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Abu
Hurayrah (R) narrated,
"Allaah's Messenger (S) assigned
me to guard the Ramadhaan zakaah. Someone
came and tried to take some of the food,
so I grabbed him and said, 'By Allaah!
I will bring you before Allaah's Messenger
(S)!'. He said, 'I am poor, I have a family,
and I am in dire need!' Then I let him
go.
In the morning, the Prophet (S) said to
me, O Abu Hurayrah! What did your prisoner
do yesterday? I said, 'O Messenger of Allaah!
He complained that he was poor, that he
had a family, and that he was in dire need,
so I had mercy on him and let him go.'
He said, But he lied to you and he will
come back.
Since I Allaah's Messenger (S) had told
me so, I knew that he would come back again
so I waited for him. When he began to take
the food I grabbed him and said, 'I am
taking you to Allaah's Messenger (S) !'
He said, 'Leave me, for I am poor and have
a family. I will not return.' So I had
mercy on him and let him go.
In the morning, Allaah's Messenger (S)
said to me, O Abu Hurayrah! What did your
captive do? I said, 'O Messenger of Allaah!
He complained that he was poor, that he
had a family, and that he was in dire need,
so I had mercy on him and let him go.'
He (S) said, But he lied to you and he
will come back. So I waited for him a third
time.
When he began taking the food I grabbed
him and said, 'I am taking you to Allaah's
Messenger (S)! This is the third time!
And you promised not to come back, but
you came anyway!' He said, 'Let me go,
I will teach you some words by which Allaah
will give you some benefit.' I asked, 'What
are they?' He said, 'Whenever you go to
bed, recite aayat al-kursee- Allaahu laa
ilaha illaa huwa al-hayyul-qayyum - until
the end of the aayah. Then Allaah will
appoint a guard to remain with you, and
no shaytaan will come near you until the
morning.' So I let him go about his way.
Then in the morning, Allaah's Messenger
(S) said to me, What did your captive do
yesterday? I said, 'O Messenger of Allaah!
He claimed that he would teach me some
words by which Allaah would give me some
benefit, so I released him.' He said, And
what was that? I said, 'He said, "When
you go to bed recite aayat al-kursee from
the beginning until the end - Allaahu laa
ilaha illaa huwa al-hayyul-qayyum, then
Allaah will appoint a guard to remain with
you, and no shaytaan will come near you
until the morning."'"
One of the narrators added, "And they
(the companions) were always trying to
find something good." "Then the
Prophet (S) said, He told you the truth,
but he lies. Do you know who it was that
spoke to you these past three nights Abu
Hurayrah? He (Abu Hurayrah) said, "No."
That was a shaytaan. "
This
is a well known hadeeth recorded by al-Bukhaaree
in mu'allaq form in his Saheeh, as well
as at-Taareekh al-Kabeer. His version is
also cited by al-Baghawee. Additionally,
Ibn Hajar has shown that the hadeeth's
chain of narrators is connected by a variety
of routes.
In
Fath ul-Baaree, Ibn Hajar mentioned a number
of things that we can learn from this hadeeth
besides some of the virtues of aayat ul-kursee,
below are some of them;
1.
That the shayateen are aware of what
benefits a believer.
2. That wisdom may be taken from
an evil person by which, although he did
not benefit from it, one may benefit from
it.
3. That a person can know something
and not act upon it.
4. That a kaafir may believe some
of what the believer believes, but that
does not make him a believer.
5. That a liar may tell the truth.
6. That the shayateen usually lie.
7. That they can appear in a form
that can be seen by us, and that the aayah
(as translated) below refers specifically
to when they are in their natural form;
"...And
he and his kind can see you from a place
that you cannot see them..."(Al-A'raaf
7:27)
8.
That the jinn eat the food of humans.
9. That they may appear to humans,
with the exceptions mentioned above.
10. That they speak the language
of humans.
11. That they are thieves and tricksters.
12. That the jinn eat from food
that Allaah's name has not been mentioned
over.
13. That the thief's hand is not
cut off in the case of starvation.
14. To accept one's excuse and forgiving
him when you think he is telling the truth.
