The Book of Greetings — Hadith 5676

Arabic Text

وَحَدَّثَنِي عَمْرُو بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ النَّاقِدُ، حَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ بْنُ عُيَيْنَةَ، عَنِ الزُّهْرِيِّ، عَنْ سَالِمٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ "‏ اقْتُلُوا الْحَيَّاتِ وَذَا الطُّفْيَتَيْنِ وَالأَبْتَرَ فَإِنَّهُمَا يَسْتَسْقِطَانِ الْحَبَلَ وَيَلْتَمِسَانِ الْبَصَرَ ‏"‏ ‏.‏ قَالَ فَكَانَ ابْنُ عُمَرَ يَقْتُلُ كُلَّ حَيَّةٍ وَجَدَهَا فَأَبْصَرَهُ أَبُو لُبَابَةَ بْنُ عَبْدِ الْمُنْذِرِ أَوْ زَيْدُ بْنُ الْخَطَّابِ وَهُوَ يُطَارِدُ حَيَّةً فَقَالَ إِنَّهُ قَدْ نَهَى عَنْ ذَوَاتِ الْبُيُوتِ ‏.‏

English Translation

Salim, on the authority of his father. reported Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) as saying: Kill the snakes having stripes over them and short-tailed snakes, for these two types cause miscarriage (of a pregnant woman) and they affect the eyesight adversely. So Ibn 'Umar used to kill every snake that he found. Abu Lubaba b. 'Abd al-Mundhir and Zaid b. Khattab saw him pursuing a snake, whereupon he said: They were forbidden (to kill) those snakes who live in houses.