The snake of Medina: the Ansari youth who killed it

Al-Muwatta relates from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri that he heard movement under his bed and it was a snake, so he signalled him to sit; then he showed him a house in the quarter and told him that a young man of the Ansar who had gone out with the Messenger of God ﷺ to the Trench found his wife between the two doors and made for her with his spear, but she said do not hasten until you enter and see what is in your house; he found a snake coiled on his bed, fixed his spear in it, and the snake thrashed on the spear's head and the youth and the snake died, and none knew which died first. They mentioned it to the Prophet and he said: there are snakes in Medina that have embraced Islam; if you see any of them, give them three days' notice, and if they still appear after that, kill them, for they are but devils ¹ Muwatta 31:2798.

In this report jinn and devils take forms in the houses of Medina, and the Prophet ruled that snakes remaining after three days' notice are devils; it is among the texts of jinn, ifrits and houses in the Sunna ¹.

Among the reports of jinn and devils in the houses of Medina; this browser shows it in the jinn and devils sections ¹.