and Abū Ṭalḥah, Abū Ayyūb, yourself, Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, Abū al-Dardāʾ, Ibn Masʿūd, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf; then this group from among the freedmen: Salmān, Suhayb, Bilāl, and Sālim, the freedman of Abū Ḥudhayfah—these are my closest companions.’)

This is a munkar (denounced) hadith.

It was reported by al-Haytham al-Shāshī (1) in his Musnad.

Al-Wāqidī said: Kathīr ibn Zayd narrated to us, from al-Walīd ibn Rabāḥ, from Abū Hurayrah, who said:

When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ consummated his marriage with Ṣafiyyah, Abū Ayyūb spent the night at the Prophet’s door. When morning came and he saw the Messenger of Allah, he pronounced the takbīr while a sword was in Abū Ayyūb’s hand. He said:

‘Messenger of Allah, she is a young woman, newly wed, and you had slain her father, her brother, and her husband, so I could not feel at ease about her toward you.’

The Prophet ﷺ laughed and prayed good for him (2).

This report is extremely singular.

It has slight corroboration in the narration of ʿĪsā ibn al-Mukhtār and Ibn Abī Laylā, from al-Ḥakam, from Miqsam, from Ibn ʿAbbās … which mentions something similar.

Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah narrated: ʿUmar ibn Abī Bakr told us, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Abī ʿUbaydah, from his father, from Miqsam, from Jābir, with a similar wording.

And Ibn Luhayʿah: from Abū al-Aswad, from ʿUrwah, likewise.

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Isḥāq, from al-Zuhrī, from Sālim, said:

‘I married, and my father invited the people, among them Abū Ayyūb, and they had draped my house with a green figured cloth.

Abū Ayyūb came, bent his head and looked. When he saw that the house was curtained he said, “Servant of Allah! Are you covering the walls?”

My father, embarrassed, replied, “The women overpowered us, Abū Ayyūb.” He said, “The one I feared might…"