He heard the Prophet ﷺ delivering a sermon from the pulpit, saying, "Kill snakes, and kill the two-striped snake and the short-tailed snake, for they blot out eyesight and cause miscarriage."Abdullah said, "Once, while I was chasing a snake to kill it, Abu Lubabah called out to me, 'Do not kill it!'"I said, "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered that snakes be killed."He replied, "He later forbade killing the snakes that dwell in houses, which are called the awamir."
أنه سمع النبي ﷺ يخطب على المنبر يقول: اقتلوا الحيات واقتلوا ذا الطفيتين والأبتر، فإنهما يطمسان البصر، ويستسقطان الحبل قال عبد الله: فبينا أنا أطارد حية لأقتلها، فناداني أبو لبابة: لا تقتلها، فقلت: إن رسول الله ﷺ قد أمر بقتل الحيات قال: إنه نهى بعد ذلك عن ذوات البيوت، وهي العوامر.
Bukhari related it in Bad al-Khalq (3297, 3298), and Muslim in Salam (2233:128), both through Zuhri, from Salim, from Ibn Umar, as mentioned. Ibn Hibban related it (5638) through Ibn Wahb, who said, "Yunus and others informed me, from Ibn Shihab," with the same wording, but only the part attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. He then said, Ibn Wahb said, "Amr bin Harith informed me, from Bukayr bin Ashaj, from Salim, from his father, from the Prophet ﷺ," with the same content, adding, "Whoever finds one with two stripes or a bobtailed one, and does not kill them, is not one of us." Its chain is sahih, and it is connected to what came before it.