Sahih al-Bukhari
Sahih al-Bukhari 3403
حَدَّثَنِي إِسْحَاقُ بْنُ نَصْرٍ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الرَّزَّاقِ، عَنْ مَعْمَرٍ، عَنْ هَمَّامِ بْنِ مُنَبِّهٍ، أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ أَبَا هُرَيْرَةَ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ يَقُولُ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم " قِيلَ لِبَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ ادْخُلُوا الْبَابَ سُجَّدًا وَقُولُوا حِطَّةٌ. فَبَدَّلُوا فَدَخَلُوا يَزْحَفُونَ عَلَى أَسْتَاهِهِمْ، وَقَالُوا حَبَّةٌ فِي شَعْرَةٍ ".
Abu Huraira reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “The Children of Israel were told to enter the gate prostrating and say, ḥiṭṭah (relieve us of our sins). But they changed the words: they entered crawling on their backsides and said, habbah fi shaʿrah (a grain in a strand of hair).”
Translation notes
The command ḥiṭṭah is rendered by its sense, asking for sins to be lifted; the altered phrase is kept as a deliberately absurd substitution.