Ibn Jurayj, followed by Kathir ibn Farqad, and finally al-Layth ibn Saʿd.

Sālim and Nāfiʿ differ in their transmissions from Ibn ʿUmar regarding three hadiths. Although Sālim enjoys greater standing, Nāfiʿ’s three reports are closer to the truth.

We have been informed that when the Companions discussed the hadith concerning anal intercourse—a report that Nāfiʿ alone related from his master—Maimūn ibn Mihrān said, “Nāfiʿ only uttered this after he had grown old and lost his mind.”

It is also narrated that people said to Sālim, “This comes from Nāfiʿ.” He replied, “The slave has lied—or the slave has erred. Ibn ʿUmar used only to say: ‘He may approach her from the front or from behind, but in the vagina.’”

Abū Ibrāhīm al-Mundhir al-Ḥizāmī relates: “I never heard any coarse language from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah except on a single day. A man came to him and said, ‘O Abū al-Mundhir! Nāfiʿ, the client of Ibn ʿUmar, prefers your father ʿUrwah over his brother ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr.’ He retorted, ‘The enemy of Allah has lied, and what does Nāfiʿ—may he bite his mother’s clitoris—know?! By Allah, ʿAbd Allāh is better and more virtuous than ʿUrwah.’”

I say: Another narration from him explicitly forbids intercourse with a woman’s posterior, and none from him grants a concession. Even if the latter were authentic, it would still not be explicit; rather, it could be understood that by “her rear” he meant approaching her from behind but still in the vagina. We have clarified this issue in a useful monograph, and no scholar who consults it fails to conclude that such intercourse is forbidden (1).