Hadith 86

Commentary

a. The chain of narrators mentioned by Imâm Ibn Mâjah is Weak. Nevertheless, because of other reliable chains of narrators it must be considered a Sound Hadith. The remark: "That is because of the Divine Decree" is, however, missing in other reports. b. It is a common perception that if a healthy person comes into contact with a person suffering from certain diseases or shares the meals on the same table with him, or uses his clothing, the former would contract the disease of the latter. These categories of diseases are known as 'contagious diseases'. The fact of the matter, however, is that diseases do not travel like that. It could, however, be the case that the very fact that had caused the first man to get the disease might be present in the other fellow as well, which would make him also sick. The 'germ theory', as we know, is very popular in modern-day medicine, but the germs only act by Allâh's permission. c. Arabs took their omen by the movement of the birds and beasts. For instance, if a person desired to start some work, he would throw a stone at a sitting bird or deer etc. to make it fly or run. If it went to the right they would presume that the outcome of their work would be favorable. If, on the other hand, it went left, they thought that their effort would not succeed. Such things just indicate one's superstitious nature; they have no basis in the world of reality. Even today people have several similar superstitions. For example, if they meet a lame or one-eyed person on their way, or if a black cat crosses their path, they take it as a bad omen. Similar is the case of those who consider certain numbers (13 for example) or days (e.g. Tuesday) or a certain month (Safar or Shawwâl) inauspicious for them. To the same category belong acts like drawing 'magical' charts or figures by the people, and divining their future through blindly putting their fingers in them, or drawing lots for similar purposes, and so on. All these acts are indicative of a lack of faith. d. Arab idolaters also had a misplaced notion that if the murder of a person was not avenged, his spirit would assume the form of an owl and haunt around shrieking for revenge. It was primarily because of this misplaced notion that a never-ending chain of killing and plundering continued for generations after generations among them. All these things are baseless. Similarly, it is baseless to consider the owl a symbol of bad omen. The owl is just another creature of Allâh which has nothing to do with the destinies of men.