As for the disorder in the wording itself, that is obvious from the preceding transmissions and may be summarized in four versions:
- The narration traced back to the Prophet reported by al-Nasāʾī: “…and that he comb his hair every day.”
- Mālik’s wording: “Abū Qatādah would sometimes oil it twice in a single day.”
- ʿAṭāʾ’s version: “Abū Qatādah used to comb his hair every other day.”
- The Prophetic wording transmitted by Ismāʿīl: “Honor it and apply oil to it.”
This, as you can see, is a severe inconsistency. The only way to harmonize these variants would be to prefer one over the others, yet such preference is impossible because their chains are weak, as you have seen; we must therefore look for an external criterion. We have located two hadiths:
• “He forbade combing except on alternate days.”
• “He used to forbid us from self-indulgence—that is, combing the hair every day.”
Both are recorded in al-Ṣaḥīḥah 501 and 502.
It is clear that the first of these two hadiths invalidates the first variant and gives precedence to the third, and that the second hadith likewise confirms the invalidity of the first variant and the superiority of the third.
To sum up: the two reports cited by the author from Abū Qatādah and Jābir are rejected both in chain of transmission and in content; they are unreliable, and it is impermissible to act on anything in them that contradicts the two authentic hadiths just mentioned.
As for the command to honor the hair, it is established by several hadiths—some of which I have documented in the same source, al-Ṣaḥīḥah 500 and 501—but it is to be understood in light of the two hadiths referred to above, as is evident. And Allah grants success.