15. It demonstrates the Prophets'
awareness (S) of matters unseen.
16. The permissibility of collecting
zakaat ul-fitr before the night of fitr,
and entrusting someone to guard it.
There are many hadeeths like that of Abu
Hurayrah's, mentioning the virtue of aayat
al-kursee, and the strange visitor offering
to inform the companion about it. The following
is an example, and this time the visitor
is called a ghoul:
'Abdurrahmaan
Bin Abu Laylaa reported "Once a
ghoul came into Abu Ayyub's shed and he
caught her. He told the Prophet (S) about
the incident, so he said; When you see
her, then say, "In the name of Allaah,
come and answer to Allaah's Messenger."
So she came back, and he said that to her
and grabbed her, then she said to him,
'I will not return.' So he released her.
He came back and the Prophet (S) said to
him, What did your captive do? He said,
'I grabbed her, but she said she would
not return, so I released her.' He (S)
said, She will return.
'I caught her a second time and a third,
each time she said she would not return.
So I went to the Prophet (S) and He said,
What did your captive do? ' He said, 'I
caught her, but she said she would not
return.' He (S) said, She will return.
So he caught her again, and she said, 'Release
me and I will teach you something to say
and nothing will come near you. It is aayat
al-kursee.' So he came to the Prophet (S)
to tell him. He said, She told the truth,
and she is a liar. "
This
hadeeth is recorded by Ahmad, at-Tirmithee
and others.
'Abdullaah
Bin Ubayy narrated that his father had
a storage space that contained some dates.
He went into it and found that some were
missing. So he kept watch over it. Later
he found a beast that resembled an adolescent
boy in it. He said, "So I gave him
salaams, and he return salaams. So I said,
'What are you, a jinn or a human?' He said,
'Jinn.' I said, 'Show me your hand.' He
showed me his hand, it was the hand of
a dog with hair like a dog's. I said, 'Is
this the way that jinns are?' He said,
'I know of the jinn what is worse than
me.' Ubayy said to him, 'What made you
do as you have?' He said, 'We have learned
that you are a man who likes to give sadaqah,
so we like to get some of your food.' Ubayy
said, 'Is there something that will protect
us from you?' He said, 'This aayah, aayat
al-kursee. [Whoever says it in the evening,
he will be protected from us until the
morning, and whoever says it in the morning,
he will be protected from us until the
evening.]' The next day Ubayy went to the
Prophet (S) and informed him about what
happened. He (S) said, The evil one told
the truth.
This
hadeeth is recorded by an-Nasaa'ee in 'Aml
al-Yawm wal-Laylah, al-Baghawee in Sharh
as-Sunnah, al-Bukhaaree in at-Taareekh
al-Kabeer, and Ibn Hibbaan in his Saheeh
as well as others.
There
are other similar hadeeths, with varyng
degrees of authenticity, and in some of
them the narrators call the creature a
ghoul, sometimes the creature is
a male, sometimes a female. Among the other
similar narrations are the narrations of
Mu'aath, Buraydah, and Abu Usayd, the last
two of which mention the ghoul.
All of these hadeeths support the existence
of the ghoul due to their multiple routes
of transmission - this is the saying of
Ibn Hajar in Fath al-Baaree, al-Bayhaqee
in Dalaa'il an-Nubuwah, Ibn Katheer in
his Tafseer, and
al-Mubaarakpooree in Tuhfat al-Ahwathee.
After the narration of Abu Ayyub, al-Haakim
said, "These
chains of narration, when combined together,
make the hadeeths' level mashhoor (well
known), and Allaah knows best."
What
is a Ghoul?
The
most popular name for evil jinns would
be shayateen, and the ghoul falls under
this category. However, a variety of opinions
have been mentioned about the exact nature
and characteristics of the ghoul. Some
have even claimed that the ghoul is a kind
of monkey!
As for the word ghoul (pl.; ghilaan),
it comes from one of the words meaning
to murder or assasinate; ightiyaal for
example. The more popular Arabic dictionaries
define ghoul as the sorcerer or magician
among the jinn, some have said that ghoul
is the word for the jinns that are seen
at night, and that si'laah is a word for
the jinns that are seen during the day.
