Sunan Ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Majah 3383
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ، عَنْ عَمْرِو بْنِ دِينَارٍ، عَنْ طَاوُسٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ، قَالَ بَلَغَ عُمَرَ أَنَّ سَمُرَةَ، بَاعَ خَمْرًا فَقَالَ قَاتَلَ اللَّهُ سَمُرَةَ أَلَمْ يَعْلَمْ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ قَالَ " لَعَنَ اللَّهُ الْيَهُودَ حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ الشُّحُومُ فَجَمَلُوهَا فَبَاعُوهَا " .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Ibn ʿAbbās reported: ʿUmar learned that Samurah had sold wine and said, ‘May Allah condemn Samurah! Did he not know that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Allah cursed the Jews: fat was forbidden to them, but they rendered it and sold it”?’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The verb means to render or melt down the fat. The report invokes the example of people selling something after processing it despite its prohibition.
‘May Allah condemn’ conveys the curse-like force of the Arabic idiom qātala Allāh; it is not a literal request for physical combat.
بَاعَ خَمْرًا فَقَالَ قَاتَلَ اللَّهُ سَمُرَةَ أَلَمْ يَعْلَمْ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ قَالَ " لَعَنَ اللَّهُ الْيَهُودَ حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ الشُّحُومُ فَجَمَلُوهَا فَبَاعُوهَا " .
The expression qātala Allāh Samurah is an idiomatic reproach or curse, literally ‘may Allah fight Samurah.’
Should the idiom be rendered as ‘May Allah condemn Samurah’ or more literally as ‘May Allah fight Samurah’?