Al-Adab Al-Mufrad
Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 579
حَدَّثَنَا أَحْمَدُ بْنُ عَاصِمٍ، قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا حَيْوَةُ، قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا بَقِيَّةُ قَالَ: حَدَّثَنِي صَفْوَانُ قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ رَاشِدَ بْنَ سَعْدٍ يَقُولُ: سَمِعْتُ ثَوْبَانَ يَقُولُ: قَالَ لِي رَسُولُ اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم: لاَ تَسْكُنِ الْكُفُورَ، فَإِنَّ سَاكِنَ الْكُفُورِ كَسَاكِنِ الْقُبُورِ قَالَ أَحْمَدُ: الْكُفُورُ: الْقُرَى.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Ahmad ibn ‘Asim related to us: Haywah related to us: Baqiyyah related to us: Safwan told me: I heard Rashid ibn Sa‘d say: I heard Thawban say: The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to me: “Do not settle in the villages, for the one who lives in the villages is like one who lives in the graves.” Ahmad said: “Al-kufur means villages.”
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The narrator Ahmad ibn ‘Asim adds an explanation that al-kufur here means villages; this compiler/transmitter addition is included in the translation.
The English witness renders الكفور as “suburbs,” whereas Ahmad explicitly glosses it as villages.
فَإِنَّ سَاكِنَ الْكُفُورِ كَسَاكِنِ الْقُبُورِ قَالَ أَحْمَدُ: الْكُفُورُ: الْقُرَى.
The narrator’s gloss specifies villages; “suburbs” is less exact.
Should the gloss be retained to clarify the intended sense? It is included here.