Even in his Tafseer, Ibn Katheer said that
"ghoul" is used for the jinn
when it appears at night. Al-Jaahiz said,
"It is the name for every jinn that
the traveler comes across, appearing in
different forms and shapes, both male and
female."
Ibn Hajar endorsed the view that the ghoul
can change its appearance due to magic,
and this is supported by the hadeeth of
Ubayy above, the hadeeth of Mu'aath, as
well as a narration from Abu Ayyub that
mentions the ghoul first appearing as a
cat, then changing. Additionally this view
is supported by the report recorded by
'Abdurrazzaaq in his Musanaf that the ghoul
was mentioned to 'Umar (R), and he said:
"Nothing
can change from the form it was created
in except by some kind of magic, so say
the athaan when you see them doing this
kind of thing."
Reports
Denying the Ghoul
The
Prophet (S) said, No
'adwaa, no tiyarah, and no ghoul. (Muslim)
There
are a number of hadeeths like this that
mention the statement, Laa (no) ghoul,
such are found with al-Bukhaaree and Muslim
as well as others. In light of the discussion
above confirming the ghoul, the following
is the explanation of the scholars rectifying
the appearent contradiction between these
two types of texts.
The statement "No ghoul" does
not negate the actual existence of the
ghoul, but it negates the superstitions
commonly held in jahiliyyah about ghouls,
i.e, that they are assasins, that they
hijack travelers from the road, and that
they eat people, etc. Additionally, when
the Prophet said, Laa (no) ghoul he said
the same about other things, like 'adwaa
for example , yet he commanded a form of
'adwaa on other occassions, like fleeing
from the area of plague if you hear about
it before you reach it. And in one variation
of the hadeeth mentioning 'adwaa, he (S)
said: But
stay away from the leper like you would
stay away from a lion.
This is all related to the Qadr of Allaah,
i.e., that the believers should not believe
that fleeing the disease is the only way
to save oneself from it. This is the interpretation
of scholars like al-Bayhaqee, Ibn as-Salaah,
Ibn Rajab and others. So the Prophet (S)
did not negate the existence of 'adwaa,
he only negated the pre-Islaamic belief
about it. Ibn Jareer at-Tabaree said, "By
his (S) saying, Laa (no) ghoul he negated
what the people of jahliyyah were saying
about it, that is about its abilities to
harm and cause benefit, and to control
humans in that way...and this is the same
with the rest of what he mentioned that
the Arab believed would harm him or benefit
him, like 'adwaa, safr , and tiayrah (bad
omens)." Imaam an-Nawawee said, "...And
the meaning of Laa (no) ghoul is they are
not able to mislead anyone..."
Tools
to Fight the Ghouls
The
following are some of the things that are
mentioned by the scholars for warding off
ghouls;
THE
NAME OF ALLAAH
This
was mentioned in the hadeeth of Abu Ayyub
above.
RECITING
AAYAAT AL-KURSEE
In
the previous hadeeths, the ghouls themselves
noted that this would protect against them,
and the Prophet (S) stated that this was
true.
STAYING
INSIDE DURING THE DEAD OF NIGHT
The
Prophet (S) said: Beware of socializing
after the night settles, for you do not
know what creatures Allaah lets out then.
(Al-Haakim, graded hasan by al-Albaanee
in as-Saheehah 4:346)
THE
ATHAAN
The
scholars agree that the shayaateen leave
when the athaan is called. There are many
hadeeths stating this, and some of them
mention calling it in case of the ghouls
too. This position is supported by the
combination of the hadeeths mentioning
the ghoul particularly in this regard,
with their varying degrees of authenticity,
when taken with the authentic report from
'Umar (R) mentioned earlier which holds
the status of hukm marfu' - or a ruling
raised to the Prophet (S).
In
Concusion
Finally,
the most important lesson from the narrations
about the ghoul, is that a shaytaan may
know some of the Qur'aan - he may even
reach the level of hafiz of the Qur'aan
- and he may have a great deal of knowledge
about its virtues as well as other benefits
related to the religion, but that doesn't
mean that everything he says is worth listening
too.
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