He was counted among the scholars of Basra, in the same rank as Ashʿath al-Ḥumrānī. His narrations are considered acceptable, and al-Nasāʾī and others declared him trustworthy. Even so, some slips occur in his transmissions; al-ʿUqaylī lists him in al-Duʿafāʾ. Al-Darquṭnī said, “He is to be used for corroboration.”
Maʿmar—through al-Ashʿath, from al-Ḥasan, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mughaffal—reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “None of you should ever urinate in the place where he bathes and then perform ablution there, for most cases of waswās (obsessive whisperings) spring from that.” (1)
I say: What he means by “waswās” is that a person may be touched by the jinn. Hence the one who squanders water is called a musawwas, likened to a madman—especially when he raises the opening takbīr for an obligatory prayer. May Allah, Exalted is He, grant them well-being.
120 – Ashʿath ibn Sawār al-Kindī * (M, T, S, Q)
A Kūfan carpenter, known as “al-Tawābitī” and “al-Afraq.” He is the one who is called:
(1) Al-Hasan is a mudallis (a narrator known for masking his sources) and here he uses the vague formula ‘an‘ana. The report is found in Ahmad, Musnad, 5/56; Abu Dawud, no. 27, Book of Purification, chapter “Urinating in the bath-house”; al-Tirmidhi, no. 21, Book of Purification, chapter “Disapproval of urinating in the place of bathing”; al-Nasa’i, 1/34, Book of Purification, same chapter heading; and Ibn Majah, no. 304, Book of Purification, chapter “Disapproval of urinating in the bath-place.” Abu Dawud also transmits another supporting hadith immediately after it (no. 28), from an unnamed Companion, which corroborates Ibn Mughaffal’s narration prohibiting urinating in the bath-house.
Abu Sulayman al-Khattabi comments that the prohibition applies only when the floor is neither solid nor tiled, or when there is no drain for the urine to run off with the water; otherwise the bather might suspect that splashes have touched him, leading to obsessive misgivings (waswas).
(*) Biographical sources: Ibn Sa‘d, Tabaqat, 6/249; Khalifa, Tarikh, 420, and Tabaqat, 166; al-Bukhari, Tarikh al-Kabir, 1/430, and al-Tarikh al-Saghir, 2/48; al-Tabari, Tarikh, 1/486; 2/386; 3/421, 588; 4/284; Ibn Abi Hatim, al-Jarh wa-l-Ta‘dil, 2/271; Ibn Hibban, Kitab al-Majruhin, 1/171; Ibn al-Athir, al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh, 5/512; al-Mizzi, Tahdhib al-Kamal, no. 117; al-Dhahabi, Tadhhib al-Tahdhib, 1/69/2 and Mizan al-I‘tidal, 1/263–265; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, 1/352–354; al-Khazraji, Khulasat Tadhhib al-Kamal, 38; Ibn al-Imad, Shadharāt al-Dhahab, 1/193.