حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ مَسْلَمَةَ عَنْ مَالِکٍ عَنْ ابْنِ شِهَابٍ عَنْ عُرْوَةَ بْنِ الزُّبَيْرِ عَنْ عَائِشَةَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهَا أَنَّهَا قَالَتْ مَا خُيِّرَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّی اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فِي أَمْرَيْنِ إِلَّا اخْتَارَ أَيْسَرَهُمَا مَا لَمْ يَکُنْ إِثْمًا فَإِنْ کَانَ إِثْمًا کَانَ أَبْعَدَ النَّاسِ مِنْهُ وَمَا انْتَقَمَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّی اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ لِنَفْسِهِ إِلَّا أَنْ تُنْتَهَکَ حُرْمَةُ اللَّهِ تَعَالَی فَيَنْتَقِمُ لِلَّهِ بِهَا
سنن ابودوٗد · Hadith 4785
Aishah said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was never given his choice between two things without taking the easier (or lesser) of them provided it involved no sin, for if it did, no one kept farther away from it than he. And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ never took revenge on his own behalf for anything unless something Allah had forbidden has been transgressed, in which event he took revenge for it for Allah’s sake.
Translated by Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan · Reviewed by Islamic University of Madinah · Published March 2020