructions—that a healing recitation be sought for the evil eye.” (4)
Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) also narrated that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Seek refuge in Allah Most High from the evil eye, for the evil eye is real.” (5)
(1) Sound (hasan): Recorded by al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāī, Ibn Mājah, and al-Diyā in *al-Mukhtārah*, from Saīd ibn Iyās Abū Masūd al-Jarīrī with this report. Al-Tirmidhī graded it sound. Al-Albānī authenticated it in *Sahīh al-Jāmi* (4902).
(2) Authentic: Recorded by Muslim, Ibn Mājah, al-Tirmidhī, and al-Nasāī, all through chains from Abd al-Wārith, from his father, from Abd al-Azīz ibn Suhayb, from Abū Nadrah, from Abū Saīd, who narrated this report concerning Gabriel.
(3) Authentic: Recorded by Ahmad, who also transmitted it solely from Abū Saīd with the same wording; both versions are authentic.
(4) Authentic: Recorded by al-Bukhārī (5738); Muslim (2195), in the Book of Greetings, chapter “The Desirability of Healing Recitation for the Evil Eye, Skin Ulcers, Venomous Stings, and the Jinn’s Evil Eye”; Ahmad; al-Nasāī in *al-Sunan al-Kubrā*; Ibn Mājah; Ibn Hibbān; and al-Bayhaqī.
(5) Weak: Recorded by al-Hākim in *al-Mustadrak* (7497)—whose wording this is—and by Ibn Mājah in his *Sunan* (3508), both through Abū Wāqid al-Laythī, who said: “I heard Abū Salamah ibn Abd al-Rahmān narrate from Aishah…” Al-Hākim said: “This hadith meets the criteria of al-Bukhārī and Muslim, although they did not record it with this wording; they agreed only upon Ibn Abbās’s hadith, ‘The evil eye is real.’” End quote.
I say: This is one of his errors—may Allah have mercy on him. This Abū Wāqid is not the eminent Companion Abū Wāqid al-Laythī, whose reports were recorded by al-Bukhārī and Muslim. Rather, he is Sālih ibn Muhammad ibn Zāidah al-Madanī, known as the younger Abū Wāqid al-Laythī. Abū Dāwūd, Abū Zurah, Yahyā ibn Maīn, and Alī ibn al-Madīnī judged him weak. Al-Bukhārī called him *munkar al-hadīth* (a narrator whose reports are rejected). Ibn Hibbān said: “He was among those who unknowingly inverted reports and chains of transmission and gave connected chains to *mursal* reports without understanding. When this became frequent and egregious in his narrations, he deserved to be abandoned as a narrator.” End quote. Al-Albānī authenticated it in *Sahīh al-Jāmi* (938), but it is not authentic.