Sunan an-Nasa'i
Sunan an-Nasa'i 2462
أَخْبَرَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ الْمُبَارَكِ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا وَكِيعٌ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا زَكَرِيَّا بْنُ إِسْحَاقَ، عَنْ عَمْرِو بْنِ أَبِي سُفْيَانَ، عَنْ مُسْلِمِ بْنِ ثَفِنَةَ، قَالَ اسْتَعْمَلَ ابْنُ عَلْقَمَةَ أَبِي عَلَى عِرَافَةِ قَوْمِهِ وَأَمَرَهُ أَنْ يُصَدِّقَهُمْ، فَبَعَثَنِي أَبِي إِلَى طَائِفَةٍ مِنْهُمْ لآتِيَهُ بِصَدَقَتِهِمْ فَخَرَجْتُ حَتَّى أَتَيْتُ عَلَى شَيْخٍ كَبِيرٍ يُقَالُ لَهُ سَعْرٌ فَقُلْتُ إِنَّ أَبِي بَعَثَنِي إِلَيْكَ لِتُؤَدِّيَ صَدَقَةَ غَنَمِكَ . قَالَ ابْنَ أَخِي وَأَىُّ نَحْوٍ تَأْخُذُونَ قُلْتُ نَخْتَارُ حَتَّى إِنَّا لَنَشْبُرُ ضُرُوعَ الْغَنَمِ . قَالَ ابْنَ أَخِي فَإِنِّي أُحَدِّثُكَ أَنِّي كُنْتُ فِي شِعْبٍ مِنْ هَذِهِ الشِّعَابِ عَلَى عَهْدِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فِي غَنَمٍ لِي فَجَاءَنِي رَجُلاَنِ عَلَى بَعِيرٍ فَقَالاَ إِنَّا رَسُولاَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم إِلَيْكَ لِتُؤَدِّيَ صَدَقَةَ غَنَمِكَ . قَالَ قُلْتُ وَمَا عَلَىَّ فِيهَا قَالاَ شَاةٌ . فَأَعْمِدُ إِلَى شَاةٍ قَدْ عَرَفْتُ مَكَانَهَا مُمْتَلِئَةً مَحْضًا وَشَحْمًا فَأَخْرَجْتُهَا إِلَيْهِمَا فَقَالَ هَذِهِ الشَّافِعُ . وَالشَّافِعُ الْحَائِلُ وَقَدْ نَهَانَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَنْ نَأْخُذَ شَافِعًا قَالَ فَأَعْمِدُ إِلَى عَنَاقٍ مُعْتَاطٍ - وَالْمُعْتَاطُ الَّتِي لَمْ تَلِدْ وَلَدًا وَقَدْ حَانَ وِلاَدُهَا - فَأَخْرَجْتُهَا إِلَيْهِمَا فَقَالاَ نَاوِلْنَاهَا فَرَفَعْتُهَا إِلَيْهِمَا فَجَعَلاَهَا مَعَهُمَا عَلَى بَعِيرِهِمَا ثُمَّ انْطَلَقَا .
Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak reported: Waki narrated to us: Zakariyya ibn Ishaq narrated to us, from Amr ibn Abi Sufyan, from Muslim ibn Thafannah, who said: Ibn Alqamah appointed my father over the administration of his people and ordered him to collect their alms. My father sent me to a group among them to bring him their alms. I set out until I came to an elderly man named Sa r and said: My father sent me to you so that you would pay the alms due on your sheep. He said: Nephew, what sort do you take? I said: We select them so carefully that we even measure the sheep udders.
He said: Nephew, let me tell you: During the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, I was in one of these valleys with my sheep. Two men came to me on a camel and said: We are the messengers of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to you, so that you pay the alms due on your sheep. I asked: What is due from me? They said: One sheep. I went to a sheep whose place I knew, full of milk and fat, and brought it out to them. He said: This is a shafi . A shafi is a ha il, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade us to take a shafi .
He said: Then I went to a young she-goat described as mu tata; mu tata is one that has never given birth, but whose time to give birth has arrived. I brought it out to them. They said: Hand it to us. I lifted it up to them, and they placed it with them on their camel and then departed.
Translation notes
The Arabic term shafi is glossed only as al-ha il; its exact livestock category remains unclear and is marked for review. The text defines mu tata as an animal that has not given birth before but whose time to give birth has arrived.
فَأَعْمِدُ إِلَى شَاةٍ قَدْ عَرَفْتُ مَكَانَهَا مُمْتَلِئَةً مَحْضًا وَشَحْمًا فَأَخْرَجْتُهَا إِلَيْهِمَا فَقَالَ هَذِهِ الشَّافِعُ .
The source calls the selected ewe shafi, and glosses shafi as al-ha il, but the precise livestock category is unclear.
What exact animal condition does shafi/al-ha il denote here?