Ahmad 6336

Its chain of transmission is sahih. It is definitely a report with a missing link back to a Companion, for hadith 4557 has already passed, narrated via Zuhri from Salim, being Ibn Umar's report about the command to kill snakes, and that he used to kill every snake he found, until Abu Lubaba bin Abdul-Munzir, or Zayd bin Khattab, told him that killing house-dwelling snakes had been prohibited.We add here that Bukhari also narrated it, 7:247, via Jareer bin Hazim from Nafi, that Ibn Umar used to kill all snakes, until Abu Lubaba al-Badri told him that the Prophet ﷺ had forbidden killing the jinan of the houses, so he stopped killing them. Muslim narrated it likewise, 2:193, via Jareer bin Hazim from Nafi. Muslim also narrated, 2:193, via Ubaydullah from Nafi, that he heard Abu Lubaba telling Ibn Umar that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had forbidden killing the jinan. He also narrated it via Ubaydullah and Juwayriya, from Nafi, from Abdullah, that Abu Lubaba told him that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had forbidden killing the jinan found in houses. He also narrated the story at length through other chains, all of which indicate that Ibn Umar heard this from Abu Lubaba, and that Nafi heard it at the same time as Ibn Umar, from Abu Lubaba.In the Muwatta, 3:142, Malik narrated from Nafi, from Abu Lubaba, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade killing the snakes found in houses. The hadiths of Abu Lubaba on this subject will come in the Musnad, at length and in brief, at 15610, 15611, 15813, 15814, 15816, and 15817. All these narrations confirm that Ibn Umar heard it only from Abu Lubaba, and some of them indicate that he also heard it from his uncle Zayd bin Khattab, and that Nafi was with him when Abu Lubaba and Zayd told him of this.So I believe that Nafi's narration here, from Ibn Umar alone, is abridged, and that it represents a shortening made by some of the narrators, for it seems very unlikely to me that Nafi would have been present when Abu Lubaba and Zayd bin Khattab spoke to Ibn Umar and told him of this prohibition, and yet Nafi would narrate it in this manner and attribute it solely to the hadith of Ibn Umar.Jinan, with a kasrah on the jim, a fathah on the doubled nun, and ending in a nun. Qadi Iyad said in Mashariq Anwar, 1:156, that these are small snakes, the singular of which is jaan. It is also said that they are thin white snakes. It is also said that jinan are those that do not approach people, while hayyat (snakes) are those that do approach them. It is also said that jinan are transformed jinn. Ibn Wahb said, jinan are house-dwelling creatures that take the form of a thin snake. As for the narration in the Muwatta, it uses hayyat, the plural of hayyah (snake). The meaning is close either way.