Did the Companions drink the blood of the Prophet? I read some hadiths about the Companions drinking the blood of the Prophet and I was surprised. After all, it is forbidden in our religion. Will you give information about the issue?

Dear Brother / Sister,

According to what is expressed in the classical resources of the history of Islam, when the Prophet (pbuh) was wounded in the temple, the Companions tried to remove the ring of armor that entered the bone with their teeth; meanwhile Malik b. Sinan, one of the Companions, swallowed his blood. Thereupon, the Prophet (pbuh) said hellfire would not touch a person whose blood mixed with his blood. The same issue is mentioned in the books of the history of Islam that narrate the Battle of Uhud in detail. Acting upon the prayer of the Prophet (pbuh), some scholars hold the view that the blood of the Prophet is clean. Besides, the Prophet (pbuh) may have prayed for the Companion for his important service. (see Qadi Iyad, Shifau Sharif, Translated by Suat Cebeci, Rehber Yayınları, Ankara, 1992, p. 62)

It is haram to drink blood in Islam. This issue is understood better from verse 3 of the chapter of al-Maida and its interpretation.

In the Era of Jahiliyya, people put the blood of the animals they slaughtered in vessels and drank it when it was fresh or after making it wait for a while. Drinking blood was rendered haram (forbidden) by the verse mentioned above.

However, there is a special case about drinking the blood of the Prophet (pbuh); the Companion swallowed his blood while removing the ring of the armor. The Prophet (pbuh) never gave an order like 'drink my blood'. (see Sarıcık, Murat, İnanç ve Zihniyet olarak Cahiliye, Nesil Yayınları, İstanbul, 2004, p. 250; Sarıcık, Murat, İslam öncesi Dönem- Cahiliye kültürü, Fakülte Kitabevi, Isparta, 2002, p. 270 ff. see for types of eating blood in The Era of Jahiliyyah)

When Abdullah b. Zubayr, one of the Companions, was a child, he drank the cupping blood of the Prophet (pbuh). The incident took place as follows: According to what is reported in Daraqutni and other hadith books, when Abdullah was eight or nine years old, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) gave a vessel full of his cupping blood to Abdullah so that he would bury it. When Abdullah left with the blood, he drank it when he was alone instead of burying it. When he returned, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) asked him, "What did you do?" He said, "I eliminated it." The Prophet (pbuh) got suspicious and said, "You probably drank it." Abdullah said, "Yes, I did."

Thereupon, the Prophet (pbuh) said, "Hell will not touch a person whose blood mixed with my blood." Then, he added the following: "Waylun laka minan nas wa waylun lin-nasi minka = Woe to you for what will happen to you because of people and woe to people for what will happen to them because of you." (al-Asqalani, al-Matalibul-Aliya, 4:21; al-Haythami, Majma’uz-Zawaid, 2708; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, 3:554.)

We can deduce the following from this incident:

a) The one that drank his blood was a child; he himself made such a decision and drank it. Although it is forbidden to drink blood, the child did not know about it or he showed his respect to the Prophet (pbuh) by doing something wrong like that.

b) He wanted to hide the fact that he drank the blood through his words. He thought the Prophet (pbuh) would not approve of this behavior.

c) The Prophet (pbuh) did not give him an order like 'drink my blood'; on the contrary, the Prophet told him to bury it.

d) According to the explanations of the Prophet, there is a different feature in his blood. Hell will not touch a person whose blood mixes with his blood. However, he does not advise and order people to be saved from Hell in this way.

e) The trueness of the words of the Prophet (pbuh) was proved when Abdullah b. Zubayr was martyred during the siege of Makkah in the Era of Umayyads. Many people were killed in Makkah in this incident and he was martyred. (See Tarikhul- Khamis, 354)

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