Sunan Ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Majah 2054
حَدَّثَنَا بَكْرُ بْنُ خَلَفٍ أَبُو بِشْرٍ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو عَاصِمٍ، عَنْ جَعْفَرِ بْنِ يَحْيَى بْنِ ثَوْبَانَ، عَنْ عَمِّهِ، عُمَارَةَ بْنِ ثَوْبَانَ عَنْ عَطَاءٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ، أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ قَالَ " لاَ تَسْأَلُ الْمَرْأَةُ زَوْجَهَا الطَّلاَقَ فِي غَيْرِ كُنْهِهِ فَتَجِدَ رِيحَ الْجَنَّةِ . وَإِنَّ رِيحَهَا لَيُوجَدُ مِنْ مَسِيرَةِ أَرْبَعِينَ عَامًا " .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Bakr ibn Khalaf Abu Bishr narrated to us: Abu ʿAsim narrated to us, from Jaʿfar ibn Yahya ibn Thawban, from his paternal uncle, ʿUmarah ibn Thawban, from ʿAtaʾ, from Ibn ʿAbbas, that the Prophet said: ‘A woman should not ask her husband for divorce without due cause, lest she fail to smell the fragrance of Paradise—for its fragrance can be sensed from a distance of forty years.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The term كُنْهِهِ is rendered as ‘due cause’; it refers to the proper or real basis for seeking divorce.
أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ قَالَ " لاَ تَسْأَلُ الْمَرْأَةُ زَوْجَهَا الطَّلاَقَ فِي غَيْرِ كُنْهِهِ فَتَجِدَ رِيحَ الْجَنَّةِ .
The phrase فِي غَيْرِ كُنْهِهِ is concise; it means without the matter’s proper basis or genuine cause, but does not specify what would count as sufficient cause.
Does ‘without due cause’ capture this phrase without narrowing the grounds?