On the authority of Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him), the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Shall I tell you what al-ʿadhh is? It is namīmah—the carrying of tales among people.” (1) Narrated by Muslim.

Ala: a particle of alert.
Anbiʾukum: “shall I inform you.”
Al-ʿadhh: with an open ʿayn and a silent ḍād; the verbal noun of ʿaḍaha yaʿḍahu ʿadʿhan, which can mean “to lie” or “to practice sorcery.” Here it refers to sorcery.
Namīmah: conveying speech with the intent of causing corruption.
Al-qālah: excessive talk that foments disputes by repeating to some people what others have said about them.

Overall meaning of the ḥadīth: The Prophet (peace be upon him) wished to warn his community against tale-bearing—passing on people’s words to one another in a way that breeds discord. He opened with a question to make the statement more forceful and to capture attention. He asked, “What is al-ʿadhh?”—that is, what is sorcery?—then answered that al-ʿadhh is instigating enmity among them, because it produces the very same effects as sorcery: corruption and the estrangement of hearts.

Relevance of the ḥadīth to the chapter: The Prophet (peace be upon him) makes it clear that namīmah is one of the forms of sorcery.