Sunan Ibn Majah
Chapters on Medicine
كتاب الطب
Chapter 20
الْحِجَامَةِ
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: Aswad ibn ʿĀmir narrated to us: Ḥammād ibn Salamah narrated to us, from Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr, from Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet, who said: ‘If there is any good in anything with which you treat yourselves, it is in cupping.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The conditional construction is retained; the wording does not state that cupping is the only beneficial treatment.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Naṣr ibn ʿAlī al-Jahḍamī narrated to us: Ziyād ibn al-Rabīʿ narrated to us: ʿAbbād ibn Manṣūr narrated to us, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that the Messenger of Allah said: ‘On the night I was taken on the Night Journey, I passed no gathering of angels without every one of them saying to me, “You should have cupping, Muḥammad.”’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The imperative phrase عَلَيْكَ بِـ is rendered as an exhortation to use cupping. The report’s framing refers to the Prophet’s Night Journey (isrāʾ).
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abū Bishr—Bakr ibn Khalaf—narrated to us: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā narrated to us: ʿAbbād ibn Manṣūr narrated to us, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Messenger of Allah said, ‘How excellent a servant the cupper is: he removes blood, eases the back, and brightens the eyesight.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The three benefits are rendered as stated in the report; the wording is not expanded into a modern clinical claim.
قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " نِعْمَ الْعَبْدُ الْحَجَّامُ يَذْهَبُ بِالدَّمِ وَيُخِفُّ الصُّلْبَ وَيَجْلُو الْبَصَرَ " .
يُخِفُّ الصُّلْبَ literally says ‘lightens the back’; it can be understood as relieving the back, but no more specific condition is named.
Should this remain a general statement that cupping eases the back?
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Jubārah ibn al-Mughallis narrated to us: Kathīr ibn Sulaym narrated to us: I heard Anas ibn Mālik say: The Messenger of Allah said, ‘On the night I was taken on the Night Journey, I passed no gathering without them saying, “Muḥammad, tell your community to have cupping.”’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The Arabic says ‘a gathering’ without explicitly repeating ‘of angels’ in this version; the indefinite noun and universal negative construction are retained.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Muḥammad ibn Rumḥ al-Miṣrī informed us: al-Layth ibn Saʿd informed us, from Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir: Umm Salamah, the wife of the Prophet, asked the Messenger of Allah’s permission to have cupping. The Prophet ordered Abū Ṭaybah to perform cupping on her. Jābir said: ‘I think he was either her foster-brother or a boy who had not yet reached puberty.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
Jābir presents the relationship/age as uncertain: he thought Abū Ṭaybah was either Umm Salamah’s foster-brother or a boy who had not reached puberty.
وَقَالَ حَسِبْتُ أَنَّهُ كَانَ أَخَاهَا مِنَ الرَّضَاعَةِ أَوْ غُلاَمًا لَمْ يَحْتَلِمْ .
Jābir marks the detail with حَسِبْتُ (‘I think’), and the alternatives are either foster kinship or prepubescent age.
Should the uncertainty and both alternatives remain explicit?
Chapter 21
مَوْضِعِ الْحِجَامَةِ
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: Khālid ibn Makhlad narrated to us: Sulaymān ibn Bilāl narrated to me: ʿAlqamah ibn Abī ʿAlqamah said: I heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Aʿraj say: I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn Buḥaynah say: The Messenger of Allah had cupping at Laḥy Jamal, in the middle of his head, while he was in iḥrām.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
Laḥy Jamal is retained as a place name; the report also specifies that the Prophet was in iḥrām, the consecrated state for pilgrimage.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Suwayd ibn Saʿīd narrated to us: ʿAlī ibn Mushir narrated to us, from Saʿd al-Iskāf, from al-Aṣbagh ibn Nubātah, from ʿAlī, who said: Gabriel came down to the Prophet with cupping at the two jugular veins and the upper-back area (al-kāhil).
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
الأخدعان are the paired jugular vessels; الكاهل names the upper-back/withers area. The Arabic says Gabriel came with cupping at these sites; ‘recommended’ is supplied only to make the elliptical phrasing natural.
قَالَ نَزَلَ جِبْرِيلُ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ بِحِجَامَةِ الأَخْدَعَيْنِ وَالْكَاهِلِ .
