Sunan Ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Majah 3446
حَدَّثَنَا عَلِيُّ بْنُ أَبِي الْخَصِيبِ، حَدَّثَنَا وَكِيعٌ، عَنْ أَيْمَنَ بْنِ نَابِلٍ، عَنِ امْرَأَةٍ، مِنْ قُرَيْشٍ يُقَالَ لَهَا كَلْثَمُ عَنْ عَائِشَةَ، قَالَتْ قَالَ النَّبِيُّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " عَلَيْكُمْ بِالْبَغِيضِ النَّافِعِ التَّلْبِينَةِ " . يَعْنِي الْحَسَاءَ . قَالَتْ وَكَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ إِذَا اشْتَكَى أَحَدٌ مِنْ أَهْلِهِ لَمْ تَزَلِ الْبُرْمَةُ عَلَى النَّارِ حَتَّى يَنْتَهِيَ أَحَدُ طَرَفَيْهِ . يَعْنِي يَبْرَأُ أَوْ يَمُوتُ .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
ʿĀʾishah reported that the Prophet ﷺ said, ‘Take up the unappealing yet beneficial talbīnah.’ The report explains that this means soup. She said: Whenever someone in his family fell ill, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ kept the cooking pot on the fire until one of two outcomes came: the person recovered or died.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
Talbīnah is explained in the report as soup; the exact ingredients are not given here.
The phrase literally describes the talbīnah as disliked or unappealing yet beneficial.
The final explanation explicitly identifies the two outcomes as recovery or death.
قَالَتْ قَالَ النَّبِيُّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " عَلَيْكُمْ بِالْبَغِيضِ النَّافِعِ التَّلْبِينَةِ " .
The paired description means something like ‘unappealing yet beneficial’; the report does not clarify whether the first adjective refers to its taste or its general desirability.
Does the first adjective describe the taste of talbīnah or that people dislike taking it?