Al-Adab Al-Mufrad
Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 430
حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ سِنَانٍ، قَالَ: أَخْبَرَنَا فُلَيْحُ بْنُ سُلَيْمَانَ، قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا هِلاَلُ بْنُ عَلِيٍّ، عَنْ أَنَسٍ قَالَ: لَمْ يَكُنْ رَسُولُ اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَاحِشًا، وَلاَ لَعَّانًا، وَلاَ سَبَّابًا، كَانَ يَقُولُ عِنْدَ الْمَعْتَبَةِ: مَا لَهُ تَرِبَ جَبِينُهُ.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Muhammad ibn Sinan narrated to us: Fulayh ibn Sulayman informed us: Hilal ibn ‘Ali narrated to us from Anas, who said: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was never obscene, a curser, or a reviler. When he censured someone, he would say: What is the matter with him? May his forehead be rubbed with dust!
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The closing formula مَا لَهُ تَرِبَ جَبِينُهُ is rendered closely; the literal image is of a forehead rubbed with dust, but it functions as a rebuke formula.
كَانَ يَقُولُ عِنْدَ الْمَعْتَبَةِ: مَا لَهُ تَرِبَ جَبِينُهُ.
The source gives the formula ما له ترب جبينه, literally ‘what is the matter with him; may his forehead be dusty’; the idiomatic force is unclear.
Should this formula be rendered literally as here or replaced by an idiomatic English rebuke?