ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Muḥammad, the ḥadīth master (1), said:
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Fārisī, the preacher, dictated to us at Rayy; Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-ʿAlawī narrated to us; my grandfather narrated to me; I heard Wahb ibn Jāmiʿ the perfumer, a close friend of Ibn Dāwūd, say:
“I entered the presence of al-Muttaqī li-Llāh, and he asked me about Abū Bakr ibn Dāwūd: ‘Have you seen anything in him that you would disapprove of?’
“I replied, ‘No, Commander of the Believers, except that I once spent the night with him. He would lift the cover from my face and then say, “O Allah! You know that I truly love him, and I keep Your watch over myself concerning him.”’
“He said, ‘To what extent have you fulfilled the duty of care owed to him?’
“I answered, ‘I went into the bathhouse; when I came out I looked in the mirror and found my appearance more handsome than I had ever known. I therefore covered my face and swore that no one should gaze upon it before he did. I hurried to him; he unveiled my face, rejoiced and was delighted, and said, “Glory be to the One who created and fashioned him!” Then he recited: “He it is Who shapes you in the wombs as He wills…” (2).”
Musaddad transmits it from Yahya, from Ibn Abi Arubah, from Qatadah. Ibn Majah also records it (no. 525) through two separate chains via Muadh b. Hisham, from his father. Further reports on the same topic come from:
– Umm Qays bint Mihsan: Malik, 1/64; al-Bukhari, 1/281; Muslim, no. 287.
– Abu al-Samah: Abu Dawud, no. 376; al-Nasa’i, 1/158; Ibn Majah, no. 526; declared authentic by Ibn Khuzaymah, no. 283, and by al-Hakim, 1/166, whose verdict was endorsed by al-Dhahabi.
– Lubabah bint al-Harith (Umm al-Fadl, the mother of al-Abbas b. Abd al-Muttalib): Abu Dawud, no. 375; Ahmad, 6/339; Ibn Majah, no. 522; its chain is sound, and it was judged sahih by al-Hakim, 1/166 (with al-Dhahabi concurring) and by Ibn Khuzaymah, no. 282.
(1) His biographical entry is found in al-Dhahabi, Mashaykhat al-Dhahabi, pp. 84–85.
(2) This is verse 6 of Surah Al-Imran; the remainder reads: “la ilaha illa huwa al-aziz al-hakim” (there is no deity but Him, the Mighty, the Wise). Al-Safadi gives an abridged version of the anecdote in al-Wafi bi-l-wafayat, 3/59, adding: “Had I been present, I would have recited Ibn Jamaʿ’s couplet: ‘If the lovesick one should perish from yearning for you, by God, he rightly does so and is excused.’”