The report was judged weak because of a break in the chain. Ibn al-Qayyim cites, in Tahdhib al-Sunan 6/126, Ibn al-Qattan’s statement: “Its defect is that scholars have said the narration of Yahya ibn Abi Kathir from Zayd ibn Salam is interrupted, even though Yahya says: ‘Zayd ibn Salam related to me.’ It has been claimed that he practiced tadlis (concealing the intermediary), and that Zayd merely granted him written authorisation, whereupon Yahya began to say: ‘Zayd narrated to us.’ Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar, in Tabaqat al-Mudallisin, explains this kind of tadlis: it includes the practice of some transmitters who use the terms ‘he narrated to us’ or ‘he informed us’ when in reality they only possess an ijaza (written licence) and never heard anything directly from that shaykh. The author of al-Mizan, in the biographical entry on Yahya ibn Abi Kathir, likewise states: “His narration from Zayd ibn Salam is interrupted, because it reached him only in written form.” Despite all of the above, al-Hakim declared the hadith authentic, al-Dhahabi concurred, and al-Hafiz al-Mun­d­hiri also authenticated it in al-Targhib wa-l-Tarhib 1/557, in the section warning against withholding zakat. Shaykh Nasir al-Din al-Albani relied on this hadith, among others that he cited in Adab al-Zifaf, to prohibit women from wearing circular gold ornaments and to allow only non-circular ones. In doing so he opposed the consensus of the Muslim community, past and present, which permits women to adorn themselves with gold, whether circular or not—rings, bracelets, anklets, necklaces, and so forth. This consensus was recorded by several meticulous scholars: al-Jassas al-Razi in Ahkam al-Quran 4/477; al-Qurtubi in his Tafsir 16/71-72; al-Nawawi in al-Majmuʿ 4/442 and 6/40; and Ibn Hajar in Fath al-Bari 10/317. A full refutation of Shaykh al-Albani’s isolated view and the doubts he raised cannot be provided here. The reader is referred to the book Ibaha al-Tahalli bi-l-Dhahab al-Muhallaq li-l-Nisa by the esteemed Shaykh Ismail ibn Muhammad al-Ansari, who thoroughly responds to him, weakens the hadiths on which he relies, shows that—assuming their soundness—they mean something other than what he claims, and cites clear texts from the Quran and authentic sunnah supporting the position adopted by the great majority of scholars. He has done an excellent and beneficial job; may Allah reward him on our behalf. (1) Chain of transmission: sound. Reported by Ahmad 1/293; authenticated by al-Hakim 2/594 with al-Dhahabi’s agreement. Al-Haythami, Majmaʿ 9/223, adds that it is also found in the collections of Abu Yaʿla and al-Tabarani and remarks: “Their transmitters are those of the authentic collections.”