- Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) noticed a yellow tint on ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf and asked, “What is this?” He replied, “Messenger of Allah, I have married a woman and gave her a piece of gold equal in weight to a date-stone.” The Prophet said, “May Allah bless you; give a wedding banquet, even if only with a single sheep.” Agreed upon, and the wording is Muslim’s. (1)
Vocabulary of the ḥadith
• athar (trace): a mark or remainder; here, the residual perfume applied for the wedding.
• “Mā hādhā?” (“What is this?”): an enquiry about the scent’s cause. It may also express reproof, since men were forbidden to anoint themselves with khalūq. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān’s answer serves either to state the reason or to explain that the scent came from contact with his bride.
• ṣufrah (yellow dye): pronounced with ḍammah on the ṣād and sukūn on the fāʾ; it refers to a saffron stain, explicitly mentioned in some narrations as “a trace of saffron.”
• wazn (weight): from wazana / yazinu, meaning to weigh; it denotes a measure or equivalent.
• min (from): a clarifying preposition.
• nawāh of gold: nawāh was a recognised measure among them. Al-Miṣbāḥ states that it equals five dirhams; al-Khaṭṭābī said it could be of gold or silver.
• awlim (give a walīmah): an imperative meaning “prepare a wedding feast.”
• wa-law bishāh (“even with a single sheep”): the particle law here denotes minimisation, i.e., “even if all you can afford is one sheep.”