بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله وحده و الصلاة و السلام على من لا نبي بعده و على آله و أصحابه أجمعين

Explanation of the Hadith that says Satan urinates in the ear(s) of the one who sleeps till the sunrise missing the obligatory morning (fajr) prayers. Explanation is based on study of related hadith narrations, Arabic literature and comments of the classical Muslim exegetes.

Condemning a person sleeping through the night till the day-break like a dormouse, a hadith tells us that the Prophet- may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him- said Satan urinates in his ears. As expected, anti-Islamic polemicists and missionaries take exception to this and dub it as superstitious. Non-conversant with the true significance of the words used, some Muslims also wonder about its real meanings.





1- Narration :





Here is the narration often quoted.





عن عبد الله رضي الله عنه، قال: ذكر عند النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم رجل نام ليله حتى أصبح، قال: " ذاك رجل بال الشيطان في أذنيه، أو قال: في أذنه "





It was mentioned before the Prophet that there was a man who slept the night till morning (after sunrise). The Prophet said, "He is a man in whose ears (or ear) Satan had urinated." Narrated 'Abdullah:





2- Explanation :





2.1 The reasoning for this mention





In another narration there is clear mention of missing the prayers.





عن عبد الله رضي الله عنه، قال: ذكر عند النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم رجل، فقيل: ما زال نائما حتى أصبح، ما قام إلى الصلاة، فقال: «بال الشيطان في أذنه»





A person was mentioned before the Prophet -peace and blessings of Allah be upon him- and he was told that he had kept on sleeping till morning and had not got up for the prayer. The Prophet said, "Satan urinated in his ears." Narrated 'Abdullah :





In other reports we have more to help us understand the gravity of the issue addressed in the hadith.





عن عبد الله بن مسعود رضي الله عنه، قال: سئل النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم عن الذي ينام من أول الليل إلى آخره، قال: " ذاك الذي بال الشيطان في أذنه "





The Prophet –peace and blessings of Allah be upon him- was asked about one who slept from the beginning of the night towards its end. He said: “He is the one in whose ear Satan has urinated.” Narrated ‘Abdullah bin Mas’ud;





This narration says the person slept all night and must have missed isha (night) prayers as well in addition to missing the morning prayers.





2.2 Reference to Satan





Explaining the Satan’s likeness for yawning Ibn Battal (d. 449 A.H.) writes;





وكذلك كل ما جاء من الأفعال المنسوبة إلى الشيطان فإنها على معنيين إما إضافة رضى وإرادة أو إضافة بمعنى الوسوسة فى الصدر والتزيين





“And similar is the case for all the activities ascribed to the Devil and they have two meanings; [it is] either by the way of [Satan’s] pleasure and will or by the way of whispering in the heart and making something adorable.”





Most certainly Satan wants a person to sleep for long hours, become lazy, fail to discharge his duties towards Allah and fellow humans and miss the obligatory prayers and blessings from Allah. And once a person gives in to devil for once he becomes a rather easy prey for good unless he puts in special effort to control and recover from the loss.





2.3 Reference to ear(s)





Ears representing the faculty of listening stand for ability to reason. Its relation to tight sleep and disconnection from the world is obvious. A related use is in Qur’an 18:10.





2.4 The mention of urination





Being the most important point in the narration it requires good knowledge of the Arabic language to understand this.





Mention of urination is actually to denote the worst overpowering of sleep that pleases Satan.



Ibn Hajr (d. 852 A.H.) writes:





هو مثل مضروب للغافل عن القيام بثقل النوم كمن وقع البول في أذنه فثقل أذنه وأفسد حسه والعرب تكني عن الفساد بالبول



“It is an example used for the one who is negligent of prayers due to heavy sleep as if he has got his ear filled with urine till it became weighed down and his senses got corrupted. Arabs have used urination as a metaphor for corruption.”





