Sunan Ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Majah 1932
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ بْنُ عُيَيْنَةَ، عَنِ الزُّهْرِيِّ، أَخْبَرَنِي عُرْوَةُ، عَنْ عَائِشَةَ، أَنَّ امْرَأَةَ، رِفَاعَةَ الْقُرَظِيِّ جَاءَتْ إِلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ فَقَالَتْ إِنِّي كُنْتُ عِنْدَ رِفَاعَةَ فَطَلَّقَنِي فَبَتَّ طَلاَقِي فَتَزَوَّجْتُ عَبْدَ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنَ الزَّبِيرِ وَإِنَّ مَا مَعَهُ مِثْلُ هُدْبَةِ الثَّوْبِ . فَتَبَسَّمَ النَّبِيُّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ فَقَالَ " أَتُرِيدِينَ أَنْ تَرْجِعِي إِلَى رِفَاعَةَ لاَ حَتَّى تَذُوقِي عُسَيْلَتَهُ وَيَذُوقَ عُسَيْلَتَكِ " .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Aishah reported that a woman married to Rifa‘ah al-Qurazi came to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and said, ‘I was with Rifa‘ah, but he gave me an irrevocable divorce. Then I married Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Zubayr, but what he has is like the fringe of a garment.’ The Prophet smiled and said, ‘Do you want to return to Rifa‘ah? No—not until you taste his honey and he tastes yours.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The woman’s comparison of her husband’s sexual organ to a garment’s fringe is preserved literally; its precise implication is not explicit in this wording.
رِفَاعَةَ الْقُرَظِيِّ جَاءَتْ إِلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ فَقَالَتْ إِنِّي كُنْتُ عِنْدَ رِفَاعَةَ فَطَلَّقَنِي فَبَتَّ طَلاَقِي فَتَزَوَّجْتُ عَبْدَ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنَ الزَّبِيرِ وَإِنَّ مَا مَعَهُ مِثْلُ هُدْبَةِ الثَّوْبِ .
The phrase ‘what he has is like the fringe of a garment’ is a sexual comparison with an unclear precise implication.
Should the comparison be kept literal or interpreted as indicating sexual incapacity?