An-Nawawi's Forty Hadiths
Hadith 17, 40 Hadith an-Nawawi
عَنْ أَبِي يَعْلَى شَدَّادِ بْنِ أَوْسٍ رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ عَنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه و سلم قَالَ: "إنَّ اللَّهَ كَتَبَ الْإِحْسَانَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ، فَإِذَا قَتَلْتُمْ فَأَحْسِنُوا الْقِتْلَةَ، وَإِذَا ذَبَحْتُمْ فَأَحْسِنُوا الذِّبْحَةَ، وَلْيُحِدَّ أَحَدُكُمْ شَفْرَتَهُ، وَلْيُرِحْ ذَبِيحَتَهُ". [رَوَاهُ مُسْلِمٌ].
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
On the authority of Abu Ya‘la Shaddad ibn Aws (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “Allah has prescribed excellence in all things. So when you kill, kill well; and when you slaughter, slaughter well. Let each of you sharpen his blade and give ease to the animal he slaughters.” [Narrated by Muslim].
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
وَلْيُرِحْ ذَبِيحَتَهُ".
The English witness renders the Arabic instruction to give ease to the slaughtered animal as “spare suffering”; this is a plausible interpretation but is more explicit than the wording here.
Is the witness’s gloss considered explanatory? The translation follows the source wording without adding “suffering.”
عَنْ أَبِي يَعْلَى شَدَّادِ بْنِ أَوْسٍ رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ عَنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه و سلم قَالَ: "إنَّ اللَّهَ كَتَبَ الْإِحْسَانَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ،
الإحسان has a range of context-specific senses; the source does not provide an English gloss, while the witness offers “proficiency, perfection.”
Which rendering is preferred in the project’s reviewed terminology?