He then said, “Do not ask me about the Qur’an; instead, ask the one who claims that not a single verse is concealed from him”—meaning Ikrimah.
Matar reported: “I said to ʿAṭāʾ, ‘Ikrimah alleges that Ibn ʿAbbās said, “The Scripture has superseded the concession to wipe over leather socks.”’ ʿAṭāʾ replied, ‘Ikrimah has lied; I heard Ibn ʿAbbās say, “Wipe over the leather socks, even after you come out of the lavatory.”’ ⦗1⦘
Muslim az-Zanjī narrated from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUthmān ibn Khuthaym that he was sitting with Saʿīd ibn Jubayr when Ikrimah passed by with some people. Saʿīd said to us, “Go to him, question him, and carefully record both what you ask and how he answers.” So we went, questioned him, and he answered. Then we returned to Saʿīd and informed him, and he said, “He has lied.” ⦗2⦘
Bishr ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related—through ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUthmān ibn Khuthaym—that ʿAbdullāh ibn Saʿīd and I asked Ikrimah about the verse, “and the lofty date-palms” (Qaf 10). He responded, “Their busūq is like the busūq of women in labour.” I went to Saʿīd, told him, and he said, “He has lied; busūq-uhā means their height.” ⦗3⦘
Isrāʾīl transmitted—through ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jazarī—from Ikrimah that he deemed leasing land to be disliked.
(1) Al-Bayhaqi also recorded the report in his Sunan, 1/273, and commented: It is conceivable that Ibn Abbas first said what Ikrima relates from him, but when reliable information reached him that the Prophet ﷺ wiped over the khuffayn after the revelation of surah al-Maida, he adopted the opinion transmitted by Ata. Ibn al-Mundhir cites Ibn al-Mubarak: there is no disagreement among the Companions over wiping on the khuffayn, for everyone from whom negation is reported, affirmation is likewise reported. Ibn Abd al-Barr states: I know of no early jurist who denied it except Malik, yet the sound reports from Malik explicitly affirm it. Al-Nawawi adds: several hadith critics have declared the practice mutawatir (mass-transmitted); one of them counted the transmitters and they exceeded eighty, including the ten Companions promised Paradise. In the Musannaf of Ibn Abi Shayba and elsewhere, al-Hasan al-Basri says: seventy Companions narrated to me about wiping over the khuffayn.
(2) Muslim ibn Khalid al-Zanji is weak and prone to many mistakes, so the report is not sound.
(3) In this interpretation Ikrima is supported by al-Hasan al-Basri and al-Farra. Al-Qurtubi, 17/6–7, quotes them as saying that mawaqir means “pregnant (animals)”; it is said of a ewe basaquat when it conceives. However, Ikrima is also reported to have explained al-bas-iqat as “tall (palms),” as transmitted by al-Tabari, 26/153, through the chain Hanad – Abu al-Ahwas – Sammak.