Likewise al-Nawawi (d. 676 A.H.) says;





معناه استخف به واحتقره واستعلى عليه يقال لمن استخف بإنسان وخدعه بال في أذنه وأصل ذلك في دابة تفعل ذلك بالأسد إذلالا له وقال الحربي معناه ظهر عليه وسخر منه





“And its meaning is to scoff at, deride and belittle. It is said for the one who scorns a human and deceives him that he urinated in his ear. The origin of this term came from an animal doing it to a [sleeping] lion as an act of humiliation. Al-Harbi said, 'It means he became victorious over him and is ridiculing him.'”





Further it is actually a proverbial use denoting the spoilt. A poet said;





بال سهيل في الفضيخ ففسد





Literally it would be,

“Canopus urinated in the beverage and it was spoiled.”

“… that when Canopus rises [aurorally, which it does, in central Arabia, early in August, the making of that beverage is stopped, for] the season of unripe dates has passed, and they have become ripe.” However it means;





Ibn Battal points to a verse of Al-Farazdaq in which there is a link of urine with corruption and trouble. He said;





وإن الذى يسعى ليفسد زوجتى

كساعٍ إلى أسد الشرى يستبيلها





“And verily he who strives to corrupt my wife is like one betaking himself to the lions of Esh-Shara’ (a certain road abounding with those animals) to receive their urine in his hand.”





We can see urine represents changing the condition, perversion and trouble. Therefore, urination in the hadith under consideration is about evil due to negligence from the duties prescribed by Allah- something Satan loves so much!





Following comment by the great hadith scholar and a wonderful jurist, Abu Ja’far al-Tahawi (d. 321 A.H.) explains it very well;





وكان النوم المذكور في الحديث ... نوما كان من نائمه تضييعه فرض الله عز وجل في العشاء، ثم خلافه لما كرهه له نبيه صلى الله عليه وسلم من النوم قبلها الذي كان سببا لتضييعها، ولترك أداء فرضها في الوقت الذي أوجب الله عز وجل عليه أداءه فيه، فكان في ذلك مخالفا لربه عز وجل، مطيعا للشيطان فيما يريده منه، فضرب على أذنيه بذلك النوم، وهو ما ألقي فيهما من ثقل النوم، والعرب تسمي مثل ذلك ضربا على الأذن ومنه قول الله عز وجل في أهل الكهف: {فضربنا على آذانهم في الكهف سنين عددا} [الكهف: 11] ، وأضيف ذلك الفعل به إلى الشيطان، لأنه مما يرضاه الشيطان منه، وذكر فيه بول الشيطان في أذنه، أي: فعل به أقبح ما يفعل بالنوام وليس ذلك على حقيقة البول منه في أذنه، ولكن على المثل والاستعارة في المعنى





“And this sleep (mentioned in the hadith being discussed) … is a sleep in which a person misses the obligation towards Allah at night (i.e. obligatory prayers). Moreover it is also for sleeping before isha prayers disliked by the Prophet- peace and blessings of Allah be upon him- which causes the missing (of isha prayers) and also delaying it from the time prescribed by Allah; in all this he goes against the commandment of his Almighty Lord while showing obedience to Satan in what he wants from him. So a covering is put over his ears due to this sleep, and it is from the affliction of sleep in his ears. Arabs termed such a thing as covering over the ears as is the word of Allah regarding the people of the Cave, “Therefore we put a covering over their years for a number of years.” (Qur’an 18:10) And this act is attributed to Satan for it pleases Satan. And the mention of urination of Satan in his ear means it is worse than what happens in sleep (ordinarily). It is not urination in the ear in the real sense; rather it is by the way of simile and allusion.” (Qur’an 18:10)





5- Summary





Context of the hadith narrations is inordinate sleep leading to missing ritual obligatory prayers.





Mention of Satan is for the fact that missing the prayers pleases him and that he actually whispers to man and allures him into negligence.





Reference to urination is actually an Arabic proverb suggesting the change in condition.





There is nothing of superstition or absurdity in this hadith. It is all about established facts put in a peculiar literary style involving metaphors to make the expression forceful.





Indeed Allah knows the best!





-- by Waqar Akbar Cheema



