The basic ritual consists of the accused being asked to lick a hot metal object (spoon, ladle, rod, etc.)
In the absence of a ladle, other metal objects like knives, spoons and rods are also used, and use of non-metals like rocks have also been documented.
When the Mubesha decides that the ladle is sufficiently heated, both parties swear to God that the issue will end with the ritual, and the defendant undertakes the test.
The Mubesha hears the account of the dispute before performing the ceremony, and is also responsible for pressing the metal spoon against the tongue of the person undergoing the Bisha'a.
The legend behind the Bisha'a goes back to a man of great powers named Weymer abu Ayad of the Sultani branch of the Ayayideh tribe of the Qahtan confederation of Bedouins in southern Saudi Arabia.
It is also inconsistent with some interpretations of the Sharia, rules of Islam, being an old ritual passed on by Bedouins from pre-Islamic times.
[4][5][6][7][8] The earliest well-documented reports of the Bisha'a ceremony come from the accounts of Austin Kennett,[9] Claude Jarvis[10][11] and G. W.
Glubb Pasha's account mentions the high rate of correct judgement, which he attributes to the skill of the mubesha.
Before it does so, I cannot resist paying a tribute to the skill of those who practise this infamous superstition, and to the considerable number of miscarriages of justice which were by this means avoided.
The quasiscientific explanation of the ordeal is that stress would cause the mouth of liar to dry up, hence increasing the possibility of a burn.
Joseph Ginat, Bedouin Bisha’h Justice: Ordeal by Fire (Sussex Academic Press, 2009)