Miscellaneous by Al-Albani-282

The Shaykh : The hadith that follows is authentic. It is narrated from the son of Zaynab’s sister, the wife of 'Abd Allah, and he is Ibn Mas'ud. From Zaynab (may Allah be pleased with her), she said: “An old woman used to come to us to perform ruqyah for the redness. This is Zaynab, the wife of 'Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud, who is narrating this story to us. She said: An old woman used to come to us to perform ruqyah for the redness. We had a bed with long legs. When 'Abd Allah would enter, he would cough and make a sound. One day, when she heard his voice, she veiled herself from him. He came and sat beside his wife. He touched me and felt the touch of a string. He asked, 'What is this?' I said, 'It is a ruqyah for me against the redness.' He pulled it and cut it and threw it away. Then he said, 'The family of 'Abd Allah has become rich today, having no need of shirk (associating partners with Allah). I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: I said, 'Indeed, I went out one day and so-and-so looked at me, and my eye that is next to it watered. When I perform the ruqyah, its watering stops, and when I leave it, it waters.' Ibn Mas'ud said, 'That is Shaytan. If you obey him, he leaves you alone, and if you disobey him, he pokes his finger into your eye. But if you had done what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did, it would have been better for you and more likely to cure you: you would spit water into your eye and say: It was narrated by Ibn Majah, and the wording is his, and by Abu Dawud in a shorter form from him, except that he said 'from the son of Zaynab’s brother,' and it is so in some copies of Ibn Majah. In either case, the narrator is unknown. I noted on the author’s statement that he is unknown, but al-Hafiz said, 'It seems he is a Companion,' and I have not seen him named. The hadith is published in *Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah* with number 325. Then he said in the follow-up takhrij: 'Al-Hakim narrated it more concisely than both of them and said, "The chain is authentic." Abu Sulayman al-Khattabi said: 'What is prohibited among ruqyah is that which is not in the Arabic language, so one does not know what it is, and perhaps sorcery or disbelief may enter into it. But if the meaning is understood and it contains the mention of Allah the Exalted, then it is recommended (mustahabb) and one seeks blessing (tabarruk) with it. And Allah knows best. We return to the hadith. Zaynab, the wife of 'Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud, said: An old woman used to come to us to perform ruqyah for the redness. It is common among people that old people, whether men or women, are the place of bid'ah (religious innovation), superstitions, idolatry, and shirk (associating partners with Allah). Therefore, it is customary for them, when one of them tells something that is not reasonable or acceptable, to say, 'I got this from your grandmother, who told it to you?' This seems to be something old and inherited. This old woman used to come to the wife of one of the great Companions, 'Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), to perform ruqyah for her, to treat her, but with a non-Shari'ah treatment. So Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) entered his wife’s home, and this woman had performed ruqyah for her against the redness that had afflicted her. We mentioned earlier that it is a disease or a type of plague. She said: 'And 'Abd Allah, when he would enter, would cough and make a sound.' This is a etiquette that perhaps many people today do not practice due to the rise of modesty, shyness, and the love of privacy, and the like. Because, unfortunately, Muslims today have followed the way of the disbelievers in terms of ikhtilat (free mixing of men and women). So if you want to enter a house and you have a business there, such as a carpenter or a joiner, the woman greets you as she is in her house, because she is also going out, or worse, she may go out to the street and the road. This is undoubtedly contrary to Islam in many ways. And this reminds us that the matter was the opposite of that, where 'Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud would enter his house not as if he were entering an unoccupied place. He would enter and cough and make a sound because he knew that there might be a woman who is not a mahram (a relative one may not marry) to him, and he is not a mahram to her, so he would see from her what is not permissible. So he would make a sound and cough to indicate that if there is any woman who should cover herself, she should hasten to the veil. This is one of the Islamic etiquettes that have been abandoned and forsaken, which this noble Companion used to practice. And indeed, it had its effect, for there was the old woman. When she heard his coughing and sound, she veiled herself from him. So Ibn Mas'ud sat beside me, meaning his wife. He touched me and felt the touch of a string. It is common today for women and men to find a string tied in a special way on one of their wrists. This is from these amulets and these ruqyah, which the wise Shari'ah has prohibited. This string does not benefit and does not harm. And if it was read over, as some claim, if the reading is what benefits by the permission of Allah the Mighty and Majestic, because of what it contains of Qur'an or of supplications established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), if the benefit is in this, what is the benefit of the string? And if there is a benefit in the string in addition to the benefit expected from the Qur'an and hadith, then there are two wrongs in the matter: the first is that the benefit from the Qur'an and hadith is incomplete and not full, and the other wrong is that the string has a benefit. So whoever says, 'We benefit from the reading over the string,' is not truthful at all. Because if the benefit, as he says, is only from the Qur'an and Sunnah, then do not tie or bind. But this action is the affair of all people of intellect. No person of intellect, even a disbeliever, can come to an action, however small or lowly, without having a desire behind it, whether it is good or evil. This is a second discussion. The discussion is that a person of intellect cannot tie a knot or bind a tie without having a purpose behind it, good or bad. So the one who claims that the benefit in this knot is only in the ruqyah with the Qur'an and Sunnah, we refute him. So she said, 'If the matter were so, I would not have tied or bound the string.' Therefore, 'Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) was heated toward his wife, although we know, in the past and present, that the gentlest people with their wives are the people of the Sunnah, those who hold fast to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and part of his Sunnah is good treatment of his wife. Therefore, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This is without doubt. But whoever imitates and follows the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and is eager for that in everything, has a share of that. Unlike those masses, unfortunately, of Muslims, especially the later ones, who made their example other than the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). This one says, 'My example and my guide is my Shaykh,' and this one says, 'My guide is my teacher,' and this one and this one, and so on. And all of them, except whom Allah protects, have forgotten the true example, and it has not been mentioned to us that there is an example other than him after the Prophets and Messengers, namely our Prophet (may Allah’s prayer and peace be upon him) And without doubt, Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) had the greatest share of following and imitating the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), because he was among the early, foremost ones in Islam, and those who accompanied the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for long, blessed years. So without doubt, he was influenced by his guidance (peace and blessings be upon him) and was upright with it. I say, despite all this, he did not treat her with the alleged gentleness that some Islamic preachers claim is always and forever required. This is a deviation. I want to say that using gentleness always and forever is like using violence always and forever. This is not permissible, and this is not permissible. Rather, the original rule is to use gentleness, without doubt, but in some places, it is necessary to use severity. How is this? We also take this from our Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), because he is our example. We see him always and forever gentle, but we see him sometimes severe. The heedless fools say that it is severity, and it is not severity, but rather it is the wise one who places things in their proper place. I want to say that Ibn Mas'ud used severity here with his wife, only cutting the string and throwing it to the ground, and saying, 'We, the family of 'Abd Allah, the house of 'Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud, have become rich today, having no need of shirk (associating partners with Allah).' He considered this shirk (associating partners with Allah) and cut it and threw it to the ground.