Ithmid and kohl (al-ithmid wa-l-kuhl)

Ithmid is the black stone of kohl, and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya says the best comes from Isfahan ¹. Abu Dawud reports that the Prophet ordered scented ithmid at bedtime and said 'let the fasting person avoid it' ², and Ibn Majah reports 'hold to ithmid, for it clears the sight and makes the hair grow' ³. Ibn al-Qayyim gives the number of applications: three in each eye, or three in the right and two in the left, and records two views on the odd number in Ahmad's school and others ^{1 4}.

Abu Dawud reports from al-Nu'man ibn Ma'bad ibn Hawdha, from his father, from his grandfather, that the Prophet ordered scented ithmid at bedtime and said 'let the fasting person avoid it', 'scented' meaning perfumed with musk as Abu Ubayd explains ^{2 1}. In Ibn Majah, from Salim from his father: 'hold to ithmid, for it clears the sight and makes the hair grow' ³, and from Ibn Abbas: 'the best of your kohls is ithmid; it clears the sight and makes the hair grow' ⁵ al-Tirmidhi 2048. Ibn al-Qayyim also reports that the Prophet had a kohl pot from which he applied kohl three times to each eye, with the editor noting that its chain is weak; and in al-Tirmidhi, from Ibn Abbas, that when the Prophet applied kohl he put three strokes in the right eye, beginning and ending with it, and two in the left ^{1 4}.

Ibn al-Qayyim relays from Abu Dawud 'whoever applies kohl, let him make it an odd number', with the editor noting two unknown narrators in its chain ⁴. He then asks whether the odd number is counted for both eyes together, so that there are three in one and two in the other with the right eye the first to begin and to be preferred, or for each eye, so that there are three in each, and says these are two views in Ahmad's school and others ⁴. He records the difference without choosing.

Ibn al-Qayyim says kohl preserves the health of the eye, strengthens the light of sight, clears it, refines and draws out the bad matter, and adds adornment in some kinds; that it is especially beneficial at bedtime, because the eye holds the kohl and rests afterwards from harmful movement while nature serves it; and that ithmid has a special property in this ¹. In the entry on the letter hamza he describes ithmid as the black stone of kohl brought from Isfahan, which is best, and also from the Maghrib, the finest being that which crumbles quickly, its crumbs glittering and its inside smooth with no impurities ¹. Its temperament is cold and dry; it benefits and strengthens the eye, heals ulcers, cleans and clears away dirt, and relieves headache when applied with thin honey-water; he judges it the best of eye kohls, especially for the old and those whose sight has weakened, if a little musk is added ⁴ honey. He also relays from al-Ghafiqi that the water of the kam'a is the best eye medicine when ithmid is kneaded with it and applied ⁶ the desert truffle. These are Ibn al-Qayyim's statements of the medicine of his age; the museum reports them and recommends none of them. For the wider topic see prophetic medicine.