Surah Al-Falaq (113) — Ayah 4

(Ayah 4) { وَ مِنْ شَرِّ النَّفّٰثٰتِ فِي الْعُقَدِ: ’’ النَّفّٰثٰتِ ‘‘ ’’نَفَّاثَةٌ‘‘} is the plural of {’’نَفَثَ يَنْفُثُ نَفْثًا‘‘}, which is derived from (ن، ض) (to blow, with which there is a little saliva), meaning women or groups who blow a lot. If in {’’نَفَّاثَةٌ‘‘} the "taa" is for exaggeration like in {’’عَلَّامَةٌ‘‘}, or if by {’’ النَّفّٰثٰتِ ‘‘} is meant souls, then besides women, men who blow a lot can also be meant. {’’ الْعُقَدِ ‘‘ ’’عُقْدَةٌ‘‘} is the plural, knots. According to Ibn Jarir and the early commentators, those who blow into knots refers to women or people who practice magic, because when they want to perform magic on someone, they obtain his hair or something of his, and while performing magic, they tie knots in a string or thread and keep blowing into them while reciting incantations. The special instruction to seek refuge from their evil is because they attack secretly. A person does not even realize why he is suffering; he considers it an illness and keeps seeking treatment, but the suffering keeps increasing.

Some people have said that by {’’ الْعُقَدِ ‘‘} (knots) is meant the firm resolve and determination of men, and by {’’ النَّفّٰثٰتِ ‘‘} is meant that just as knots in a rope are softened with saliva, in the same way, women with their smooth and flattering words change the firm resolves of men, and in this verse, there is an instruction to seek refuge from the evil of such women. Despite this meaning being interesting, it is against the interpretation of the early commentators, and most of those who give this meaning are those who do not believe in harm from magic, and they insist so much on their stance that they even refuse to accept the hadith narrated in Bukhari, Muslim, and many other books of hadith, in which it is mentioned that Labeed bin A'sam performed magic on the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and due to this magic, he remained ill and distressed for some time. [ دیکھیے بخاري، کتاب الطب، باب ہل یستخرج السحر؟ :۵۷۶۵،۵۷۶۳ ]

4. 1. Nafathaat is a feminine form, which is the attribute of al-nufoos (the described noun is omitted), min sharri al-nufoos al-nafathaat, meaning: seeking refuge from the evil of the souls who blow in knots. By this is meant both men and women who practice black magic, that is, in this, refuge is sought from the mischief of magicians. Magicians recite and blow while tying knots. Generally, when magic is to be done on someone, their hair or some belonging is obtained and this act is performed on it.

4. And from the evil of those who blow on knots [5].

[5]
Magic on You:

The act of blowing into knots is generally performed by magicians, and all those who make wax effigies and stick needles into them, or obtain someone’s hair and tie knots in it while blowing into them, all fall under the category of magicians. In our society, such people are not called magicians but “Aamil.” Practicing magic is clearly an act of disbelief, as is explicitly mentioned in verse 102 of Surah Al-Baqarah. Some people think that since magic is an act of disbelief, its effect cannot reach a believer or a person of faith. And since magic was also done on the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and its effect was felt on his health—and this is mentioned in so many authentic hadiths that they reach the level of tawatur—therefore, these people, according to their view, reject all such hadiths. Therefore, we will first mention a hadith from Bukhari here and then present an analysis of their objections. Sayyidah Aisha ؓ narrates that when the Prophet ﷺ returned from the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, magic was done on him, the effect of which was that he ﷺ would think he was doing something while he was not actually doing it. Eventually, one day the Prophet ﷺ prayed (that Allah remove the effect of this magic), then said: “Aisha! Do you know that Allah has informed me of the remedy by which I will be cured of this affliction? What happened was that (in a dream) two men came to me. One sat at my head and the other at my feet. One asked the other: ‘What is wrong with this man?’ The other replied: ‘He has been bewitched.’ The first asked: ‘Who has bewitched him?’ The second replied: ‘Labeed bin A’sam (the Jew).’ The first asked: ‘With what did he perform the magic?’ The second replied: ‘With a comb, his hair, and the husk of a male date palm.’ The first asked: ‘Where is it kept?’ The second replied: ‘In the well of Dharwan.’ So the Prophet ﷺ went to that well. When he returned, he said to Sayyidah Aisha ؓ: ‘The trees around that well had become so frightening as if they were the heads of serpents.’ Sayyidah Aisha ؓ asked: ‘O Messenger of Allah ﷺ! Why did you not remove (the items of magic)?’ The Prophet ﷺ replied: ‘Allah has cured me, so I did not consider it appropriate to stir up a dispute among the people.’ Then that well was filled in with earth. [بخاری۔ کتاب بدء الخلق باب صفۃ ابلیس وجنودہ]

