(1) Reported by Ibn Saʿd, 8:138, and by al-Hakim, 4:32; its chain of transmission is hasan (reliable). The words placed between brackets are taken from their two versions. (2) Reported by Ibn Saʿd, 8:139, with a chain that is likewise hasan. (3) Reported by Ibn Saʿd, 8:139, with an authentic chain. (4) Reported by Ibn Saʿd, 8:139; the remainder of the wording is: “after the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.” I then asked ʿUqbah, “Why?” He replied, “I think she is in tabattul (total devotion to worship).” ʿUqbah b. Wahb is listed by Ibn Hibban among the trustworthy narrators. Ibn Maʿin says, “ṣāliḥ (acceptable).” ʿAli and Sufyan remarked, “He did not really understand this matter—meaning the hadith—nor was it his field.” Mahna reports from Ahmad: “I do not know him,” and Ibn ʿAdi judges, “He is not well-known.” Al-Haythami reproduces the report in Majmaʿ al-zawāʾid, 9:249, with the reading tabadhdhul (becoming dishevelled) instead of tabattul, and comments: “Al-Tabarani transmitted it, and its narrators are all those of the Sahih except ʿUqbah b. Wahb, and he is trustworthy.” I say: Even if we concede the soundness of the report, it cannot serve as evidence, because it is firmly established that the Prophet, peace be upon him, forbade women to shave their heads. Shortening the hair, however, is permitted. Muslim relates in his Sahih (no. 320, Book of Menstruation, chapter on the recommended amount of water for the ritual bath after major impurity) from Abu Salamah b. ʿAbd al-Rahman: “I entered upon ʿAʾishah together with her foster-brother. We asked her about the Prophet’s ghusl. She called for a vessel holding about a sāʿ, performed the bath while a curtain separated us from her, and poured water over her head three times.” He added: “The wives of the Prophet used to cut their hair until it resembled a wafrah.” That is, they would trim the hair of their heads, reducing it until it reached only to the ears (wafrah) and did not go beyond them.