On the Validity of Obtaining Blessings and Benefit by Means of the Hair of the Prophet (s) after his Passing from this Life

It is narrated by Bukhari in his Sahih in the Book of Clothes, under the chapter "What is mentioned about gray hair", that Usman bin 'Abdullah bin Mawhab (r) said, "my family sent me to Ummu Salamah (r) with a cup of water. And Ummu Salamah (r) brought out a silver bottle which contained one of the hairs of the Prophet (s), and it used to be that if anyone came under the evil eye or ill health they used to send her a cup of water through she would pass this hair [for drinking] and we used to look into the silver bottle: I saw some reddish hairs."

Imam Hafiz ibn Hajar in Fath al-Baari, Volume 10, page 353, said, "they used to call the silver bottle in which the hair of the Prophet (s) was kept 'jiljalan' and that bottle was in the home of Ummu Salamah (r)."

Imam al-'Ayni said, "Ummu Salamah (r) had some of the hairs of the Prophet (s) in a silver bottle, and when some people got ill, they used to go and obtain blessings from these hairs and they would be healed by means of its blessings. They used to take the hair of the Prophet (s) and they used to pass it through a cup of water and they would immediately be healed. And this explanation of the hadith is mentioned in Bukhari."

It is said in 'umdat il-Qari, a section in Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari, volume 18, page 79, "If a person were struck by the evil eye or by any sickness, he would send his wife to Ummu Salamah (r) with a mikhdabba [i.e. cup of water] and she used to pass the hair through that water and then he would drink the water and he would be healed, after which they would return the hair to the 'jiljal.'"

Muslim narrated in his Sahih that Anas (r) related, "The Prophet (s) came to Mina and threw stones and then he came to his tent in Mina after he made the sacrifice, and he told the barber 'take my hair' and he pointed first to his right, then to his left. Then he began to distribute the hair to the Sahaba."

According to Muslim, in the same hadith, according to another narration by Hafs (r), "the Prophet (s) when he shaved his right side, began to distribute either one hair or two hairs to every Sahabi, then he did the same with the hairs from the left side."

In Musnad, Imam Ahmad said, transmitted by Anas (r), "when the Prophet (s) shaved his head in Mina, he gave me the hair of the right side and he said, 'O Anas! take it to Ummu Salim.' When the Sahaba saw what the Prophet (s) gave us, they began to compete to take the hair from the left side, and everyone was getting a share from that."

Imam Ahmad in his Musnad said, "from Ibn Sireen from Ubaydah Salmani that he said, 'O Allah! If only I would have a hair of the Prophet (s) which I could keep with me: that would be more precious to me than the white and the yellow and everything that is on the earth and what is inside it.'"

In 'Umdat il-Qari, a section of Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari, "Khalid bin Waleed used to keep in his clothes some hairs of the Prophet (s) and for that reason he was always victorious."

It is said in the same volume of the same book, "Khalid bin Waleed asked Abu Talhah to give him from the hair of the Prophet (s) when the Prophet (s) distributed his hair among the Sahaba. And he asked to give him from the front side of the head. And Abu Talhah gave him from the front side. And that is the reason he was always in the front."

There are many other hadith on this subject, such that it is impossible to mention them all here. May Allah give us the blessing of the Prophet (s) his family and his Sahaba.

"Whoever held enmity towards one hair from me held enmity to me and whoever held enmity to me Allah has become enemy to him."

[Kunz al-Ummal, Haakim, ibn Majah, Ibn Hibban, Ahmad: authenticated by others as well]

"Verily, those who malign Allah and His Messenger -- Allah has cursed them in this world and in the Hereafter, and has prepared for them an abasing punishment." [Ahzab, 58]

Servant of the Sunnah of the Prophet,

Hisham Muhammad Kabbani