Jami' at-Tirmidhi
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1802
حَدَّثَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ، حَدَّثَنَا ابْنُ لَهِيعَةَ، عَنْ أَبِي الزُّبَيْرِ، عَنْ جَابِرٍ، أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ " إِذَا أَكَلَ أَحَدُكُمْ طَعَامًا فَسَقَطَتْ لُقْمَةٌ فَلْيُمِطْ مَا رَابَهُ مِنْهَا ثُمَّ لْيَطْعَمْهَا وَلاَ يَدَعْهَا لِلشَّيْطَانِ " . قَالَ وَفِي الْبَابِ عَنْ أَنَسٍ .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Qutaybah narrated to us: Ibn Lahi‘ah narrated to us, from Abu al-Zubayr, from Jabir, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘When one of you is eating and a morsel falls, let him remove whatever is objectionable from it, then eat it; let him not leave it for Satan.’ There is also a report on this topic from Anas.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The source refers to a single morsel (luqmah). The phrase ‘remove what is objectionable from it’ leaves the specific impurity or debris unspecified, as in the Arabic.
حَدَّثَنَا قُتَيْبَةُ،
The English witness omits the chain from Qutaybah through Ibn Lahi‘ah and Abu al-Zubayr.
Should the full chain be included?
أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ " إِذَا أَكَلَ أَحَدُكُمْ طَعَامًا فَسَقَطَتْ لُقْمَةٌ فَلْيُمِطْ مَا رَابَهُ مِنْهَا ثُمَّ لْيَطْعَمْهَا وَلاَ يَدَعْهَا لِلشَّيْطَانِ " .
The Arabic means to remove what is objectionable from the fallen morsel; ‘suspicious’ may suggest uncertainty rather than visible debris or impurity.
Should ‘suspicious’ be revised to a more literal phrase such as ‘whatever is objectionable’?