Jami' at-Tirmidhi
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1985
حَدَّثَنَا ابْنُ أَبِي عُمَرَ، حَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ، عَنِ الأَعْمَشِ، عَنْ أَبِي صَالِحٍ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ " نِعِمَّا لأَحَدِهِمْ أَنْ يُطِيعَ رَبَّهُ وَيُؤَدِّيَ حَقَّ سَيِّدِهِ " يَعْنِي الْمَمْلُوكَ . وَقَالَ كَعْبٌ صَدَقَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ . وَفِي الْبَابِ عَنْ أَبِي مُوسَى وَابْنِ عُمَرَ . قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى هَذَا حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ صَحِيحٌ .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Ibn Abi ‘Umar narrated to us: Sufyan narrated to us, from al-A‘mash, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “How excellent it is for a person to obey his Lord and fulfill his master’s due”—meaning an enslaved person. Ka‘b said: “Allah and His Messenger have spoken the truth.” Reports on this topic are also related from Abu Musa and Ibn ‘Umar. Abu ‘Isa said: This hadith is hasan sahih.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The source itself explains that “one of them” refers to an enslaved person; the Arabic does not identify which Ka‘b is meant.
أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ " نِعِمَّا لأَحَدِهِمْ أَنْ يُطِيعَ رَبَّهُ وَيُؤَدِّيَ حَقَّ سَيِّدِهِ " يَعْنِي الْمَمْلُوكَ .
The matn uses an implied subject; the immediately following phrase clarifies it as the enslaved person.
Does the translation retain the statement’s general wording and make the source’s clarification explicit?
وَقَالَ كَعْبٌ صَدَقَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ .
The text names Ka‘b without a fuller identity.
Should Ka‘b remain unidentified rather than assigning a fuller name?