speak to Moses directly; exalted is Allah above what al-Jaʿd ibn Dirham alleges, infinitely exalted. He then stepped down and slaughtered him at the foot of the pulpit (1).
Several leading scholars have said: al-Jaʿd ibn Dirham was from the people of Syria. He tutored Marwān al-Ḥimār, and for that reason Marwān is called “al-Jaʿdī,” being linked to him. Al-Jaʿd was also the teacher of Jahm ibn Ṣafwān, after whom the sect of the Jahmiyyah is named—those who claim that Allah is in every place with His very Essence. Exalted is Allah above what they say, immeasurably exalted.
Al-Jaʿd ibn Dirham had taken this vile doctrine from a man called Abān ibn Samʿān. Abān had taken it from Ṭālūt, the nephew of Labīd ibn al-Aʿṣam, who in turn took it from his uncle Labīd ibn al-Aʿṣam the Jew—the man who bewitched the Prophet ﷺ using a comb, its loose hairs, and fibres of a male date-spathe (2), placing them beneath a stone in the well of Dhū Arwān (3), whose water was like the infusion of henna (4). The hadith affirming this is authentically established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs and elsewhere (5), and some reports state that Allah Most High revealed the two chapters of seeking refuge (al-Muʿawwidhatayn) because of this incident.
Abū Bakr ibn Abī Khaythamah said: “Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Rifāʿī narrated to us; I heard Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh say: I saw….”
(1) A reference to the reports of al-Bayhaqi and Ibn ‘Asakir regarding his killing has already been made on the page cited in the previous footnote of al-Bidaya wa-al-Nihaya (manuscript “Q”). Additional isnād sources include: Abu al-Qasim al-Lalkā’i, Kitāb I‘tiqād Ahl al-Sunnah (vol. 2, p. 319; no. 512); al-Bukhārī, al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr (vol. 3, p. 158) under the biography of Khālid al-Qasrī; al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, Tārīkh Baghdād (vol. 12, p. 425); al-Mizzī, Tahdhīb al-Kamāl (vol. 8, p. 118); and al-Dhahabī, Siyar A‘lām al-Nubalā’ (vol. 5, p. 432).
(2) In manuscript “Q” the reading is “wamashita,” whereas manuscripts “B” and “H” and other extraction sources attest mushata (mushata), with a damma on the mīm: the hair that falls from the head or beard when combed. The term al-musht (comb) appears in variant forms (musht, mushut, misht). The word jaf (sometimes read jub) denotes the protective husk of the date-palm shoot, a covering that applies to both male and female shoots; hence the hadith specifies “tal‘at dhakar” (male shoot), linking tal‘a (shoot) to dhakar (male). In one recension of al-Bukhārī transmitted by Ibn ‘Uyayna it appears as mushāhiqa (with qāf), also meaning mushata; some say mushāqa al-kitān denotes a linen comb. See al-Nawawī’s commentary (vol. 14, p. 177).
(3) Ra’ūfat al-bi’r: a stone left at the bottom of a well once dug, serving as a stationary seat for the water-drawer. Some define it as a protruding, indestructible stone within certain wells; others as the stone placed on the well’s rim. Some ḥadīth transmitters report that he placed his sihr (magic) in the jub tal‘ah, but the only plausible term in the ḥadīth is jaf (husk). Abū ‘Ubayd notes the variants ar‘ūfat al-bi’r and ra‘ūfathu. See Ibn Sallām’s Gharīb al-Ḥadīth (vol. 2, p. 268). Bi’r Dhī Arwān appears in some of al-Bukhārī’s versions as Dhirwān; both forms are acceptable, though the former is superior. It is a well in Medina in the orchard of Banī Zarīq. See al-Nawawī’s commentary (vol. 14, p. 177).
(4) al-Nuqā‘a (with a damma on nūn): the water used to soak ḥenna. See al-Nawawī’s commentary (vol. 14, p. 177).
(5) Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (vol. 5, pp. 2174, 2176; no. 5430, 5433); Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (vol. 4, p. 1720; no. 2189); and Ibn Ḥibbān, al-Ṣaḥīḥ (vol. 14, pp. 545–546; no. 6583, 6584).