Jami' at-Tirmidhi
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1991
حَدَّثَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ، حَدَّثَنَا خَالِدُ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ الْوَاسِطِيُّ، عَنْ حُمَيْدٍ، عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ، أَنَّ رَجُلاً، اسْتَحْمَلَ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقَالَ " إِنِّي حَامِلُكَ عَلَى وَلَدِ النَّاقَةِ " . فَقَالَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ مَا أَصْنَعُ بِوَلَدِ النَّاقَةِ فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم " وَهَلْ تَلِدُ الإِبِلَ إِلاَّ النُّوقُ " . قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى هَذَا حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ صَحِيحٌ غَرِيبٌ .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Qutaybah narrated to us: Khalid ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Wasiti narrated to us, from Humayd, from Anas ibn Malik: A man asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for a mount. He said: “I will give you a ride on a young camel.” The man asked, “Messenger of Allah, what would I do with a young camel?” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied: “Do camels give birth to anything other than young camels?” Abu ‘Isa said: This hadith is hasan sahih gharib.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The exchange turns on the fact that every camel is the offspring of a she-camel; “young camel” makes the wordplay clear in English.
اسْتَحْمَلَ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقَالَ " إِنِّي حَامِلُكَ عَلَى وَلَدِ النَّاقَةِ " .
The Prophet’s reply uses ولد الناقة, literally the offspring of a she-camel, to play on the ordinary fact that every camel is borne by a she-camel.
Does “young camel” preserve the playful ambiguity for English readers?