A believer should not be stung twice from the same hole

Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: «The believer does not allow himself to be stung twice from the same hole» (1).

Explanation of vocabularies: (2)

(Stinging) is done by poisonous insects or crawls. Al Khattaby said: “As for the Prophet's saying: (should not be stung), this is a command in the form of statement which means that a believer should be watchful and should not be taken suddenly a time after another. This may be done also in the matters of the religion as it is in worldly matters; and the matter of the religion is more important.”

Lessons gained from the Hadith: (3)

1- Imam An-Nawawy said: “The reason behind narrating the Hadith is that the Prophet, peace be upon him, captured Abu `Azzah, a poet, on the Day of Badr. He released him and made him promise not to fight or censure the Prophet again. He released him until he joined its people then started over by censuring and attacking then he was captured in the Battle of Uhud. He asked the Prophet, peace be upon him, to release him again but the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: «A believer should not be stung twice from the same hole», and commanded the Companions to kill him".(4)

2- The person who is hit by harm from one side should avoid falling into it again.

3- A believer should be careful in all his affairs, so no one should be able to trick him twice. If a person deceives him once and causes harm to him once, he should be careful not to fall again in the same matter and this includes the religious and worldly damage.

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(1) Reported by Al Bukhari No. 83, and Muslim No. 7690.

(2) Fathul-Bary of Ibn Hajar (17/320).

(3) See: The previous reference.

(4) See: The previous reference and the commentary of An-Nawawy on Sahih Muslim (9/ 381).