Al-Adab Al-Mufrad
Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 781
حَدَّثَنَا مُوسَى، قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا الصَّعْقُ قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ أَبَا جَمْرَةَ قَالَ: أَخْبَرَنِي أَبُو عَبْدِ الْعَزِيزِ قَالَ: أَمْسَى عِنْدَنَا أَبُو هُرَيْرَةَ، فَنَظَرَ إِلَى نَجْمٍ عَلَى حِيَالِهِ فَقَالَ: وَالَّذِي نَفْسُ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ بِيَدِهِ، لَيَوَدَّنَّ أَقْوَامٌ وَلَوْا إِمَارَاتٍ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَأَعْمَالاً أَنَّهُمْ كَانُوا مُتَعَلِّقِينَ عِنْدَ ذَلِكَ النَّجْمِ، وَلَمْ يَلُوا تِلْكَ الإِمَارَاتِ، وَلاَ تِلْكَ الأَعْمَالَ. ثُمَّ أَقْبَلَ عَلَيَّ فَقَالَ: لاَ بُلَّ شَانِئُكَ، أَكُلُّ هَذَا سَاغَ لأَهْلِ الْمَشْرِقِ فِي مَشْرِقِهِمْ؟ قُلْتُ: نَعَمْ وَاللَّهِ، قَالَ: لَقَدْ قَبَّحَ اللَّهُ وَمَكَرَ، فَوَالَّذِي نَفْسُ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ بِيَدِهِ، لَيَسُوقُنَّهُمْ حُمُرًا غِضَابًا، كَأَنَّمَا وُجُوهُهُمُ الْمَجَانُّ الْمُطْرَقَةُ، حَتَّى يُلْحِقُوا ذَا الزَّرْعِ بِزَرْعِهِ، وَذَا الضَّرْعِ بِضَرْعِهِ.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu ‘Abd al-‘Aziz said: Abu Hurayra spent the evening with us. He looked toward a star opposite him and said: “By the One in whose hand Abu Hurayra’s soul is, people who held positions of authority and offices in this world will surely wish that they had been clinging to that star and had never held those positions or done those jobs.” Then he turned to me and said: “May your detractor never prosper! Has all of this been allowed for the people of the East in their eastern lands?” I said: “Yes, by Allah.” He said: “Allah has indeed disgraced and outwitted [them]. By the One in whose hand Abu Hurayra’s soul is, He will drive them along like enraged donkeys, their faces like beaten shields, until they restore the crops to the cultivators and the milch animals to their owners.”
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
Several expressions in this report are unusual; they are translated closely to preserve the wording.
لَيَوَدَّنَّ أَقْوَامٌ وَلَوْا إِمَارَاتٍ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَأَعْمَالاً أَنَّهُمْ كَانُوا مُتَعَلِّقِينَ عِنْدَ ذَلِكَ النَّجْمِ
The Arabic says people who held positions of authority and offices would wish they had been clinging to the star instead; it does not compare their actions to hanging from it.
Please check this sentence’s relationships against the Arabic.