Sunan Ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Majah 2068
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ خَلاَّدٍ الْبَاهِلِيُّ، وَإِسْحَاقُ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ بْنِ حَبِيبٍ، قَالاَ حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدَةُ بْنُ سُلَيْمَانَ، عَنِ الأَعْمَشِ، عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، عَنْ عَلْقَمَةَ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، قَالَ كُنَّا فِي الْمَسْجِدِ لَيْلَةَ الْجُمُعَةِ . فَقَالَ رَجُلٌ لَوْ أَنَّ رَجُلاً وَجَدَ مَعَ امْرَأَتِهِ رَجُلاً فَقَتَلَهُ قَتَلْتُمُوهُ وَإِنْ تَكَلَّمَ جَلَدْتُمُوهُ وَاللَّهِ لأَذْكُرَنَّ ذَلِكَ لِلنَّبِيِّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ . فَذَكَرَهُ لِلنَّبِيِّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ فَأَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ آيَاتِ اللِّعَانِ . ثُمَّ جَاءَ الرَّجُلُ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ يَقْذِفُ امْرَأَتَهُ فَلاَعَنَ النَّبِيُّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ بَيْنَهُمَا وَقَالَ " عَسَى أَنْ تَجِيءَ بِهِ أَسْوَدَ " . فَجَاءَتْ بِهِ أَسْوَدَ جَعْدًا .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Bakr ibn Khallad al-Bahili and Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Habib narrated to us; they said: ʿAbdah ibn Sulayman narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Ibrahim, from ʿAlqamah, from ʿAbdullah, who said: We were in the mosque on the night of Friday. A man said, ‘If a man were to find another man with his wife and kill him, you would kill him [in retaliation]; and if he spoke [accusing her], you would flog him. By Allah, I will mention this to the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace).’ He then mentioned it to the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace), and Allah revealed the verses of liʿan. After that, the man came and accused his wife, so the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) conducted liʿan between them. He said, ‘Perhaps she will give birth to a dark-skinned child.’ She then gave birth to a dark-skinned child with tightly curled hair.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
فَقَالَ رَجُلٌ لَوْ أَنَّ رَجُلاً وَجَدَ مَعَ امْرَأَتِهِ رَجُلاً فَقَتَلَهُ قَتَلْتُمُوهُ وَإِنْ تَكَلَّمَ جَلَدْتُمُوهُ وَاللَّهِ لأَذْكُرَنَّ ذَلِكَ لِلنَّبِيِّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ .
The conditional phrase وَإِنْ تَكَلَّمَ (literally, ‘if he speaks’) is understood here as speaking an accusation, in light of the subsequent reference to flogging and the later use of يَقْذِفُ.
Does the contextual rendering ‘if he spoke [accusing her]’ preserve the intended meaning without making the implication too explicit?
فَجَاءَتْ بِهِ أَسْوَدَ جَعْدًا .
أَسْوَدَ جَعْدًا describes the child as aswad and jaʿd; ‘dark-skinned’ and ‘tightly curled hair’ are contextual English renderings.
Is ‘dark-skinned child with tightly curled hair’ the clearest natural rendering of these physical descriptors?