from his grandfather, from ʿAlī:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Wash your garments, trim your hair, use the siwāk, and adorn yourselves, for the Children of Israel failed to do so and consequently their women committed adultery.” (1)
Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī informed us; Jaʿfar ibn ʿAlī informed us; ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Dībājī informed us; Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyā ibn al-Jārūd narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ibn Aḥmad, the ḥāfiẓ, dictated to us; Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Baṣrī related to us in Bayt al-Maqdis; Aḥmad ibn Salām al-Ṭarsūsī narrated to us; Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭarsūsī informed us; Yaʿlā and Muḥammad, the sons of ʿUbayd, said:
Al-Aʿmash narrated to us, from Khaythama, from Suwayd ibn Ghafala, who said:
“I heard ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, say, ‘If I relate something to you from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, then—by Allah—I would rather plunge from the sky and be snatched away by birds than knowingly lie about him. But when I speak to you concerning matters between us, remember that war is deception.’”
Muslim recorded this report. (2)
Dying along with him was Abū Maʿmar Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Wāḥid al-Bālaki (3) al-Harawī, a transmitter
(1) The author also cites this report in Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, 3/1158, adding: “It is not sound; its isnad is obscure.” The real flaw is the transmitter Abd Allah ibn Maymun al-Qaddah: al-Bukhari said, “His hadith are worthless”; Abu Hatim declared him “abandoned”; and Ibn Hibban ruled that “nothing he narrates in isolation may be used as evidence.” Al-Suyuti reproduces the report in al-Jami al-Kabir, 1/125, attributing it to Ibn Asakir and likewise grading it weak on account of Abd Allah ibn Maymun.
(2) Hadith no. 1066 in the Book of Zakat, chapter “Urging the killing of the Khawarij.” The full wording is: “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: ‘Toward the end of time there will appear a people, young in years and foolish in thought. They will utter the noblest words of mankind, recite the Quran but it will not go past their throats, and they will exit the religion as an arrow passes through its target. When you meet them, kill them, for killing them brings a reward from Allah on the Day of Resurrection.’” Al-Bukhari recorded it (6930) through the isnad of Umar ibn Hafs ibn Ghayath from his father, from al-Aʿmash; he also recorded it (3611, 5057) via Muhammad ibn Kathir from Sufyan. Abu Dawud (4767) and al-Nasaʾi, 7/119, transmit it through two routes from Sufyan on the authority of al-Aʿmash.
(3) Al-Samʿani states: “al-Balaki—with an open baʾ and lam—is a nisba to Balak, which I believe is a village in or near Herat.” See al-Ansab, 2/56.