We have already noted that the soundest view is that Nāfiʿ died in 117 AH. Ibn ʿUyaynah and Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, however, placed his death in 119 AH.
Maimūn ibn Mihrān’s remark, “He became senile and lost his mind,” is an isolated opinion; the entire ummah agrees that his transmissions are, without qualification, authoritative.
Ibn Saʿd said: “He was reliable and narrated abundantly.”
Al-ʿIjli and al-Nasāʾī said: “A trustworthy Medinan.”
Ibn Khirrāsh said: “Trustworthy and distinguished.”
35 – ʿUlayy ibn Rabāḥ ibn Qaṣīr al-Lakhmī (M, 4)
The son of Qashīb ibn Yaynaʿ al-Lakhmī; an Imām and reliable authority, known as Abū Mūsā al-Lakhmī, the Egyptian.
He heard hadith from ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir, Abū Qatādah al-Anṣārī, Abū Hurayrah, Faḍālah ibn ʿUbayd, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, and a number of other Companions.
He lived to a very old age.
= with a sound isnad (chain of transmission).
Ahmad (2/444, 479), Abu Dawud (2162) and Ibn Majah (1923) report from Abu Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah said: “Cursed is the one who approaches a woman in her anus.” Al-Busayri declared the narration sound in al-Zawaid. It is corroborated by a report from Uqba b. Amir recorded by Ibn Adi in al-Kamil, 211/1, with a hasan isnad, which confirms its authenticity.
Al-Tirmidhi (1165) relates—on the authority of Ibn Abbas, raised to the Prophet—the words: “Allah will not look at a man who has intercourse with a man or with a woman in the anus.” Its chain is hasan, and Ibn Hibban (1302) graded it sahih. When Abu al-Darda was asked about a man who has intercourse with his wife in her anus, he replied, “Would anyone do that except a kafir (disbeliever)?” Ahmad (6968) transmits this statement with a sahih isnad; the same wording appears in al-Tabari (4332) and Sunan al-Bayhaqi 7/199.
The question was also put to Ibn Umar, who said: “Could any Muslim possibly do that?!” Al-Tabari (4329) and al-Tahawi (2/23) record his reply with a sahih isnad.
(*) Tabaqat Ibn Saʿd 7/512; Tabaqat Khalifa, p. 293; al-Tarikh al-Kabir 6/274; Tarikh al-Fasawi 2/490; al-Jarh wa-l-taʿdil 6/186; Tarikh ʿUlamaʾ al-Andalus, p. 310; Riyad al-Nufus 1/77; Tahdhib al-Kamal, p. 969; Tadhhib al-Tahdhib 3/61/1; Tarikh al-Islam 4/282; al-ʿIbar 1/142; Tahdhib al-Tahdhib 7/318; Khulasat Tadhhib al-Kamal, p. 273; Nafh al-Tib 3/8; Shadharat al-Dhahab 1/149.