Chapter 183

What travellers should say when confronted by an ogre

Remembrance 1
WE RELATE FROM the book of Ibn as-Sunnī that Jābir Honorific symbol narrated that the Messenger of Allah Honorific symbol said: “If an ogre confronts you then call the adhān.” [1].
I say that an ogre is a type of jinn or demon, and they are their magicians.The meaning of taghawwalat, ‘confronts’, is that it manifests itself in various forms. What is intended is that you should repel its evil with the adhān, because Shayṭān flees when he hears the adhān. We have discussed a similar eventuality in the chapter on what to say if Shayṭān appears to one at the beginning of the Book on adhkār and du‘ā’s for occasional circumstances (On Occasional Matters); and we mentioned that one ought to occupy oneself by reciting the Qur’ān because of the āyāt mentioned on that subject.
I have also mentioned the words of the ‘ulamā’ concerning hadiths about ghouls and ogres and their differences respecting them; and I have explained the matter in [my] book Tahdhīb al-asmā’ wa-l-lughāt concerning [words and terms] used in the famous books of fiqh. Whoever wishes may have recourse to that.

References

[1] Ibn as-Sunnī (524) and al-Futūḥāt (5/161). According to Ibn Ḥajar, all of the narrators of this hadith are trustworthy; but Ḥasan, who narrates from Jābir, did not hear it from him, according to the majority of scholars.