—also through a sound chain. These two authentic reports therefore reinforce the marfūʿ ḥadith of ʿĀʾishah: “When a girl reaches menstruation, nothing should be seen of her except this,” and he pointed to his face and his hands. I have treated this at length in the source just cited, leaving no need for further comment, yet some partisans of desire have ignored all of it and accused us—Allah knows I am innocent—of what is not true. May Allah guide them.

He then said regarding the ḥadith of Umm Salamah, “May a woman pray in a dirʿ and a khimār…?”: “It was narrated by Abū Dāwūd, and the leading scholars authenticated its mawqūf form; therefore it carries the weight of a marfūʿ report.”

I reply: Its chain is not sound, whether marfūʿ or mawqūf, because it revolves around Umm Muḥammad bint Zayd, an unknown narrator. The details are in Irwāʾ, no. 274, and Ḍaʿīf Abī Dāwūd, pp. 97–98. This fact escaped al-Shawkānī in Nayl al-Aṭār 2/58, so he favored the marfūʿ attribution and overlooked the anonymity; yet in al-Sayl 1/161 he said, “It affords no proof.” He was correct, though his explanation there is muddled, and this is not the place to unravel it.

He also said: “And from ʿĀʾishah that she was asked, ‘In how many garments does a woman pray…?’”

I say: He cited it without tracing its chain or clarifying its status. ʿAbd al-Razzāq recorded it in the Muṣannaf 3/128, and Ibn Abī Shaybah 2/224, through the route of Makḥūl from someone who asked ʿĀʾishah that question. Its transmitters are trustworthy, but there is an unnamed man between Makḥūl and ʿĀʾishah.

ʿAbd al-Razzāq also related—through Umm al-Ḥasan—her statement: “I saw Umm Salamah, the Prophet’s wife, praying in a dirʿ (long shirt) and a khimār (head-cover).”