Sunan an-Nasa'i
Sunan an-Nasa'i 3501
أَخْبَرَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عَبْدِ الأَعْلَى، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا خَالِدٌ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ، عَنْ حُمَيْدِ بْنِ نَافِعٍ، عَنْ زَيْنَبَ بِنْتِ أُمِّ سَلَمَةَ، قُلْتُ عَنْ أُمِّهَا، قَالَ نَعَمْ إِنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم سُئِلَ عَنِ امْرَأَةٍ تُوُفِّيَ عَنْهَا زَوْجُهَا فَخَافُوا عَلَى عَيْنِهَا أَتَكْتَحِلُ فَقَالَ " قَدْ كَانَتْ إِحْدَاكُنَّ تَمْكُثُ فِي بَيْتِهَا فِي شَرِّ أَحْلاَسِهَا حَوْلاً ثُمَّ خَرَجَتْ فَلاَ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ وَعَشْرًا " .
Muhammad ibn Abd al-A'la informed us; he said: Khalid narrated to us; he said: Shu'bah narrated to us, from Humayd ibn Nafi, from Zaynab bint Umm Salamah. I asked, ‘From her mother?’ He replied, ‘Yes.’ Umm Salamah said that the Prophet was asked about a woman whose husband had died and whose family feared for her eyes: ‘May she apply kohl?’ He said, ‘One of you used to remain in her house for a year in her worst bedding, then go out. Now it is four months and ten days.’
Translation notes
The final Arabic phrase is elliptical: it contrasts the former year-long mourning practice with the four-month-and-ten-day period. The English witness supplies ‘No’ and makes the contrast explicit.
قَالَ نَعَمْ إِنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم سُئِلَ عَنِ امْرَأَةٍ تُوُفِّيَ عَنْهَا زَوْجُهَا فَخَافُوا عَلَى عَيْنِهَا أَتَكْتَحِلُ فَقَالَ " قَدْ كَانَتْ إِحْدَاكُنَّ تَمْكُثُ فِي بَيْتِهَا فِي شَرِّ أَحْلاَسِهَا حَوْلاً ثُمَّ خَرَجَتْ فَلاَ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ وَعَشْرًا " .
The Arabic phrase فَلاَ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ وَعَشْرًا omits an explicit verb and subject.
Should a reader-facing rendering make the contrast with the former year explicit, as the English witness does?