Sunan Ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Majah 1936
حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ عُثْمَانَ بْنِ صَالِحٍ الْمِصْرِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبِي قَالَ، سَمِعْتُ اللَّيْثَ بْنَ سَعْدٍ، يَقُولُ قَالَ لِي أَبُو مُصْعَبٍ مِشْرَحُ بْنُ هَاعَانَ قَالَ عُقْبَةُ بْنُ عَامِرٍ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " أَلاَ أُخْبِرُكُمْ بِالتَّيْسِ الْمُسْتَعَارِ " . قَالُوا بَلَى يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ قَالَ " هُوَ الْمُحَلِّلُ لَعَنَ اللَّهُ الْمُحَلِّلَ وَالْمُحَلَّلَ لَهُ " .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Uqbah ibn Amir reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, ‘Shall I tell you about the borrowed billy goat?’ They said, ‘Yes, Messenger of Allah.’ He said, ‘It is the muhallil. May Allah curse the muhallil and the one for whom it is done.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
‘The borrowed billy goat’ is a figurative label for the muhallil, the man who marries a woman after an irrevocable divorce to make her lawful to return to her former husband.
يَقُولُ قَالَ لِي أَبُو مُصْعَبٍ مِشْرَحُ بْنُ هَاعَانَ قَالَ عُقْبَةُ بْنُ عَامِرٍ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " أَلاَ أُخْبِرُكُمْ بِالتَّيْسِ الْمُسْتَعَارِ " .
The expression al-tays al-musta‘ar (‘the borrowed billy goat’) is a figurative label, and the report does not explain its metaphor.
Should the phrase be rendered literally or replaced by an explanatory equivalent?