How Was the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) Bewitched?

Question

Praise be to Allah.

It was proven in a
saheeh hadeeth (authentic narration) that this witchcraft took place in
Madeenah, when the revelation and the message had become well-established
and clear, and after the evidence of Prophethood and the truthfulness of the
message had been confirmed, and after Allah had supported His Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him) against the mushrikeen and humiliated
them. Then a Jewish person called Labeed ibn al-A’asam came to him and did
some kind of witchcraft against him, using a comb and the hairs stuck to it
and the skin of pollen of a male date palm. He – the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) – started to imagine that he had done
something with his wife when he had not done it, but his reason, feelings
and ability to distinguish matters remained with him with regard to the
things he was telling the people, praise be to Allah. So he continued to
speak to the people of the truth which Allah had revealed to Him. But he
felt that something was affecting him with regard to his wives, as ‘Aishah
(may Allah be pleased with her) said: “He used to imagine that he had done
something in the house with his wife when he had not done it. So revelation
came to him from his Lord via Jibreel (peace be upon him), telling him what
had happened. So he sent someone to take that thing [the material used for
witchcraft purposes] out of the well of one of the Ansar (inhabitants of
Madeenah who welcomed emigrants from makkah), and he destroyed it.” Then the
effects of that left him, praise be to Allah, and Allah revealed to him the
two surahs of seeking refuge with Allah (al-Mu’awwadhatayn, the last two
surahs of the Quran). He recited them and all harm left him. The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Those who seek refuge can
never seek refuge with anything like them.” Nothing resulted from this
witchcraft that could have harmed the people or undermined the message or
revelation. Allah protected him from the people with regard to the matter of
receiving and conveying the message.

But with regard to
the kinds of harm that befell the Messengers, he (peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him) was not protected from them, rather some such things
befell him too. He was wounded on the day of Uhud, and his helmet was
smashed on his head and his cheek was cut, some of the rings from his chain
mail pierced his cheeks, he fell in one of the holes that were there, and
they subjected him to intense persecution in Makkah. He suffered some of the
things that the Messengers before him had suffered, and that were decreed
for him, by means of which Allah raised him in status and multiplied his
hasanat (reward for good deeds). But Allah protected him from them, so that
they were not able to kill him or to prevent him from conveying the Message;
they were not able to prevent him from fulfilling his obligation to convey
the message, so he conveyed it and fulfilled the mission with which he had
been entrusted. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and praise
be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.

And Allah knows best.