الأخدعان refers to two paired vessels commonly identified as the jugulars, while الكاهل denotes the upper back/withers region; the Arabic supplies no further anatomical detail.
Should these anatomical site names be translated conventionally or retained as Arabic terms?
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
ʿAlī ibn Abī al-Khaṣīb narrated to us: Wakīʿ narrated to us, from Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim, from Qatādah, from Anas: The Prophet had cupping at the two jugular veins and at the upper-back area (al-kāhil).
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The anatomical terms الأخدعان and الكاهل are rendered consistently with the preceding report.
أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ احْتَجَمَ فِي الأَخْدَعَيْنِ وَعَلَى الْكَاهِلِ .
الأخدعان and الكاهل are historical anatomical site terms; the former is conventionally identified with the jugulars and the latter with the upper-back/withers region.
Should these anatomical terms be retained literally or rendered using conventional English equivalents?
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Muḥammad ibn al-Muṣaffā al-Ḥimṣī narrated to us: al-Walīd ibn Muslim narrated to us: Ibn Thawbān narrated to us, from his father, from Abū Kabshah al-Anmārī, who told him that the Prophet used cupping on the crown of his head and between his shoulders. He would say: ‘Whoever has this blood drawn from him, it will not harm him to forgo treating himself with anything for any ailment.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The final clause is translated closely as a broad statement about treatment after cupping; no narrower medical scope is specified in the Arabic.
أَنَّهُ حَدَّثَهُ أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ كَانَ يَحْتَجِمُ عَلَى هَامَتِهِ وَبَيْنَ كَتِفَيْهِ وَيَقُولُ " مَنْ أَهْرَاقَ مِنْهُ هَذِهِ الدِّمَاءَ فَلاَ يَضُرُّهُ أَنْ لاَ يَتَدَاوَى بِشَىْءٍ لِشَىْءٍ " .
The hadith wording broadly says that after this blood is drawn, it does not harm one to forgo treatment with anything for any ailment; no limitation or exception appears in this passage.
Is the final clause meant as a broad recommendation or as praise of cupping in a particular context?
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Muḥammad ibn Ṭarīf narrated to us: Wakīʿ narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Abū Sufyān, from Jābir: The Prophet fell from his horse onto a tree trunk, and his foot was dislocated. Wakīʿ said: ‘That is, the Prophet had cupping applied to it for a contusion.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
جِذْع means a tree trunk; the Arabic does not specify a palm tree. وَثْء denotes a contusion or sprain, and Wakīʿ supplies this as an explanatory comment on the cupping.
أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ سَقَطَ مِنْ فَرَسِهِ عَلَى جِذْعٍ فَانْفَكَّتْ قَدَمُهُ .
جِذْع is a tree trunk, while the English witness specifies a palm trunk; this Arabic clause does not name a tree species.
Should the tree remain unspecified as in the Arabic wording?
قَالَ وَكِيعٌ يَعْنِي أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ احْتَجَمَ عَلَيْهَا مِنْ وَثْءٍ .
وَثْء can refer to a contusion or sprain; the report gives no further description of the injury.
Should وَثْء be rendered broadly as contusion or sprain rather than specified more narrowly?
Chapter 22
فِي أَىِّ الأَيَّامِ يَحْتَجِمُ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Suwayd ibn Saʿīd narrated to us: ʿUthmān ibn Maṭar narrated to us, from Zakariyyā ibn Maysarah, from al-Nahhās ibn Qahm, from Anas ibn Mālik, that the Messenger of Allah said: ‘Whoever wishes to have cupping, let him choose the seventeenth, nineteenth, or twenty-first, and let none of you allow his blood to surge and kill him.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The numbers are given without repeating ‘day of the month’; the English witness understands them as dates. The final phrase literally warns against the blood surging/overwhelming a person to the point of death.
أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ قَالَ " مَنْ أَرَادَ الْحِجَامَةَ فَلْيَتَحَرَّ سَبْعَةَ عَشَرَ أَوْ تِسْعَةَ عَشَرَ أَوْ إِحْدَى وَعِشْرِينَ وَلاَ يَتَبَيَّغْ بِأَحَدِكُمُ الدَّمُ فَيَقْتُلَهُ " .
The text lists the seventeenth, nineteenth, and twenty-first without naming the month or saying ‘day’; the English witness supplies the customary date interpretation.
