Aslam

Praise be to Allah.Ibn Muflih al-Hanbali said:

In

al-Musnad, al-Saheehayn and elsewhere it is narrated that

the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “No haamah and no

Safar.” Muslim and others add the words, “No naw’ and no ghoul.”

Haamah

(pl. Haam) [owl]: the people of the jaahiliyyah used to think that when

someone died and was buried, an owl [haamah] would come out of his grave.

The Arabs used to think that the bones of the deceased turned into owls

which flew, and they said that if someone was murdered, an owl would

come out of his head, and it would keep saying, “Give me to drink, give

me to drink,” until the slain person was avenged and his killer was

killed.

Safar:

it was said that they used to have superstitions concerning the month

of Safar, so the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “No Safar”. And it

was said that the Arabs used to believe that there was a snake in the

stomach which would harm a person when he had intercourse, and that

this was contagious, so the Lawgiver denied that. Maalik said: the people

of the Jaahiliyyah would regard Safar as not being sacred one year and

as sacred the next year.

Naw’: (pl. al-Anwaa’) (a

star which sets at the rising of another): this refers to twenty eight

lunar mansions or phases, as in the aayah (interpretation of the meaning):

“And

the moon, We have measured for it mansions…”

[Yaa-Seen

36:39].

Every

thirteen nights, one of these stars sets in the west at dawn, and another

rises in the east, so that at the end of the year they will all have

come and gone. The Arabs used to believe that when one set and the next

one rose, there would be rain, which they attributed to them (these

stars), so they would say, “We have rain because of such and such naw’

(star which sets at the rising of another).”

It is called naw’ because

when the star which is setting sets in the west, the one which is rising

appears (naa’a) in the east, i.e., it rises and emerges. And it was

said that naw’ means setting, which is the opposite.

But

in the case of those who believe that rain came by the will of Allaah

and say, “We have rain at the time of such and such naw’” meaning that

Allaah usually causes rain to come at this time – there is some dispute

as to whether saying this is haraam or makrooh.

Ghoul (pl. gheelaan) means

a kind of jinn or devil. The Arabs used to think that the ghoul lived

in the wilderness and would appear to people, and that it could take

on different shapes and colours, and that it would make them lose their

way, seeking to kill them. The Lawgiver rejected and denied this idea

altogether.

And it was said that this

was not denying that ghouls exist, rather it was a denial of the Arabs’

belief that they could change shape and colour and make people lose

their way, hence the meaning of “no ghoul” is that they cannot make

people lose their way. This is borne out by another hadeeth, “There

is no ghoul but there is sa’aali” This is in Muslim and elsewhere. Sa’aali

is a magician among the jinn, but among them there are magicians who

base their magic on confusion and illusions… al-Khallaal narrated from

Taawoos that a man accompanied him, then a crow cawed and the man said,

“Good, good.” Taawoos said to him, “What good is there in this, and

what evil? Do not come with me!”

(al-Aadaab

al-Shar’iyyah, 3/369, 370)

Ibn

al-Qayyim said:

Some

scholars said that the words “no healthy person should be exposed to

a sick person” were abrogated by the words “There is no ‘adwa

(contagion).” This is not correct. This is an example where what is

negated is different than what is affirmed. What the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) denied when he said “There

is no contagion and no Safar” was the belief of the mushrikeen

which was based on their beliefs of shirk. With regard to the

Prophet’s prohibition of exposing healthy people to sick people, there

are two interpretations:

(1) The fear that

people may attribute what Allaah has decreed to ‘adwa (contagion),

which may confuse those who hear of this and make them believe in ‘adwa.

There is no contradiction between the two reports.

(2) That this refers to exposing the sick person to

the healthy person, which may be the means by which Allaah creates disease,

so the exposure is the cause, but Allaah may divert its effects by means

of other causes which oppose it or prevent the effect of the sickness.

This is pure Tawheed, unlike that which the people of shirk believe

in.

This is similar to the

denial of intercession on the Day of Resurrection mentioned in the aayah

(interpretation of the meaning):

“when

there will be no bargaining, nor friendship, nor intercession”

[al-Baqarah

2:254]

This

does not contradict the unambiguous mutawaatir ahaadeeth which say that

there will be intercession on the Day of Resurrection, because what

Allaah is denying here is the kind of intercession that was known among

the mushrikeen, where an intercessor would come forward and intercede

without being given permission. The intercession which is affirmed by

Allaah and His Messenger is that which comes after His permission is

given, as in the aayahs (interpretation of the meaning):

“…Who

is he that can intercede with Him except with His Permission?…”

[al-Baraqah

2:255]

“and

they cannot intercede except for him with whom He is pleased”

[al-Anbiyaa’

21:28]

“Intercession

with Him profits not except for him whom He permits”

[Saba’

34:23]

Haashiyat

Tahdheeb Sunan Abi Dawood, 10/289-291)

And Allaah is the One Who grants strength to do what is right.