The Shaykh Al-Albani’s explanation of the ruling on drawing lines in the sand and the explanation of the remainder of the hadith of Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam.

The Shaykh : In summary: This is Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami. When he asked the Messenger (peace be upon him) about the people who draw lines in the sand, he (peace be upon him) said: ; meaning: the one who hits the mark, whose line matches the line of that prophet, and this is his name... meaning the one who hits the mark. So whoever hits the mark in his sand with the same accuracy as that prophet, whose drawing in the sand was a prophetic miracle for him, is the one who hits the mark. This is what the scholars say in explaining this hadith: it is a suspension of the ruling on the impossible, meaning there is no drawing in the sand, and drawing in the sand is a type of fortune-telling and a type of alteration. Then, at the end of the hadith, and here is the point of interest, it says: "He said: O Messenger of Allah, I have a slave girl who tends my sheep in one of the mountains. One day, a wolf attacked my sheep. A wolf attacked my sheep one day, and I am a human being who gets angry as humans do, so I struck her a blow." He hit... "He said: So I struck her a blow, and upon me is the freeing of a believing slave woman." He wants to say that I lost my temper, and I am a human being who gets angry as humans do, so I struck this poor woman a blow that she did not deserve. What could this slave girl do against this wild wolf? He regretted it, so he vowed to free a believing slave woman. It is as if he is saying: O Messenger of Allah, will it suffice for me to expiate my vow by freeing this slave girl whom I wronged by striking her?