Sunan Ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Majah 3497
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ آدَمَ، عَنْ سُفْيَانَ، عَنِ ابْنِ خُثَيْمٍ، عَنْ سَعِيدِ بْنِ جُبَيْرٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " خَيْرُ أَكْحَالِكُمُ الإِثْمِدُ يَجْلُو الْبَصَرَ وَيُنْبِتُ الشَّعَرَ " .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah narrated to us: Yaḥyā ibn Ādam narrated to us, from Sufyān, from Ibn Khuthaym, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Messenger of Allah said, ‘The best of your kohl is ithmid: it clears the eyesight and makes the hair grow.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
أَكْحَالِكُم refers specifically to kohl/eye cosmetic; الإثمد (ithmid) is retained as the named substance.
قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " خَيْرُ أَكْحَالِكُمُ الإِثْمِدُ يَجْلُو الْبَصَرَ وَيُنْبِتُ الشَّعَرَ " .
أَكْحَالِكُم refers to kohl or an eye cosmetic, and the text names ithmid without specifying the precise composition of the historical substance.
Should the term be rendered simply as kohl, with ithmid retained as the product name?