Sunan Ibn Majah
Sunan Ibn Majah 2012
حَدَّثَنَا هِشَامُ بْنُ عَمَّارٍ، حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ حَمْزَةَ، عَنْ عَمْرِو بْنِ مُهَاجِرٍ، أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ أَبَاهُ الْمُهَاجِرَ بْنَ أَبِي مُسْلِمٍ، يُحَدِّثُ عَنْ أَسْمَاءَ بِنْتِ يَزِيدَ بْنِ السَّكَنِ، وَكَانَتْ، مَوْلاَتَهُ أَنَّهَا سَمِعَتْ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ يَقُولُ " لاَ تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلاَدَكُمْ سِرًّا فَوَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ إِنَّ الْغَيْلَ لَيُدْرِكُ الْفَارِسَ عَلَى ظَهْرِ فَرَسِهِ حَتَّى يَصْرَعَهُ " .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Hisham ibn ʿAmmar narrated to us: Yahya ibn Hamzah narrated to us, from ʿAmr ibn Muhajir, who heard his father, al-Muhajir ibn Abi Muslim, relate from Asmaʾ bint Yazid ibn al-Sakan, who was his freedwoman, that she heard the Messenger of Allah say: ‘Do not kill your children secretly. By the One in whose hand is my soul, ghayl can catch up with a horseman on the back of his horse and throw him down.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
Ghayl is left transliterated because the term has more than one related explanation, including intercourse with a nursing woman or nursing during pregnancy. The source’s horseman image is translated literally.
مَوْلاَتَهُ أَنَّهَا سَمِعَتْ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ يَقُولُ " لاَ تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلاَدَكُمْ سِرًّا فَوَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ إِنَّ الْغَيْلَ لَيُدْرِكُ الْفَارِسَ عَلَى ظَهْرِ فَرَسِهِ حَتَّى يَصْرَعَهُ " .
The term الغيل has multiple related explanations, and the report does not define it here; the following image describes its possible effect as forceful and delayed.
Should ghayl remain transliterated in this report, or should one explanation be selected?