Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) also narrated that she would instruct the person who had cast the evil eye to perform ablution and then wash the one afflicted by it. (1)
Ibn Abī Shaybah said: Ghundar narrated to us, from Shubah, from Mughīrah, from Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaī, who said: The family of al-Aswad had a healing recitation that they used during the pre-Islamic period for venomous bites and stings. Al-Aswad presented it to Aishah, and she instructed them to use it. Aishah said: “There is no healing recitation except for the evil eye or a venomous bite or sting.” (2)
- The Hadith of Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him).
Jābir ibn Abd Allah al-Ansārī (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) permitted the family of Hazm to use a healing recitation for snakebite. He asked Asmā bint Umays, “Why do I see my brother’s children looking so thin and frail? Are they suffering from want?” She replied, “No, but the evil eye readily afflicts them.” He said, “Recite over them for healing.” She said: I presented the recitation to him, and he said, “Recite over them for healing.” (3)
(1) Its chain is authentic under either identification. Ibn Abī Shaybah said (23596): “Abd Allah narrated to us, saying: Sufyān narrated to us, from al-Amash, from Ibrāhīm, from al-Aswad, from Aishah.” This chain consists entirely of leading hadith masters. Sufyān is either al-Thawrī or Ibn Uyaynah, both of whom narrated from al-Amash. He was most likely al-Thawrī, since Ibn Abī Shaybah says “Sufyān” when referring to al-Thawrī, but “Ibn Uyaynah” when referring to Ibn Uyaynah. Abd Allah is either Ibn al-Mubārak or Ibn Numayr, and the former is the correct identification. Both heard from Sufyān, and both were teachers of Ibn Abī Shaybah; however, Ibn Abī Shaybah refers to the latter as “Ibn Numayr” and the former as “Abd Allah.”
Abū Dāwūd also recorded it (3880) through Jarīr ibn Abd al-Hamīd, from al-Amash, with the same chain, worded as follows: Aishah said, “The person who had cast the evil eye would be instructed to perform ablution, and the afflicted person would then wash with that water.” This indicates that the practice is traceable to the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), unlike Ibn Abī Shaybah’s version, which indicates that it was Aishah’s own practice and is therefore mawqūf (stopping at a Companion).
(2) Its chain is weak. Ibn Abī Shaybah recorded it (23529) from Ghundar, from Shubah, from Mughīrah, from Ibrāhīm. These are all narrators used by al-Bukhārī and Muslim. Ibrāhīm is Ibn Yazīd al-Nakhaī, who was trustworthy but narrated from Aishah with a missing intermediary. It is possible that he heard it from his maternal uncle, al-Aswad ibn Yazīd, who was trustworthy and heard from Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her). I therefore included the hadith here. Its defect, however, is Mughīrah ibn Miqsam: although trustworthy, he practiced tadlīs (concealing an intermediary) in his narrations from Ibrāhīm.
(3) Authentic: Recorded by Imam Muslim in his Sahīh (2198).