Sunan Ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Majah 1603
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ بْنُ عُيَيْنَةَ، عَنِ الزُّهْرِيِّ، عَنْ سَعِيدِ بْنِ الْمُسَيَّبِ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ قَالَ " لاَ يَمُوتُ لِرَجُلٍ ثَلاَثَةٌ مِنَ الْوَلَدِ فَيَلِجَ النَّارَ إِلاَّ تَحِلَّةَ الْقَسَمِ " .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah narrated to us: Sufyan ibn Uyaynah narrated to us, from al-Zuhri, from Said ibn al-Musayyab, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: ‘No man whose three children die will enter the Fire, except by the fulfillment of the oath.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
‘إِلَّا تَحِلَّةَ الْقَسَمِ’ is an idiomatic exception clause, literally ‘except the fulfillment/discharge of the oath.’ It is translated closely without supplying an explanation for the oath.
عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ قَالَ " لاَ يَمُوتُ لِرَجُلٍ ثَلاَثَةٌ مِنَ الْوَلَدِ فَيَلِجَ النَّارَ إِلاَّ تَحِلَّةَ الْقَسَمِ " .
The idiom ‘تَحِلَّةَ الْقَسَمِ’ is compressed and the source passage does not explain the oath or the precise force of the exception.
How should ‘إِلَّا تَحِلَّةَ الْقَسَمِ’ be understood here? The translation keeps the wording close pending clarification.