Hazrat Mir Muhammad Ishaqra
The stone used for Kohl [surma]
The word ithmad has been used in the hadith with regard to applying kohl [surma]. I would like to mention an important point regarding this word. Ithmad is a soft stone that is used to produce high quality kohl. There is also a prevalent belief amongst people that the Tur Mountain, upon which Prophet Mosesas asked God to show Himself, was burnt to ashes after God’s manifestation.
The stone from that mountain, they believe, is the ithmad stone. However this is not true. Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Ira would point out that the Tur Mountain is still standing [so how could this belief be true?].
Fever: the heat of hell
The following is mentioned in the hadith:
الحُمَّی مِنْ فَیْحِ جَھَنَّمَ فَأَبْرِدُوھَا بِالْمَاءِ
Meaning that fever is actually the heat of hell and one should reduce this heat by applying cold water. The word “hell” in this hadith refers to the intensity of heat [produced by a fever]. Some critics [referring to this hadith] say that having a bath or shower is detrimental during a fever. But in truth, the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, never said that one should have a shower or bath during every type of fever, rather it was meant for those fevers that develop as a result of intense heat; having a bath or pouring water over the head is not detrimental during such a fever.
Hence, those critics who raise objections against the wisdom of the Holy Prophetsa are actually ignorant and devoid of knowledge themselves. They have no understanding of the atmospheric conditions of Arabia, how the temperaments of Arabs were and what the most common reason for catching a fever was.
(Originally published in Al Fazl on 22 Febuary 1940 in the form of notes taken by Mahmood Ahmad Khalil Sahib from the lectures on hadith by Hazrat Mir Muhammad Ishaqra, a scholar of hadith and brother-in-law of the Promised Messiahas)