Sunan Ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Majah 43
حَدَّثَنَا إِسْمَاعِيلُ بْنُ بِشْرِ بْنِ مَنْصُورٍ، وَإِسْحَاقُ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ السَّوَّاقُ، قَالاَ حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنُ مَهْدِيٍّ، عَنْ مُعَاوِيَةَ بْنِ صَالِحٍ، عَنْ ضَمْرَةَ بْنِ حَبِيبٍ، عَنْ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنِ عَمْرٍو السَّلَمِيِّ، أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ الْعِرْبَاضَ بْنَ سَارِيَةَ، يَقُولُ وَعَظَنَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ مَوْعِظَةً ذَرَفَتْ مِنْهَا الْعُيُونُ وَوَجِلَتْ مِنْهَا الْقُلُوبُ فَقُلْنَا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ إِنَّ هَذِهِ لَمَوْعِظَةُ مُوَدِّعٍ فَمَاذَا تَعْهَدُ إِلَيْنَا قَالَ " قَدْ تَرَكْتُكُمْ عَلَى الْبَيْضَاءِ لَيْلُهَا كَنَهَارِهَا لاَ يَزِيغُ عَنْهَا بَعْدِي إِلاَّ هَالِكٌ مَنْ يَعِشْ مِنْكُمْ فَسَيَرَى اخْتِلاَفًا كَثِيرًا فَعَلَيْكُمْ بِمَا عَرَفْتُمْ مِنْ سُنَّتِي وَسُنَّةِ الْخُلَفَاءِ الرَّاشِدِينَ الْمَهْدِيِّينَ عَضُّوا عَلَيْهَا بِالنَّوَاجِذِ وَعَلَيْكُمْ بِالطَّاعَةِ وَإِنْ عَبْدًا حَبَشِيًّا فَإِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُ كَالْجَمَلِ الأَنِفِ حَيْثُمَا قِيدَ انْقَادَ " .
Ismail ibn Bishr ibn Mansur and Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Sawwaq both narrated to us: Abd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi narrated to us, from Muawiyah ibn Salih, from Damrah ibn Habib, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Amr al-Sulami, who heard al-Irbad ibn Sariyah say: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) admonished us with a counsel that brought tears to our eyes and made our hearts tremble. We said: Messenger of Allah, this is the counsel of one bidding farewell. What charge do you leave with us? He said: I have left you upon the clear, radiant path, whose night is like its day. No one will deviate from it after me except one who is doomed. Whoever among you lives will see much discord, so adhere to what you know of my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs. Bite down on it with your molars. And adhere to obedience, even if [your leader is] an Abyssinian slave. For the believer is like a camel with a nose ring: wherever it is led, it follows.
Translation notes
The Arabic includes the image of a clear radiant path whose night is like its day, says only the doomed will deviate from it, and compares the believer to a nose-ringed camel that follows wherever it is led. These images and the obedience instruction are fully retained.