He -asws (Abu ‘Abd Allah -asws ) said...

He -asws (Abu ‘Abd Allah -asws ) said: ‘The Prophet -saww sent ‘Ali -asws Ibn Abu Talib -asws and said: “Go to the well of Dharwan, for in it is a spell with which the Jew Labid Ibn A’sam has bewitched me, and bring it to me -saww .” ‘Ali -asws said: “I set out at the request of Rasool Allah -saww . I descended into it, and there was the spring water as if it were water in a cistern because of the spell. I searched for it hurriedly until I came to the bottom of the well but I did not obtain it.

Those who were with me said: ‘There is nothing in it.’ So I went up. But then I -asws said: ‘No, by Allah -azwj , he -saww did not lie and nor do I -asws , and I -asws am not with him as you are,’ meaning the Rasool Allah -saww . I -asws searched for it again carefully, and brought it out, in truth. “I -asws went to the Prophet -saww and he -saww said: ‘Open it.’ I opened it and there was, in truth, a piece of a palm branch inside it on which were tied twenty-one knots.

Jibrail -as had brought down that day to the Prophet -saww the two suras of taking refuge (al-Falaq 113) and al-Nas (114). The Prophet -saww said: ‘O Ali -asws , then recite over the string.’ Whenever Amir-ul-Momineen -asws recite it, a knot opened, until he -asws finished with all of them and Allah -azwj Removed the spell from His -azwj Prophet -saww and restored him -saww to health.

Ibrahim al-Baytar narrated from Muhammad Ibn ‘Isa from Yunus Ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman-and he is called Yunus al-Musalli because of the frequency of his prayers-from Ibn Muskan from Zarara, who said: ‘Abu Jafar al-Baqir -asws and Abu ‘Abd Allah Al-Sadiq -asws , have said ‘spells’ are a fact and they do not have power over anything except the eye and the genitals.