The prophet imagining things?

Question

Narrated Aisha:

Once the Prophet (ﷺ) was bewitched so that he began to imagine that he had done a thing which in fact he had not done.

^{[Sahih al-Bukhari 3175 Book 58, Hadith 17 (in book reference)]}

The Prophet (PBUH) had been so bewitched that he was imagining his sexual life too!?

Narrated Aisha:

The Prophet (ﷺ) continued for such-and-such period imagining that he has slept (had sexual relations) with his wives, and in fact he did not. One day he said, to me, "O `Aisha! Allah has instructed me regarding a matter about which I had asked Him. There came to me two men, one of them sat near my feet and the other near my head. The one near my feet, asked the one near my head (pointing at me), 'What is wrong with this man? The latter replied, 'He is under the effect of magic.' The first one asked, 'Who had worked magic on him?' The other replied, 'Lubaid bin Asam.' The first one asked, 'What material (did he use)?' The other replied, 'The skin of the pollen of a male date tree with a comb and the hair stuck to it, kept under a stone in the well of Dharwan."' Then the Prophet (ﷺ) went to that well and said, "This is the same well which was shown to me in the dream. The tops of its date-palm trees look like the heads of the devils, and its water looks like the Henna infusion." Then the Prophet (ﷺ) ordered that those things be taken out. I said, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! Won't you disclose (the magic object)?" The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Allah has cured me and I hate to circulate the evil among the people." `Aisha added, "(The magician) Lubaid bin Asam was a man from Bani Zuraiq, an ally of the Jews."

^{[Sahih al-Bukhari 6063 Book 78, Hadith 93 (in book reference)]}

This is very strange because how can a Prophet of God the last and most wise Prophet (PBUH) of God the seal of all Prophets be bewitched? Shouldn't he have been Protected by Allah? And he was bewitched up to the point that his sexual life was no longer in control? Kindly explain.

Answer 1

The answer to this question is quite straightforward. You are simply under a wrong impression. Being a prophet does not protect one from being affected by witchcraft. There is no evidence that it does, and in fact as you have seen, there is evidence that it doesn't. This is in the same way that being a prophet does not protect from physical injuries.

Furthermore, you are phrasing things too strangely. It was not that "sexual life was no longer in control," but rather he was caused by the magic to become forgetful about all aspects of his life.