Mu'jam Kabir Tabarani 17302 — Sayyiduna Mu'adh bin Jabal came to them

A'idhullah bin Abdullah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Sayyiduna Mu'adh bin Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) came to them in Yemen. A woman of the tribe of Khawlan met him, with her twelve sons, having left their father in their house; the youngest of them was one whose beard had grown full. (Then) the woman stood and greeted Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) with salam - while two of her sons were holding her by the arms - and said: O man, who sent you? Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) said to her: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sent me." The woman said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sent you, and you are the envoy of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? Then will you not tell me, O envoy of the Messenger of Allah, what the right of a husband over his wife is? Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "That she fears Allah as much as she is able, and listens and obeys." She said: I adjure you to tell me what the right of a husband over his wife is. Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) said to her: "Are you not content that you listen, obey, and fear Allah?" She said: Certainly, but I have left the father of these (boys) at home as a very old man. Sayyiduna Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "By the One in whose Hand is the soul of Mu'adh! If you were to return to him and find that leprosy had torn his flesh and torn open his nostrils, and you found his two nostrils flowing with pus and blood, and then you put them in your mouth so that you might fulfil his right, you would never fulfil it."