The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then awoke and called for ‘A’ishah, saying, “O ‘A’ishah, do you know that Allah has informed me of the cause of my illness?” In the morning, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ went to the well, accompanied by his Companions. Its water was like an infusion of henna, and the fronds of the palm trees that drank from its water were twisted like the heads of devils.

He said: A man descended and brought out the spathe of a male date palm from beneath the stone covering. Therein were the Messenger of Allah’s ﷺ comb and hairs that had been combed from his head. There was also a wax figure in the likeness of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, with needles stuck into it, and a string containing eleven knots. Then Gabriel came to him with the Mu‘awwidhatayn (the two refuge-seeking surahs) and said, “O Muhammad: ‘Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of daybreak,’” and a knot came undone; “‘from the evil of what He created,’” and another knot came undone—until he had completed them and all the knots had come undone. Whenever a needle was removed, he would feel pain from it, followed by relief.

It was said, “O Messenger of Allah, why did you not kill the Jew?” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, “Allah has cured me, and the punishment of Allah that awaits him is more severe.” He said: So he had it brought out.

Al-Bayhaqi narrated it in Dala’il al-Nubuwwah (2/2/226/1–2 and 7/92–94, Ṭ) through Salamah ibn Hibban: Yazid ibn Harun narrated to us; Muhammad ibn ‘Ubayd Allah informed us, from Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad, from ‘Amrah, with this report.

I say: This is a very weak chain of transmission. Muhammad ibn ‘Ubayd Allah is al-‘Arzami, and he is abandoned. As for Salamah ibn Hibban—the letter ha in his name takes a fatḥah (1)—a number of trustworthy narrators transmitted from him, and Ibn Hibban included him in al-Thiqat (The Trustworthy Narrators) (8/287). Thus, the flaw lies with al-‘Arzami.

Among what further weakens this report is that it has been narrated in abridged form through Hisham ibn ‘Urwah, from his father, from ‘A’ishah, attributed to the Prophet ﷺ, with similar wording but without mention of the figure or what follows it.