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Denying that the Prophet Muhammad was affected by witchcraft

Question

Assalamu Alaikum, A group in India claims that even prominent scholars of Ahlus-Sunnah like Imam Abu Bakar Al-Jassas, author of Ahkamul Quran and also many scholars listed by Nawawi in majmoo denied that Prophet(pbuh) was affected by witchcraft. Is this true?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

We have already explained in Fatwa ">92213 the magic that was done on the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and clarified the authenticity of the Hadeeth that was narrated in this regard and the reality of that magic, meaning that it affected the Prophet’s body and his outside limbs but it did not affect his mind and his heart. So, please refer to it.

With regard to those who were mentioned among those who denied this Hadeeth, then some of them were from the Mu’tazilah, like Abu Bakr Al-'Asamm, and some others were influenced by 'Ilm al-Kalaam (an Islamic philosophical discipline of seeking theological principles through dialectics), like Abu Bakr Al-Jassaas.

As regards Ahlus-Sunnah, then far it be from them to deny an authentic Hadeeth of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, especially if the Hadeeth is at the highest degree of authenticity, like this Hadeeth narrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  them.

Finally, it should be noted that in Al-Majmoo’, the names of some people who denied this Hadeeth were mentioned, but this was not in the part of the book which was written by Imaam An-Nawawi.

Allaah Knows best.

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