Sunan an-Nasa'i
Sunan an-Nasa'i 3511
أَخْبَرَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ بَزِيعٍ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا يَزِيدُ، - وَهُوَ ابْنُ زُرَيْعٍ - قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا حَجَّاجٌ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ أَبِي كَثِيرٍ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنِي أَبُو سَلَمَةَ بْنُ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ، قَالَ قِيلَ لاِبْنِ عَبَّاسٍ فِي امْرَأَةٍ وَضَعَتْ بَعْدَ وَفَاةِ زَوْجِهَا بِعِشْرِينَ لَيْلَةً أَيَصْلُحُ لَهَا أَنْ تَزَوَّجَ قَالَ لاَ إِلاَّ آخِرَ الأَجَلَيْنِ . قَالَ قُلْتُ قَالَ اللَّهُ تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَى { وَأُولاَتُ الأَحْمَالِ أَجَلُهُنَّ أَنْ يَضَعْنَ حَمْلَهُنَّ } فَقَالَ إِنَّمَا ذَلِكَ فِي الطَّلاَقِ . فَقَالَ أَبُو هُرَيْرَةَ أَنَا مَعَ ابْنِ أَخِي . يَعْنِي أَبَا سَلَمَةَ . فَأَرْسَلَ غُلاَمَهُ كُرَيْبًا فَقَالَ ائْتِ أُمَّ سَلَمَةَ فَسَلْهَا هَلْ كَانَ هَذَا سُنَّةً مِنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَجَاءَ فَقَالَ قَالَتْ نَعَمْ سُبَيْعَةُ الأَسْلَمِيَّةُ وَضَعَتْ بَعْدَ وَفَاةِ زَوْجِهَا بِعِشْرِينَ لَيْلَةً فَأَمَرَهَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَنْ تَزَوَّجَ فَكَانَ أَبُو السَّنَابِلِ فِيمَنْ يَخْطُبُهَا .
Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Bazi' informed me; he said: Yazid narrated to us—and he is Ibn Zuray'—he said: Hajjaj narrated to us; he said: Yahya ibn Abi Kathir narrated to us; he said: Abu Salamah ibn Abd al-Rahman related to me: Ibn Abbas was asked about a woman who gave birth twenty nights after her husband died: ‘May she marry?’ He said, ‘No, not until the later of the two terms has ended.’ I said, ‘Allah, Blessed and Exalted, says: “For those who are pregnant, their term is that they deliver their burden.”’ He replied, ‘That applies only to divorce.’ Abu Hurayrah said, ‘I side with my brother’s son’—meaning Abu Salamah. He sent his servant Kurayb and said, ‘Go to Umm Salamah and ask her whether this was a practice of the Messenger of Allah.’ He returned and said: She replied, ‘Yes. Subay'ah al-Aslamiyyah gave birth twenty nights after her husband died, and the Messenger of Allah instructed her to marry. Abu al-Sanabil was among those who proposed to her.’
Translation notes
The Arabic says twenty nights after the husband’s death; the English witness says one day. The dialogue shifts from Ibn Abbas’s answer to an unnamed speaker’s question about the Qur’anic verse, so the translation marks the change as ‘I said’ without identifying that speaker.
قَالَ قِيلَ لاِبْنِ عَبَّاسٍ فِي امْرَأَةٍ وَضَعَتْ بَعْدَ وَفَاةِ زَوْجِهَا بِعِشْرِينَ لَيْلَةً أَيَصْلُحُ لَهَا أَنْ تَزَوَّجَ قَالَ لاَ إِلاَّ آخِرَ الأَجَلَيْنِ .
The Arabic says بِعِشْرِينَ لَيْلَةً (‘twenty nights’), while the English witness says ‘one day.’
Should the reader-facing translation follow the Arabic’s twenty nights despite the conflicting English witness?
قَالَ قُلْتُ قَالَ اللَّهُ تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَى { وَأُولاَتُ الأَحْمَالِ أَجَلُهُنَّ أَنْ يَضَعْنَ حَمْلَهُنَّ } فَقَالَ إِنَّمَا ذَلِكَ فِي الطَّلاَقِ .
The Arabic has قلت (‘I said’) before the Qur’anic citation but does not explicitly name the speaker in this excerpt.
Can the speaker be identified from a fuller transmission, or should this remain unattributed?