Related to us: Muḥammad ibn Qudāma; he said: I heard: Saʿīd ibn Yaḥyā saying: I heard: my father saying: An argument arose between al-Aʿmash and his wife in the middle of the night. Al-Aʿmash began insulting and beating her. When he stopped beating her, he began speaking to her, but she neither answered nor spoke to him. Al-Aʿmash became angry and said: “Why do you not answer or speak to me?” His daughter said: “If she does not speak to you tonight, she will speak to you in the morning.” Al-Aʿmash said: “If she does not speak to me tonight, she is irrevocably divorced.” The daughter said: “Speak to him,” but she refused. Al-Aʿmash became distressed and regretful and began thinking. He dressed and left his house, heading for Abū Ḥanīfa. When he reached the house, he found the door closed and knocked. Ḥammād, his son, came out and asked: “Who is it?” He said: “It is Sulaymān.” He asked: “Which Sulaymān?” He said: “Sulaymān al-Aʿmash.” He opened the door and told his father that he had come. Abū Ḥanīfa came out, brought him inside and seated him in the place of honour, sitting before him. He said: “An important need at such an hour! Why did you not send for me so that I could come to you?” Al-Aʿmash began speaking as though offering an excuse. Abū Ḥanīfa said: “Leave the excuses and speak about what brought you.” He said: “An argument arose between me and my wife. She angered me and refused to speak. I swore that if she speaks to me tonight, she is irrevocably divorced. She refused to speak to me, and I feared she would be divorced when morning came. She wants to escape from me, and I fear she will hurt me. She has been my companion a long time and is the mother of the children. Is there a device to remove this distress from me?” Abū Ḥanīfa said: “Take it easy. Relief is near, if God Most High makes it easy.” He sent a man to summon the caller to prayer at al-Aʿmash’s mosque. The man went and brought him. Abū Ḥanīfa told him: “When al-Aʿmash enters his house and morning approaches, make the call before dawn breaks. In that lies the removal of his distress, if God Most High wills.” Al-Aʿmash left and entered his house to await the call. Before dawn rose, the caller made the call. When al-Aʿmash’s wife heard it, she said: “Praise be to God, who has relieved me of you, ill-tempered old man!” Al-Aʿmash said: “Morning has not yet come. A device was used, and what a fine device! May God have mercy on the one who pointed it out.”
The initial oath says “if she does not speak”, but its later retelling prints “if she speaks” without a negative. Both are translated as printed. This discrepancy is not corrected in the English; the narrative’s outcome follows the initial negative form.