Should these be rendered as dates of the month, as in the source English witness, or left as bare numbers?
أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ قَالَ " مَنْ أَرَادَ الْحِجَامَةَ فَلْيَتَحَرَّ سَبْعَةَ عَشَرَ أَوْ تِسْعَةَ عَشَرَ أَوْ إِحْدَى وَعِشْرِينَ وَلاَ يَتَبَيَّغْ بِأَحَدِكُمُ الدَّمُ فَيَقْتُلَهُ " .
يَتَبَيَّغَ الدَّمُ describes blood surging or becoming overwhelming; the physiological image is not further explained.
Is ‘the blood surges’ the intended image in the warning?
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Suwayd ibn Saʿīd narrated to us: ʿUthmān ibn Maṭar narrated to us, from al-Ḥasan ibn Abī Jaʿfar, from Muḥammad ibn Juḥādah, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar, who said: ‘Nāfiʿ, my blood is surging. Find me a cupper, and choose someone gentle if you can; do not choose a very old man or a young boy. I heard the Messenger of Allah say: “Cupping before eating is better; in it are healing and blessing, and it increases intellect and memory. Have yourselves cupped, seeking Allah’s blessing, on Thursday. Avoid cupping on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, as a precaution. Have yourselves cupped on Monday and Tuesday, for that is the day on which Allah relieved Ayyūb of affliction; He afflicted him on Wednesday. Leprosy and vitiligo do not appear except on Wednesday or on Wednesday night.”’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The Arabic uses a singular ‘that day’ after mentioning Monday and Tuesday; it does not specify which of the two days the pronoun refers to. The disease and weekday assertions are translated as transmitted, without adding a medical explanation.
قَالَ يَا نَافِعُ قَدْ تَبَيَّغَ بِيَ الدَّمُ فَالْتَمِسْ لِي حَجَّامًا وَاجْعَلْهُ رَفِيقًا إِنِ اسْتَطَعْتَ وَلاَ تَجْعَلْهُ شَيْخًا كَبِيرًا وَلاَ صَبِيًّا صَغِيرًا فَإِنِّي سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ يَقُولُ " الْحِجَامَةُ عَلَى الرِّيقِ أَمْثَلُ وَفِيهِ شِفَاءٌ وَبَرَكَةٌ وَتَزِيدُ فِي الْعَقْلِ وَفِي الْحِفْظِ فَاحْتَجِمُوا عَلَى بَرَكَةِ اللَّهِ يَوْمَ الْخَمِيسِ وَاجْتَنِبُوا الْحِجَامَةَ يَوْمَ الأَرْبِعَاءِ وَالْجُمُعَةِ وَالسَّبْتِ وَيَوْمَ الأَحَدِ تَحَرِّيًا وَاحْتَجِمُوا يَوْمَ الاِثْنَيْنِ وَالثُّلاَثَاءِ فَإِنَّهُ الْيَوْمُ الَّذِي عَافَى اللَّهُ فِيهِ أَيُّوبَ مِنَ الْبَلاَءِ وَضَرَبَهُ بِالْبَلاَءِ يَوْمَ الأَرْبِعَاءِ فَإِنَّهُ لاَ يَبْدُو جُذَامٌ وَلاَ بَرَصٌ إِلاَّ يَوْمَ الأَرْبِعَاءِ أَوْ لَيْلَةَ الأَرْبِعَاءِ " .
After recommending cupping on both Monday and Tuesday, the report says ‘for that is the day’ in the singular, leaving the referent unclear.
Does ‘that day’ refer to Monday or Tuesday, or to the pair of days collectively?
