Al-Adab Al-Mufrad
Mercy
كتاب رَحْمَةِ
Chapter 174
بَابُ ارْحَمْ مَنْ فِي الأَرْضِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
‘Umar said: Whoever shows no mercy will receive no mercy; whoever does not forgive will not be forgiven; whoever does not repent will not be granted repentance; and whoever does not take precautions will not be protected.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
This version has ‘repent’ (يتوب) in the third clause, unlike the preceding report’s ‘pardon’ (يعف).
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Mu‘awiya ibn Qurra reported from his father: A man said, ‘Messenger of Allah, I am going to slaughter a sheep, but I feel compassion for it’—or he said, ‘I feel compassion for the sheep I am going to slaughter.’ He replied twice, ‘If you show mercy to the sheep, Allah will show mercy to you.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The narrator gives two variants for the man’s words, and the Prophet’s reply is repeated twice in the source.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Hurayra said: I heard the Prophet—the truthful and confirmed one, Abu al-Qasim (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)—say: Mercy is removed only from one who is wretched.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The source calls the Prophet الصادق المصدوق, ‘the truthful, confirmed one’; the final clause says only that the person is wretched, without explicitly saying this was predestined.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Jarir reported that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: Whoever does not show mercy to people, Allah will not show mercy to him.
Chapter 175
بَابُ رَحْمَةِ الْعِيَالِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Anas ibn Malik said: The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was the most merciful of people toward children and dependents. He had a son nursing in an area on the outskirts of Medina, and the child’s wet nurse’s husband was a blacksmith. We would visit him, and the house was smoky with idhkhir grass; the Prophet would kiss the child and smell him.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The Arabic says the house was smoky with idhkhir, an aromatic grass; it does not mention bellows or say that the Prophet took the child in his lap. The child is not named in the Arabic text.
وَكَانَ لَهُ ابْنٌ مُسْتَرْضَعٌ فِي نَاحِيَةِ الْمَدِينَةِ، وَكَانَ ظِئْرُهُ قَيْنًا، وَكُنَّا نَأْتِيهِ، وَقَدْ دَخَنَ الْبَيْتُ بِإِذْخِرٍ، فَيُقَبِّلُهُ وَيَشُمُّهُ.
The Arabic attributes the smoke to idhkhir grass and says the Prophet kissed and smelled the child; it does not mention bellows or holding him in his lap.
Should an editor retain the source’s wording about idhkhir and smelling the child rather than the witness’s bellows/lap details?
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Hurayra said: A man came to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) with a child and began drawing him close. The Prophet asked, ‘Do you show him mercy?’ The man said, ‘Yes.’ He replied, ‘Allah is more merciful to you than you are to him, and He is the Most Merciful of those who show mercy.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The question in Arabic asks whether the man shows mercy to the child; the English witness has ‘towards me,’ which appears to be an error.
فَقَالَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم: أَتَرْحَمُهُ؟
The pronoun refers to the child, as confirmed by the following comparison ‘more merciful to you than you are to him.’
Should the question read ‘Do you show him mercy’ as in this translation?
Chapter 176
بَابُ رَحْمَةِ الْبَهَائِمِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: A man was walking along a road when he became very thirsty. He found a well, climbed down into it, drank, and came back out. There he saw a dog panting and eating the dirt from thirst. The man said, ‘This dog has become as thirsty as I was.’ He went down into the well, filled his leather shoes with water, held them in his mouth, and gave the dog water. Allah appreciated his deed and forgave him. They asked, ‘Messenger of Allah, will we be rewarded for kindness to animals?’ He said, ‘There is a reward for every living creature.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The Arabic says the man filled his two leather shoes and held them in his mouth to carry water; the translation preserves the plural.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umar reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: A woman was punished because of a cat she had imprisoned until it died of hunger, and she entered the Fire on its account. It was said—and Allah knows best—‘You neither fed it nor gave it water while you kept it confined, nor did you release it so that it could eat the small creatures of the earth.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The Arabic closes with خشاش الأرض, small creatures or vermin of the earth; the English witness says ‘plants of the earth.’
فَأَكَلَتْ مِنْ خَشَاشِ الأَرْضِ.
The Arabic خشاش الأرض refers to small creatures or vermin of the earth rather than plants.
Should the final phrase follow the Arabic sense ‘small creatures of the earth’ rather than the English witness’s ‘plants’?
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘As reported that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: Show mercy and you will receive mercy; forgive and Allah will forgive you. Woe to the ears that collect words! Woe to those who persist knowingly in what they have done.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The Arabic uses the metaphor ‘funnels of speech/words’ (أقماع القول), rendered here as ears that collect words, following the English witness’s interpretation.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Umama reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: Whoever shows mercy, even to an animal destined for slaughter, Allah will show mercy to him on the Day of Resurrection.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The Arabic refers to a ذبيحة, an animal to be slaughtered; the translation keeps the general term rather than specifying a particular animal.
Chapter 177
بَابُ أَخْذِ الْبَيْضِ مِنَ الْحُمَّرَةِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
‘Abd Allah reported that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) stopped at a place. A man took a redstart’s eggs, and the bird came fluttering above the Prophet’s head. He asked, ‘Which of you has distressed this bird by taking its eggs?’ A man said, ‘Messenger of Allah, I took them.’ The Prophet said, ‘Return them, out of mercy for the bird.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The Arabic names a hummara bird; ‘redstart’ is one possible identification, so this is translated more generally as ‘bird’ rather than assigning a species.
Chapter 178
بَابُ الطَّيْرِ فِي الْقَفَصِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Hisham ibn ‘Urwa said: Ibn al-Zubayr was in Mecca, and the Prophet’s Companions used to carry birds in cages.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Anas said: The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) came in and saw a son of Abu Talha called Abu ‘Umayr. He had a little bird with which he used to play. The Prophet said, ‘Abu ‘Umayr, what happened to the little bird?’—or, ‘Where is the little bird?’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The narrator gives two variants for the Prophet’s question: ‘What happened to it?’ or ‘Where is it?’ The source calls the pet a nughayr, literally a diminutive bird name; its exact species is uncertain.