Sunan an-Nasa'i
Sunan an-Nasa'i 1524
أَخْبَرَنَا عَمْرُو بْنُ سَوَّادِ بْنِ الأَسْوَدِ بْنِ عَمْرٍو، قَالَ أَنْبَأَنَا ابْنُ وَهْبٍ، قَالَ أَخْبَرَنِي يُونُسُ، عَنِ ابْنِ شِهَابٍ، قَالَ أَخْبَرَنِي عُبَيْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عُتْبَةَ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم " قَالَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ مَا أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَى عِبَادِي مِنْ نِعْمَةٍ إِلاَّ أَصْبَحَ فَرِيقٌ مِنْهُمْ بِهَا كَافِرِينَ يَقُولُونَ الْكَوْكَبُ وَبِالْكَوْكَبِ " .
‘Amr ibn Sawwad ibn al-Aswad ibn ‘Amr narrated to us; he said: Ibn Wahb informed us; he said: Yunus informed me, from Ibn Shihab, who said: ‘Ubaydullah ibn ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utbah informed me, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Allah, Mighty and Sublime, said: “I have never bestowed a blessing upon My servants without a group among them becoming ungrateful for it, saying, ‘The star; it was because of the star.’”
Translation notes
The closing phrase is elliptical in Arabic; it is translated briefly without expanding the claim about the star beyond the wording of the source.
قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم " قَالَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ مَا أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَى عِبَادِي مِنْ نِعْمَةٍ إِلاَّ أَصْبَحَ فَرِيقٌ مِنْهُمْ بِهَا كَافِرِينَ يَقُولُونَ الْكَوْكَبُ وَبِالْكَوْكَبِ " .
The Arabic’s brief phrase about the star is elliptical and does not state a full clause describing what the star did.
Does the source intend the attribution “it was because of the star,” or should the phrase remain more fragmentary?