Sunan Ibn Majah
The Chapters on Marriage
كتاب النكاح
Chapter 29
النَّهْىِ عَنْ إِتْيَانِ النِّسَاءِ، فِي أَدْبَارِهِنَّ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Jabir ibn Abdullah said: The Jews used to say, ‘If a man approaches a woman from behind, entering her vagina, the child will be cross-eyed.’ Then Allah, Glorified is He, revealed: ‘Your wives are a tilth for you, so come to your tilth however you wish.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The source specifies approaching from behind while entering the vagina; it does not describe anal intercourse.
Chapter 30
الْعَزْلِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri said: A man asked the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) about coitus interruptus. He said, ‘Do you really do that? There is no need for you to do so, for every soul that Allah has decreed to exist will surely come to be.’
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Jabir said: We practiced coitus interruptus during the time of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), while the Qur’an was being revealed.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Umar ibn al-Khattab said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade coitus interruptus with a free wife without her permission.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: ‘A woman must not be married at the same time as her paternal aunt, nor at the same time as her maternal aunt.’
Chapter 31
لاَ تُنْكَحُ الْمَرْأَةُ عَلَى عَمَّتِهَا وَلاَ عَلَى خَالَتِهَا
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbid two combinations in marriage: that a man marry a woman together with her paternal aunt, or together with her maternal aunt.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘A woman must not be married at the same time as her paternal aunt, nor at the same time as her maternal aunt.’
Chapter 32
الرَّجُلِ يُطَلِّقُ امْرَأَتَهُ ثَلاَثًا فَتَزَوَّجُ فَيُطَلِّقُهَا قَبْلَ أَنْ يَدْخُلَ بِهَا أَتَرْجِعُ إِلَى الأَوَّلِ
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?
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Ibn Umar reported that a man had a wife and divorced her, then another man married her and divorced her before consummating the marriage. The Prophet (ﷺ) was asked whether she could return to the first husband. He replied, ‘No, not until he tastes her honey.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
‘Tastes her honey’ is the source’s euphemism for consummating the marriage.
Chapter 33
الْمُحَلِّلِ وَالْمُحَلَّلِ لَهُ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Ibn Abbas said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) invoked a curse upon the muhallil and the one for whom it is done.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
Al-muhallil is the man who marries a woman after her irrevocable divorce in order to make her lawful to return to her former husband; al-muhallal lahu is that former husband.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Ali said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) invoked a curse upon the muhallil and the one for whom it is done.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
Al-muhallil is the man who marries a woman after her irrevocable divorce in order to make her lawful to return to her former husband; al-muhallal lahu is that former husband.
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?
Chapter 34
يَحْرُمُ مِنَ الرِّضَاعِ مَا يَحْرُمُ مِنَ النَّسَبِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Aishah said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘The relationships that are forbidden through breastfeeding are the same as those forbidden through lineage.’
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Ibn Abbas reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was asked to marry the daughter of Hamzah ibn Abd al-Muttalib. He said, ‘She is my niece through breastfeeding, and the relationships forbidden through breastfeeding are the same as those forbidden through lineage.’
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Zaynab bint Abi Salamah reported that Umm Habibah told her: I said to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), ‘Marry my sister, ‘Azzah.’ He asked, ‘Would you like that?’ I said, ‘Yes, Messenger of Allah. I am not your only wife, and the person most deserving to share good with me is my sister.’ He replied, ‘That is not lawful for me.’ I said, ‘We hear that you want to marry Durrah, the daughter of Abu Salamah.’ He asked, ‘The daughter of Umm Salamah?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Even if she were not my stepdaughter in my care, she would not be lawful for me: she is my niece through breastfeeding. Thuwaybah breastfed me and her father. So do not offer me your sisters or your daughters.’ A second chain reports a similar account.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The report states both that Durrah was the Prophet’s stepdaughter in his care and that she was his niece through breastfeeding; it gives breastfeeding as the reason she was unlawful to him.
Chapter 35
لاَ تُحَرِّمُ الْمَصَّةُ وَلاَ الْمَصَّتَانِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Umm al-Fadl reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘One or two feedings—or one or two sucks—do not make marriage unlawful.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The report gives alternative terms, rad‘ah (a feeding) and massah (a suck).
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Aishah reported that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: ‘One or two sucks do not make marriage unlawful.’
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Aishah said: ‘Among what Allah revealed in the Qur’an, and which was later removed, was that only ten known breastfeedings—or five—made marriage unlawful.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The report’s phrase thumma saqata literally means ‘then it fell/dropped’; rendered here as ‘was later removed.’
أَنَّهَا قَالَتْ كَانَ فِيمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ ثُمَّ سَقَطَ لاَ يُحَرِّمُ إِلاَّ عَشْرُ رَضَعَاتٍ أَوْ خَمْسٌ مَعْلُومَاتٌ .
The phrase thumma saqata is elliptical and does not specify exactly how the earlier wording was removed.
Should this be understood as the wording being abrogated or no longer recited?
Chapter 36
رِضَاعِ الْكَبِيرِ
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Aishah said: Sahlah bint Suhayl came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said, ‘Messenger of Allah, I see displeasure on Abu Hudhayfah’s face when Salim comes in to see me.’ The Prophet said, ‘Breastfeed him.’ She asked, ‘How can I breastfeed him when he is a grown man?’ The Messenger of Allah smiled and said, ‘I know that he is a grown man.’ She did so, then came to the Prophet and said, ‘Afterward, I saw nothing on Abu Hudhayfah’s face that I disliked.’ Abu Hudhayfah had fought at Badr.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The report states that Sahlah breastfed the adult Salim but does not explain the manner of doing so.
فَقَالَ النَّبِيُّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ " أَرْضِعِيهِ " .
The command ardi‘ihi (‘breastfeed him’) is stated directly, but the report does not describe how this was carried out for an adult man.
Should the report’s instruction be rendered literally as ‘breastfeed him’ or with an explanatory note about its manner?
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Aishah said: ‘The verse of stoning and the ruling of ten breastfeedings for an adult were revealed. They were on a sheet beneath my bed. When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) died and we were occupied with his death, a domesticated animal came in and ate it.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The Arabic pronoun referring to what the animal ate is singular; the sentence immediately before it mentions a sheet.