Al-Adab Al-Mufrad
Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 319
حَدَّثَنَا أَحْمَدُ بْنُ يَعْقُوبَ قَالَ: حَدَّثَنِي يَزِيدُ بْنُ الْمِقْدَامِ بْنِ شُرَيْحٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ جَدِّهِ قَالَ: أَخْبَرَتْنِي عَائِشَةُ، أَنَّ أَبَا بَكْرٍ لَعَنَ بَعْضَ رَقِيقِهِ، فَقَالَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم: يَا أَبَا بَكْرٍ، اللَّعَّانِينَ وَالصِّدِّيقِينَ؟ كَلاَّ وَرَبِّ الْكَعْبَةِ، مَرَّتَيْنِ أَوْ ثَلاَثًا، فَأَعْتَقَ أَبُو بَكْرٍ يَوْمَئِذٍ بَعْضَ رَقِيقِهِ، ثُمَّ جَاءَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقَالَ: لا أَعُودُ.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Ahmad ibn Ya‘qub narrated to us: Yazid ibn al-Miqdam ibn Shurayh narrated to me, from his father, from his grandfather, who said: ‘A’isha informed me that Abu Bakr cursed one of his enslaved people. The Prophet ﷺ said, ‘Abu Bakr, are you among those who curse and the truthful? No, by the Lord of the Ka‘ba!’ He repeated this two or three times. That day Abu Bakr freed some of his enslaved people. Then the Prophet ﷺ came, and he said, ‘I will not do it again.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The exchange اللعانين والصديقين؟ كلا ورب الكعبة is compressed and its question-and-answer structure is not clear from the wording alone. The final لا أعود is first person, but its speaker is not explicit in the source’s punctuation/wording; it is rendered with the most immediate antecedent (‘he’) rather than recast as a command.
اللَّعَّانِينَ وَالصِّدِّيقِينَ؟ كَلاَّ وَرَبِّ الْكَعْبَةِ
The compact question followed by كلا is difficult to parse; the witness gives an incomplete-sounding fragment.
Who is addressed by ‘the cursers and the truthful,’ and how should كلا be connected to the exchange?
ثُمَّ جَاءَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقَالَ: لا أَعُودُ
The final first-person statement follows ‘the Prophet came,’ leaving the speaker unclear; the witness interprets it as a directive from the Prophet rather than ‘I will not return.’
Is the final promise Abu Bakr’s, or is it a command by the Prophet reported with a different implied subject?