2949 — “There is no truth in the hāmah superstition, the evil eye is real, and the truest form of augury is a good omen.”

Al-Bukhari transmitted it in al-Adab al-Mufrad (914) and al-Tarikh (2/1/107–108); al-Tirmidhi (2/6); Ahmad (4/67 and 5/70, 379); Ibn Sa‘d (7/66); Abu Ya‘la in al-Musnad (582) and al-Mufarid (2/13/2); and al-Tabarani (1/175/2), through several routes from Yahya ibn Abi Kathir: Hiyyah ibn Habis al-Tamimi told me: My father told me, attributing it to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.

Al-Tirmidhi said: “It is a singular hadith. Shayban narrated from Yahya ibn Abi Kathir, from Hiyyah ibn Habis, from his father, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. ‘Ali ibn al-Mubarak and Harb ibn Shaddad do not mention in it: ‘from Abu Hurayrah.’”

I say: Al-Tirmidhi regarded it as singular only because Hiyyah ibn Habis was not well known for integrity; indeed, no one besides Yahya ibn Abi Kathir narrated from him, as stated in al-Mizan. Al-Taqrib says: “Acceptable”—that is, when corroborated; otherwise, his hadith is weak. It then states: “Whoever claimed that he was a Companion was mistaken.”

However, most of the hadith has a supporting narration: Abu Ma‘shar narrated from Muhammad ibn Qays, from Abu Hurayrah, attributing it to the Prophet, with the wording: “The truest form of augury is a good omen, and the evil eye is real.” Ahmad transmitted it (2/289). Its chain is good as supporting evidence. Abu Ma‘shar was Nujayh ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Sindi,