Sunan Ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Majah 2081
حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ يَحْيَى، حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ بُكَيْرٍ، حَدَّثَنَا ابْنُ لَهِيعَةَ، عَنْ مُوسَى بْنِ أَيُّوبَ الْغَافِقِيِّ، عَنْ عِكْرِمَةَ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ، قَالَ أَتَى النَّبِيَّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ رَجُلٌ فَقَالَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ إِنَّ سَيِّدِي زَوَّجَنِي أَمَتَهُ وَهُوَ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يُفَرِّقَ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَهَا . قَالَ فَصَعِدَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ الْمِنْبَرَ فَقَالَ " يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ مَا بَالُ أَحَدِكُمْ يُزَوِّجَ عَبْدَهُ أَمَتَهُ ثُمَّ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يُفَرِّقَ بَيْنَهُمَا إِنَّمَا الطَّلاَقُ لِمَنْ أَخَذَ بِالسَّاقِ " .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Muhammad ibn Yahya narrated to us; Yahya ibn ʿAbdullah ibn Bukayr narrated to us; Ibn Lahiʿah narrated to us, from Musa ibn Ayyub al-Ghafiqi, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbas, who said: A man came to the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) and said, ‘Messenger of Allah, my master married me to his enslaved woman, and now he wants to separate me from her.’ He said: The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) ascended the pulpit and said, ‘O people, why does one of you marry his male slave to his female slave and then want to separate them? The authority to divorce belongs only to the one who takes hold of the shin [that is, the husband].’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
قَالَ فَصَعِدَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ الْمِنْبَرَ فَقَالَ " يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ مَا بَالُ أَحَدِكُمْ يُزَوِّجَ عَبْدَهُ أَمَتَهُ ثُمَّ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يُفَرِّقَ بَيْنَهُمَا إِنَّمَا الطَّلاَقُ لِمَنْ أَخَذَ بِالسَّاقِ " .
إنما الطلاق لمن أخذ بالساق literally means ‘divorce is only for the one who takes hold of the shin/leg’; it is an idiom identifying the husband as the one with divorce authority.
Does ‘the one who takes hold of the shin [that is, the husband]’ preserve the Arabic idiom while making its intended referent clear?