قَالَ يَا نَافِعُ قَدْ تَبَيَّغَ بِيَ الدَّمُ فَالْتَمِسْ لِي حَجَّامًا وَاجْعَلْهُ رَفِيقًا إِنِ اسْتَطَعْتَ وَلاَ تَجْعَلْهُ شَيْخًا كَبِيرًا وَلاَ صَبِيًّا صَغِيرًا فَإِنِّي سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ يَقُولُ " الْحِجَامَةُ عَلَى الرِّيقِ أَمْثَلُ وَفِيهِ شِفَاءٌ وَبَرَكَةٌ وَتَزِيدُ فِي الْعَقْلِ وَفِي الْحِفْظِ فَاحْتَجِمُوا عَلَى بَرَكَةِ اللَّهِ يَوْمَ الْخَمِيسِ وَاجْتَنِبُوا الْحِجَامَةَ يَوْمَ الأَرْبِعَاءِ وَالْجُمُعَةِ وَالسَّبْتِ وَيَوْمَ الأَحَدِ تَحَرِّيًا وَاحْتَجِمُوا يَوْمَ الاِثْنَيْنِ وَالثُّلاَثَاءِ فَإِنَّهُ الْيَوْمُ الَّذِي عَافَى اللَّهُ فِيهِ أَيُّوبَ مِنَ الْبَلاَءِ وَضَرَبَهُ بِالْبَلاَءِ يَوْمَ الأَرْبِعَاءِ فَإِنَّهُ لاَ يَبْدُو جُذَامٌ وَلاَ بَرَصٌ إِلاَّ يَوْمَ الأَرْبِعَاءِ أَوْ لَيْلَةَ الأَرْبِعَاءِ " .
جُذَامٌ and بَرَصٌ are historical disease terms commonly rendered as leprosy and vitiligo/leucoderma; exact modern diagnostic equivalence is not specified.
Should these disease names use conventional equivalents or remain transliterated?
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Muḥammad ibn al-Muṣaffā al-Ḥimṣī narrated to us: ʿUthmān ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿIṣmah narrated to us, from Saʿīd ibn Maymūn, from Nāfiʿ, who said: Ibn ʿUmar said, ‘Nāfiʿ, my blood is surging. Bring me a cupper, and choose a young man, not an old man or a boy.’
Ibn ʿUmar also said: I heard the Messenger of Allah say: ‘Cupping before eating is better. It increases intellect and memory, and it increases the memory of one who already memorizes well. Whoever intends to have cupping, let him do so on Thursday, in Allah’s name. Avoid cupping on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; have yourselves cupped on Monday and Tuesday; and avoid cupping on Wednesday, for that is the day on which Ayyūb was afflicted. Leprosy and vitiligo do not appear except on Wednesday or on Wednesday night.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
This version has its own weekday sequence and wording, which is preserved independently. It says that cupping increases memory, then repeats that it increases the memory of one who already has strong retention.
قَالَ وَقَالَ ابْنُ عُمَرَ سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ يَقُولُ " الْحِجَامَةُ عَلَى الرِّيقِ أَمْثَلُ وَهِيَ تَزِيدُ فِي الْعَقْلِ وَتَزِيدُ فِي الْحِفْظِ وَتَزِيدُ الْحَافِظَ حِفْظًا فَمَنْ كَانَ مُحْتَجِمًا فَيَوْمَ الْخَمِيسِ عَلَى اسْمِ اللَّهِ وَاجْتَنِبُوا الْحِجَامَةَ يَوْمَ الْجُمُعَةِ وَيَوْمَ السَّبْتِ وَيَوْمَ الأَحَدِ وَاحْتَجِمُوا يَوْمَ الاِثْنَيْنِ وَالثُّلاَثَاءِ وَاجْتَنِبُوا الْحِجَامَةَ يَوْمَ الأَرْبِعَاءِ فَإِنَّهُ الْيَوْمُ الَّذِي أُصِيبَ فِيهِ أَيُّوبُ بِالْبَلاَءِ وَمَا يَبْدُو جُذَامٌ وَلاَ بَرَصٌ إِلاَّ فِي يَوْمِ الأَرْبِعَاءِ أَوْ لَيْلَةِ الأَرْبِعَاءِ " .
جُذَامٌ and بَرَصٌ are historical disease terms commonly rendered leprosy and vitiligo/leucoderma; exact modern diagnostic equivalence is not specified.
Should these disease terms use conventional English equivalents or remain transliterated?
Chapter 23
الْكَىِّ
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: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUlayyah narrated to us, from Layth, from Mujāhid, from ʿAqqār ibn al-Mughīrah, from his father, from the Prophet, who said: ‘Whoever cauterizes himself or seeks ruqyah has disavowed reliance upon Allah.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The text names cauterization and seeking ruqyah, then says that the person has become free of reliance (tawakkul); no further explanation of the intended theological nuance is included.
عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ قَالَ " مَنِ اكْتَوَى أَوِ اسْتَرْقَى فَقَدْ بَرِئَ مِنَ التَّوَكُّلِ " .
بَرِئَ مِنَ التَّوَكُّلِ means being free of or disavowing reliance; this translation preserves the strong wording but the passage does not explain its theological scope.
Should this be rendered literally as ‘has disavowed reliance upon Allah,’ or with a more interpretive clarification of tawakkul?
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
ʿAmr ibn Rāfiʿ narrated to us: Hushaym narrated to us, from Manṣūr and Yūnus, from al-Ḥasan, from ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn, who said: The Messenger of Allah forbade cauterization, but I had myself cauterized, and I neither prospered nor succeeded.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The Arabic gives two coordinated negative outcomes—فَمَا أَفْلَحْتُ وَلَا أَنْجَحْتُ—so both are retained.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Aḥmad ibn Manīʿ narrated to us: Marwān ibn Shujāʿ narrated to us: Sālim al-Afṭas narrated to us, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: ‘Healing is in three things: a drink of honey, an incision by a cupper, and cauterization with fire. But I forbid my community from cauterization.’ He attributed it to the Prophet.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The report first includes cauterization among three forms of healing, then states a prohibition against it. The wording is retained without reconciling the two clauses. The final word رَفَعَهُ indicates that the report is attributed/raised to the Prophet.
قَالَ " الشِّفَاءُ فِي ثَلاَثٍ شَرْبَةِ عَسَلٍ وَشَرْطَةِ مِحْجَمٍ وَكَيَّةٍ بِنَارٍ وَأَنْهَى أُمَّتِي عَنِ الْكَىِّ " .
Cauterization is named among three forms of healing, followed immediately by ‘I forbid my community from cauterization’; both statements are explicit in the same report.
Should both statements remain unqualified as separate clauses, as translated?
Chapter 24
مَنِ اكْتَوَى
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!’?
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
ʿAmr ibn Rāfiʿ narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd al-Ṭanāfisī narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Abū Sufyān, from Jābir, who said: Ubayy ibn Kaʿb became ill, so the Prophet sent a physician to him, who cauterized him at his al-akḥal vein.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The Arabic names the site as أَكْحَل, a traditional vein/site name. It is retained rather than mapped to a more specific modern vessel.
قَالَ مَرِضَ أُبَىُّ بْنُ كَعْبٍ مَرَضًا فَأَرْسَلَ إِلَيْهِ النَّبِيُّ طَبِيبًا فَكَوَاهُ عَلَى أَكْحَلِهِ .
أَكْحَلِهِ names a traditional vein or anatomical site, but the passage does not identify a precise modern vessel.
Should akḥal be retained as a transliterated site name or mapped to a specific arm vein?
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
ʿAlī ibn Abī al-Khaṣīb narrated to us: Wakīʿ narrated to us, from Sufyān, from Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh: The Messenger of Allah cauterized Saʿd ibn Muʿādh at his al-akḥal vein twice.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The anatomical site أَكْحَلِهِ is retained as the traditional name al-akḥal vein; the report specifies that the cauterization was done twice.
أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ كَوَى سَعْدَ بْنَ مُعَاذٍ فِي أَكْحَلِهِ مَرَّتَيْنِ .
أَكْحَلِهِ is a traditional anatomical site/vein name without a specific modern equivalent established in this text.
Should al-akḥal be transliterated or replaced by a conventional English vessel name?
Chapter 25
الْكُحْلِ بِالإِثْمِدِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abū Salamah—Yaḥyā ibn Khalaf—narrated to us: Abū ʿĀṣim narrated to us: ʿUthmān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik narrated to me: I heard Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh relate from his father, who said: The Messenger of Allah said, ‘Use ithmid, for it clears the eyesight and makes the hair grow.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
الإثمد (ithmid) is a named mineral cosmetic traditionally used around the eyes; the Arabic states that it clears eyesight and promotes hair growth, without specifying an application method here.
قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " عَلَيْكُمْ بِالإِثْمِدِ فَإِنَّهُ يَجْلُو الْبَصَرَ وَيُنْبِتُ الشَّعَرَ " .
الإثمد is a named mineral substance commonly rendered antimony/kohl, but the exact composition of historical ithmid is not specified in the text.
Should ithmid be transliterated or rendered as antimony/kohl?