Sunan Ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Majah 3463
حَدَّثَنَا هِشَامُ بْنُ عَمَّارٍ، وَرَاشِدُ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ الرَّمْلِيُّ، قَالاَ حَدَّثَنَا الْوَلِيدُ بْنُ مُسْلِمٍ، حَدَّثَنَا هِشَامُ بْنُ حَسَّانَ، حَدَّثَنَا أَنَسُ بْنُ سِيرِينَ، أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ أَنَسَ بْنَ مَالِكٍ، يَقُولُ سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ يَقُولُ " شِفَاءُ عِرْقِ النَّسَا أَلْيَةُ شَاةٍ أَعْرَابِيَّةٍ تُذَابُ ثُمَّ تُجَزَّأُ ثَلاَثَةَ أَجْزَاءٍ ثُمَّ يُشْرَبُ عَلَى الرِّيقِ فِي كُلِّ يَوْمٍ جُزْءٌ " .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Hishām ibn ʿAmmār and Rāshid ibn Saʿīd al-Ramlī both narrated to us: al-Walīd ibn Muslim narrated to us: Hishām ibn Ḥassān narrated to us: Anas ibn Sīrīn narrated to us that he heard Anas ibn Mālik say: I heard the Messenger of Allah say, ‘The cure for sciatica is the tail fat of a Bedouin sheep. It is melted, then divided into three portions, and one portion is drunk on an empty stomach each day.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The report prescribes a remedy for عِرْق النَّسَا, conventionally rendered ‘sciatica’; the wording and dosage are translated as transmitted.
يَقُولُ سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ يَقُولُ " شِفَاءُ عِرْقِ النَّسَا أَلْيَةُ شَاةٍ أَعْرَابِيَّةٍ تُذَابُ ثُمَّ تُجَزَّأُ ثَلاَثَةَ أَجْزَاءٍ ثُمَّ يُشْرَبُ عَلَى الرِّيقِ فِي كُلِّ يَوْمٍ جُزْءٌ " .
عِرْق النَّسَا is conventionally translated as sciatica, though the historical term may not map exactly to a modern diagnosis.
Should عرق النسا be retained as a historical term or rendered with the conventional equivalent ‘sciatica’?