Sunan Ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Majah 3492
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، وَمُحَمَّدُ بْنُ بَشَّارٍ، قَالاَ حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ جَعْفَرٍ، غُنْدَرٌ حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ، ح وَحَدَّثَنَا أَحْمَدُ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ الدَّارِمِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا النَّضْرُ بْنُ شُمَيْلٍ، حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ، حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنِ سَعْدِ بْنِ زُرَارَةَ الأَنْصَارِيُّ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُ عَمِّي، يَحْيَى - وَمَا أَدْرَكْتُ رَجُلاً مِنَّا بِهِ شَبِيهًا يُحَدِّثُ النَّاسَ أَنَّ سَعْدَ بْنَ زُرَارَةَ - وَهُوَ جَدُّ مُحَمَّدٍ مِنْ قِبَلِ أُمِّهِ أَنَّهُ أَخَذَهُ وَجَعٌ فِي حَلْقِهِ يُقَالُ لَهُ الذُّبْحَةُ فَقَالَ النَّبِيُّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " لأُبْلِغَنَّ أَوْ لأُبْلِيَنَّ فِي أَبِي أُمَامَةَ عُذْرًا " . فَكَوَاهُ بِيَدِهِ فَمَاتَ فَقَالَ النَّبِيُّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " مِيتَةَ سُوءٍ لِلْيَهُودِ يَقُولُونَ أَفَلاَ دَفَعَ عَنْ صَاحِبِهِ . وَمَا أَمْلِكُ لَهُ وَلاَ لِنَفْسِي شَيْئًا " .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah and Muḥammad ibn Bashshār both narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar—Ghundar—narrated to us, from Shuʿbah. [Another chain:] Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd al-Dārimī narrated to us: al-Naḍr ibn Shumayl narrated to us: Shuʿbah narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Saʿd ibn Zurārah al-Anṣārī said: I heard my paternal uncle Yaḥyā—and I have never encountered anyone among us like him—tell people that Saʿd ibn Zurārah, Muḥammad’s maternal grandfather, was struck by a throat ailment called al-dhabḥah. The Prophet said, ‘I shall certainly do my utmost—or find an excuse—regarding Abū Umāmah.’ He cauterized him with his own hand, and he died.
The Prophet said, ‘A wretched death for the Jews! They say, “Could he not have warded it off from his companion?” But I have no power to do anything for him or for myself.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The source names the throat ailment الذُّبْحَة; ‘al-dhabḥah’ is retained with a general description rather than equated to a modern diagnosis. The phrase لأبلغن أو لأبلين contains an explicit alternative in the Arabic; the two possible renderings are kept visible. The narrative reports cauterization followed by the man’s death, without stating that one caused the other.
يَحْيَى - وَمَا أَدْرَكْتُ رَجُلاً مِنَّا بِهِ شَبِيهًا يُحَدِّثُ النَّاسَ أَنَّ سَعْدَ بْنَ زُرَارَةَ - وَهُوَ جَدُّ مُحَمَّدٍ مِنْ قِبَلِ أُمِّهِ أَنَّهُ أَخَذَهُ وَجَعٌ فِي حَلْقِهِ يُقَالُ لَهُ الذُّبْحَةُ فَقَالَ النَّبِيُّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " لأُبْلِغَنَّ أَوْ لأُبْلِيَنَّ فِي أَبِي أُمَامَةَ عُذْرًا " .
الذُّبْحَة is a named throat ailment; the English witness calls it croup, but the Arabic alone does not establish a modern diagnosis.
Should this ailment be transliterated or identified as croup?
يَحْيَى - وَمَا أَدْرَكْتُ رَجُلاً مِنَّا بِهِ شَبِيهًا يُحَدِّثُ النَّاسَ أَنَّ سَعْدَ بْنَ زُرَارَةَ - وَهُوَ جَدُّ مُحَمَّدٍ مِنْ قِبَلِ أُمِّهِ أَنَّهُ أَخَذَهُ وَجَعٌ فِي حَلْقِهِ يُقَالُ لَهُ الذُّبْحَةُ فَقَالَ النَّبِيُّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " لأُبْلِغَنَّ أَوْ لأُبْلِيَنَّ فِي أَبِي أُمَامَةَ عُذْرًا " .
لأبلغن أو لأبلين explicitly presents two alternative forms, and عذرًا indicates an excuse or justification concerning Abū Umāmah; the precise idiomatic force is uncertain.
How should the alternatives لأبلغن أو لأبلين عذرًا be rendered in this context?
فَكَوَاهُ بِيَدِهِ فَمَاتَ فَقَالَ النَّبِيُّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " مِيتَةَ سُوءٍ لِلْيَهُودِ يَقُولُونَ أَفَلاَ دَفَعَ عَنْ صَاحِبِهِ .
مِيتَةَ سُوءٍ لِلْيَهُودِ is an emphatic curse/exclamation about the Jews; the Arabic does not literally state that they will be doomed in the future.
Should this be translated as an exclamation such as ‘A wretched death for the Jews!’?