English Translation

Yunus told us, Layth told us, from Ibn 'Ajlan, from Sayfi, from Abu Sa'id, the freedman of the Ansar, from Abu al-Sa'ib, who said: I came to Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, and while I was sitting with him, I heard something moving beneath his bed. I looked, and there was a snake. I stood up, and Abu Sa'id said, "What is wrong with you?" I said, "There is a snake here." He said, "What do you intend to do?" I said, "I intend to kill it." He pointed me to a room in his house facing his own room, and said, "A cousin of mine was in this room. On the day of the Confederates, he asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) for permission to go to his family, for he was newly married, and he permitted him and ordered him to take his weapon with him. So he came to his house and found his wife standing at the door of the room. He gestured to her with the spear, but she said, 'Do not be hasty until you see what has brought me out.' He entered the room and found a fearsome snake, so he speared it, then came out with it on the spear, writhing." He said: "I do not know which of the two died first, the man or the snake." He said: "So his people went to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said, 'Pray to Allah to bring back our companion.' He said, 'Seek forgiveness for your companion,' twice. Then he said, 'Indeed, there is a group of jinn who have accepted Islam; so if you see one of them, warn it three times, then if after that you still wish to kill it, kill it after the third warning.'"