Commentary and Reflections on Ḥadīth #5739 from al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr: “Slaughtering a man is praising him to his face.”

Ḥadīth #5739

The following is narrated as a ḥadīth mursal from Ibrāhīm al-Taymī:

ذَبْحُ الرَّجُلِ أنْ تُزَكِّيَهُ فِي وَجْهِهِ

“Slaughtering a man is praising him to his face.”

Commentary & Reflections

This means that praising a man to his face is tantamount to slaughtering him. When the one who is praising him uses the praise to get something from him, one’s shyness may compel him to heed to the request. Thus, he is anguished like how the slaughtered is anguished.

(Fayḍ al-Qadīr, 3:559; al-Taysīr, 2:17)