Al-Adab Al-Mufrad
Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 215
حَدَّثَنَا سَعِيدُ بْنُ عُفَيْرٍ قَالَ: حَدَّثَنِي يَحْيَى بْنُ أَيُّوبَ، عَنْ عُمَارَةَ بْنِ غَزِيَّةَ، عَنْ شُرَحْبِيلَ مَوْلَى الأَنْصَارِ، عَنْ جَابِرِ بْنِ عَبْدِ اللهِ الأَنْصَارِيِّ قَالَ: قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم: مَنْ صُنِعَ إِلَيْهِ مَعْرُوفٌ فَلْيُجْزِئْهُ، فَإِنْ لَمْ يَجِدْ مَا يُجْزِئُهُ فَلْيُثْنِ عَلَيْهِ، فَإِنَّهُ إِذَا أَثْنَى فَقَدْ شَكَرَهُ، وَإِنْ كَتَمَهُ فَقَدْ كَفَرَهُ، وَمَنْ تَحَلَّى بِمَا لَمْ يُعْطَ، فَكَأَنَّمَا لَبِسَ ثَوْبَيْ زُورٍ.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Sa‘id ibn Ufayr narrated to us. He said: Yahya ibn Ayyub narrated to me, from Umara ibn Ghaziya, from Shurahbil, the client of the Ansar, from Jabir ibn Abd Allah al-Ansari, who said: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: ‘Whoever is shown a kindness should repay it. If he cannot find anything with which to repay it, let him praise the one who did it; when he praises him, he has thanked him. If he conceals it, he has been ungrateful for it. Whoever adorns himself with what he has not been given is like someone wearing two garments of falsehood.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The final image literally refers to ‘two garments of falsehood’; the plural is preserved rather than reduced to the singular in the English witness.
وَإِنْ كَتَمَهُ فَقَدْ كَفَرَهُ،
The verb can convey concealing or denying the kindness; in context the English witness interprets it as ingratitude.
Should ‘conceals’ or ‘denies’ be preferred in a later lexical review?
فَكَأَنَّمَا لَبِسَ ثَوْبَيْ زُورٍ.
The source uses a two-garment image, which is unusual in English and may be idiomatic.
Should a separate note explain this image without altering the translation?