Under the heading “Islamic legislation—namely, jurisprudence”

His statement under entry 1 reads: “In the ḥadīth the Prophet ﷺ forbade al-aghlūṭāt.”

I say: Stating categorically that the report is Prophetic gives the impression that it is sound, yet such is not the case. It is transmitted only through ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿd, from al-Ṣunābīḥī, from Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān. The narration was recorded by Abū Dāwūd, Aḥmad, and others, but concerning this ʿAbd Allāh Duhīm said, “I do not know him.” Abū Ḥātim declared him “unknown,” and al-Sājī remarked, “The scholars of Syria deemed him weak.” For that reason al-Ḥāfiẓ, in al-Taqrīb, noted that his ḥadith is “pliant,” meaning inclined to weakness, when he is the sole transmitter.

I have found no corroborating chains for this report, so it is weak. Al-Munāwī also judged it defective in Fayḍ al-Qadīr on the basis of the critiques we have quoted from al-Sājī and the earlier authorities. Therefore, let no one be misled by Abū Dāwūd’s silence regarding it, nor by al-Suyūṭī’s coding it as ḥasan, in light of the seventh and eighth principles set out in the Introduction.