the route of transmission that comes through ʿAqār ibn al-Mughīra ibn Shuʿba, from his father, as a marfūʿ report.

Al-Tirmidhī said, “A ḥadīth that is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.” Al-Ḥākim added, “Its chain is authentic,” and al-Dhahabī concurred; the ruling is as they stated.

I say: This narration establishes the dislike of cauterisation and of seeking ruqyah. The first is disliked because it inflicts pain with fire; the second because it requires resorting to others for a benefit that is only conjectural and not clearly preponderant. Hence, among the qualities of those who shall enter Paradise without reckoning is that they neither seek ruqyah, nor cauterise, nor practise augury, and they place their trust in their Lord—­as in the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿAbbās reported by the two Ṣaḥīḥs. Muslim’s wording further adds, “they neither perform ruqyah nor seek ruqyah,” but this addition is anomalous, as I have explained in my notes to Mukhtaṣar Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (no. 254).

245 – “If there is any good to be found in your treatments, it lies in the incision of cupping, or a draught of honey, or a branding with fire—­yet I do not like to be cauterised.”

Narrated by al-Bukhārī (10/114–115, 125–126), Muslim (7/21–22) and Aḥmad (3/343) from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, marfūʿ.
It comes through the narration of ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar ibn Qatāda from him.

In another wording recorded by Muslim, through ʿĀṣim, Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh visited al-Muqannaʿ when he was ill and said, “I will not leave until you undergo cupping, for I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, ‘Indeed it contains healing.’” This version is also found in Aḥmad (3/335) and likewise in al-Bukhārī (10/124). Al-Ḥākim (4/409) regarded it as something that the two Shaykhs had omitted, and al-Dhahabī agreed with him.

The ḥadīth is further supported by a corroborating report from Ibn ʿUmar, marfūʿ, with the first wording.