QUESTION

How do we understand the hadeeth: "When one of you approaches his wife (for intercourse) and says, 'In the Name of Allaah, O Allaah! Keep us away from the Shaytaan, and keep the Shaytaan away from what you provide us with,' and a child is conceived, then the Shaytaan will never harm him." [1]

How do we understand this statement in light of another hadeeth: "There is no baby except that the Shaytaan pokes it when it is born, so it screams from the Shaytaan's poke, except for Ibn Maryam and his mother." [2]

How is it that the supplication mentioned in the first narration guarantees that the child will not be harmed by the Shaytaan, but we are told that every child will be harmed by the Shaytaan as soon as he is born?

ANSWER by Shaykh Wasee Allaah 'Abbaas, lecturer at the Ka'bah, instructor at Umm Al-Quraa University in Makkah

The scholars have differed over the understanding of this authentic hadeeth ("...then the Shaytaan will never harm him"). Some of them have said that the harm being referred to includes every kind of physical harm in the dunyaa and all religious harms as well. Others have said that it is specific to physical harm.

What seems apparent is that the hadeeth is specifically referring to religious harms, meaning that the Shaytaan will not have any power over him to lead him astray or cause him to disbelieve. However, the Shaytaan may be able to harm him in some lesser affairs.

It is very important for us to understand here that Allaah has made certain events take place as a result of actions that we do. [3] Also, there are things that do not allow our actions to take effect. So if steps are taken to bring about certain results, and there is nothing preventing those steps from taking effect, then the expected results will occur.

So if the appropriate steps were not taken, or they were taken but there exists some reason why they will not be effective, then the expected results will not occur.

For example, if there is something preventing this supplication from being answered [4], then the expected results will not take place.

So in this case, a man may have intercourse with his wife having began with the proper supplication, but there is some reason why his supplications are not answered, thus the child is susceptible to being religiously harmed by the Shaytaan.

And this poking of the Shaytaan (mentioned in the second hadeeth) is not the kind of harm being referred to, unless we went with those who said it is general including all harms, physical and religious.

In reality it does not actually harm the baby anyway, rather it benefits him, since the baby's screaming upon birth is something needed to recognize whether it is healthy or not. This is something mentioned by doctors. If the baby does not scream on its own, they try to make it scream, as is established in well known medical practice, and Allaah knows best.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree #7396 (13/461 of Fat-hul-Baaree) and Saheeh Muslim #3519 (5/246 of Sharh An-Nawawee)

[2] Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree #4548 (8/263 of Fat-hul-Baaree) and Saheeh Muslim #6086 (8/119 of Sharh An-Nawawee)

[3] For example, the Shaytaan will not harm your child if you say the supplication before intercourse.

[4] like eating or drinking things that Allaah prohibited for example

SOURCE

This was translated exclusively for www.bakkah.net from a handwritten answer provided by the shaykh, file no. AAWA011, dated 1423/7/20.

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