What Is the Meaning of the Hadith About Seven Ajwa Dates for Protection?

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

What is the meaning of the hadith about eating seven dates daily for protection from poison and magic?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.

Sa‘d Ibn Abi Waqqas said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) say,

‘Whoever eats seven Ajwa dates in the morning, will not be harmed by any poison or magic on that day.’” [Muslim]

This hadith discusses the specificity of Ajwa dates from Madina in protecting against poison and magic, based on the hadith of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace).

Scholars of hadith state that not all Ajwa dates have this protective effect; it’s specific to those from Madina, as clarified by the version of the hadith in Muslim, which mentions “from between its two lava fields,” referring to the city of Madina.

General references to Ajwa in some narrations are understood to mean Ajwa of Madina. Attempts to explain the effect through medical or natural causes, such as the dates’ heat counteracting the coldness of poisons, are rejected as speculative and unsupported by evidence.

The correct view is that this is a divinely given property unique to Ajwa dates from Madina, not applicable to general dates or Ajwa grown elsewhere. There is ongoing discussion about whether this benefit was limited to the Prophet’s time or continues today. Some scholars argue that repeated testing (i.e., empirical evidence) is the best way to determine if the benefit still applies.

It has been firmly established that there is no basis for the claim made by some that this (protection from poison and magic) is due to an air property in Medina or because dates preserve the health of its people by serving as their staple food, similar to how wheat functions for others.

Conclusion

The protective property against poison and magic is exclusive to Ajwa dates of Madina and cannot be explained or extended through analogy or medical reasoning.

Specification of the Number Seven

Imam Qurtubi explains that the number seven is specified in certain prophetic traditions, like eating seven Ajwa dates, due to a special, divinely known property associated with it.

The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) mentioned the number seven in various contexts, such as,

“Pour over me water from seven water skins” (during his illness) [Bukhari], “Wash the vessel licked by a dog seven times, [Bukhari; Muslim] and in the Quran: “Seven fat cows” and “seven lean ones”,  “Seven green ears of corn” [Quran, 12:46], all in the story of Prophet Yusuf (peace be upon him).

Similarly, other numbers like seventy and seven hundred appear in various hadiths.

Main Point

Whenever the number seven appears in healing, ritual, or worship contexts, it is because of a divinely ordained significance, not because of human logic or empirical understanding. Its true nature and benefit are known only to Allah and His Messenger. [Munawi, Faydh al-Qadir, Sharh al-Jami‘ al-Sagir]

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Related: Sunna Foods

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I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Mawlana Ilyas Patel has received a traditional education in various countries. He started his schooling in the UK and completed his hifz of the Quran in India. After that, he joined an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied secular and Aalimiyya sciences. Later, he traveled to Karachi, Pakistan, and other Middle Eastern countries to further his education. Mawlana has served as an Imam in the Republic of Ireland for several years and taught the Quran and other Islamic sciences to both children and adults. He also worked as a teacher and librarian at a local Islamic seminary in the UK for 12 years. Presently, he lives in the UK with his wife and is interested in books and gardening.