3887 — Ibrahim ibn Mahdi al-Missisi narrated to us, Ali ibn Mushir narrated to us, from Abd al-Aziz ibn Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, from Salih ibn Kaysan, from Abu Bakr ibn Sulayman ibn Abi Hathma, from al-Shifa bint Abd Allah, who said: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, entered upon me while I was with Hafsa, and he said to me: "Will you not teach her the incantation for the ant-bite, just as you taught her writing?"(1)

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(1) Its narrators are trustworthy, but there is disagreement over whether it is connected or interrupted (mursal), and the correct view is that it is interrupted, as al-Daraqutni said in al-Ilal, 5/ folio 194–195. See the detailed discussion of it in Musnad Ahmad (26449) and (27595).
It was also recorded by al-Nasa'i in al-Kubra (7501) via the path of Muhammad ibn Bishr, from Abd al-Aziz ibn Umar, with this chain.
He also recorded it (7500) via the path of Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir, from Abu Bakr ibn Sulayman ibn Abi Hathma, from Hafsa that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, entered upon her while there was a woman with her called al-Shifa, who was reciting an incantation against the ant-bite, and the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said to her: "Teach it to Hafsa."
On this topic, there is also the hadith of Anas ibn Malik, recorded by Muslim (2196) and others, that he, peace and blessings be upon him, permitted incantation against the ant-bite.
Al-Khattabi said: The ant-bite (namla) is a sore that appears on the sides; it is said that it also appears elsewhere than the side, and it is treated with incantation and goes away by the permission of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic.
The hadith permits teaching writing to women. This was stated by Ibn Taymiyyah the grandfather in al-Muntaqa. The scholar Muhammad Shams al-Haqq al-Azimabadi has a valuable treatise on this question, titled Uqud al-Juman fi Jawaz al-Kitaba lil-Niswan, which may be consulted.
Al-Mundhiri said in Tahdhib al-Sunan, 5/364: This al-Shifa was a Qurashi woman of the Adi clan who embraced Islam before the Hijra, and she sold goods to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, used to visit her and take his midday rest at her house. Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, would give her precedence in opinion, hold her in favor, and prefer her; sometimes he would entrust her with some matters of the market. Ahmad ibn Salih said: Her name was Layla, and al-Shifa became her dominant epithet. See also al-Isaba, 7/737–739.