And another narration in Bukhari, mentioned in Kitab al-Adab, shows that the Prophet ﷺ did not go alone but with some companions to that well, and he ﷺ had the items of magic removed from the well. Also, the water of that well had turned red like henna due to the effect of the magic. [بخاری۔ کتاب الادب، باب ان اللہ یامر بالعدل والا حسان]

And from some other narrations, it is known that:
1. Labeed bin A’sam was an expert magician.
2. Labeed’s two daughters were also skilled in the art of magic. It was these girls who, by some means, obtained the Prophet’s ﷺ hair and tied knots in it.
3. Among the items recovered from the well of Dharwan were a comb and hair with eleven knots tied in a string, and a wax effigy with needles stuck in it. Jibreel came and told the Prophet ﷺ to recite the Mu’awwidhatayn. So the Prophet ﷺ recited each verse, and with each verse, a knot was untied and a needle was removed from the effigy. When he reached the end, all the knots were untied, because both these surahs together have eleven verses. All the needles were removed, and the Prophet ﷺ was freed from the effect of magic as if a bound person had been released.
4. When Labeed bin A’sam was questioned, he confessed to his crime, but the Prophet ﷺ forgave him, because the Prophet ﷺ never took revenge for his own sake.

The first objection to these hadiths is that magic cannot affect a prophet, i.e., even if someone tries, it will not have any effect. The answer to this objection is that the effect of magic on a prophet is proven from the Quran. When Pharaoh’s magicians, in front of thousands of people, threw their ropes and staffs and they appeared as snakes slithering, the terror of this affected the heart of Musa ؑ, as Allah says: ﴿فَأَوْجَسَ فِي نَفْسِهِ خِيفَةً مُّوسَىٰ قُلْنَا لَا تَخَفْ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ الْأَعْليٰ﴾ Musa ؑ felt fear in his heart, so We (through revelation) said: “Musa, do not fear, you will be the victor.”

Some Objections and Their Answers:

The second objection is that if it is accepted that magic affected the Prophet, then the entire Shariah becomes unreliable. Who knows whether a particular act of the Prophet was under revelation or under the influence of magic? The answer to this objection is that this incident occurred in 7 AH (after the Battle of Khaybar and the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah), when the Jews had been defeated in every field. First, the Jews of Khaybar practiced magic for a year, which had no effect. Then they came to Labeed bin A’sam in Madinah, who was the greatest magician, and his daughters were even more skilled. They performed a very severe kind of magic. Even that had no effect on the Prophet ﷺ for six months. Later, its effects began to appear. However, its effect was limited only to the Prophet’s personal actions, i.e., he would think he had done something when he had not. This mental discomfort lasted for forty days. Later, Allah informed the Prophet ﷺ of the reality and he was cured. Now, see, it is clear that by that time more than half of the Quran had been revealed. The Arabs were divided into two groups: Muslims and their allies, and the opponents of the Muslims. If during this period the effect of magic had influenced the Shariah, i.e., if the Prophet ﷺ had ever not led the prayer, or led it twice instead of once, or mixed up or recited the Quran incorrectly, or if any other act contrary to the divinely revealed Shariah had occurred, it would have become widely known among both friends and enemies, i.e., throughout Arabia. Whereas, in reality, we do not find even a single narration indicating that this effect ever caused any flaw in the Prophet’s ﷺ religious acts or deeds.

The third objection is that it has always been the practice of the disbelievers to call the prophets either magicians or bewitched (possessed by magic). Now, if we ourselves accept that magic was done on the Prophet ﷺ and that it affected him, it is as if we are siding with the disbelievers. This objection is incorrect because the accusation of the disbelievers was that the Prophet began his claim to prophethood under the influence of magic, and that all the stories he tells about the Resurrection, the Hereafter, gathering and dispersal, Paradise and Hell, are all the result of magic or madness. In other words, they considered the very foundation of prophethood and Shariah to be based on magic. But here, the matter is completely the opposite. This incident occurred twenty years after the Prophet’s ﷺ prophethood, when half of Arabia believed in his prophethood and the divinely revealed nature of the Shariah. Moreover, this incident did not affect the rulings of the Shariah in any way. Rather, the opposite conclusion can be drawn from this incident: that the Prophet ﷺ was by no means a magician, because magic does not affect a magician.