because that was the practice of the Magians when standing before the fires they worshipped. In this light, the link between the prohibition of letting one’s garment hang loosely and the prohibition of covering the mouth becomes apparent: both acts involve imitating the unbelievers. Each of the two, however, also carries an additional reason that renders it disliked, and there is nothing objectionable in assigning a ruling to more than one cause.
So much for the Rightly Guided Caliphs. As for the rest of the Companions—may Allah be pleased with them—their statements on this matter are numerous. Among them is the report we already cited from Ḥudhayfah ibn al-Yamān: when he was invited to a wedding feast and noticed something of Persian dress, he left and said, “Whoever imitates a people is counted among them.”
Abū Muḥammad al-Khallāl also transmitted, with his chain, from ʿIkrimah on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās—may Allah be pleased with them both—that a man asked him, “May I administer a clyster?” He replied, “Do not expose the private parts, and do not follow the practice of the polytheists.” His words, “do not follow the practice of the polytheists,” are general.
(1) MSS B, J, and D read: “yadhhar” (“it becomes apparent”).
(2) The printed edition has kullu minhuma (“each of them”), whereas all the manuscripts read kilahuma (“both of them”); strictly speaking the correct Arabic form is kilayhima, because the noun is annexed to a pronoun.
(3) See the annotation on p. 361 of this volume.
(4) Al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn ʿAli, Abū Muhammad al-Khallal (b. 352 AH/963 CE), a distinguished Baghdadi scholar. His works include Akhbār al-Thuqalāʾ, al-Majālis al-ʿAshr, and an arrangement of the Musnad based on the two Ṣaḥīḥs. See: al-Aʿlām 2:213.
(5) ʿIkrimah al-Barbarī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Madani, the freedman and foremost disciple of Ibn ʿAbbās. Originally of Berber descent, he was a leading tābiʿī and an authority on Quranic exegesis. Though some accused him of adopting the Ṣufrī Kharijite doctrine, the major ḥadith critics declared him reliable. Ibn Ḥajar writes: “trustworthy, precise, and an expert in tafsīr; the claim that Ibn ʿUmar rejected him is unproven, and no heresy has been established against him.” He belonged to the third generation and died in 107 AH/725 CE. See: Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb 2:30, no. 277 (Ayn); Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb 7:263–73, no. 475 (Ayn).
(6) The printed edition reads: iḥtaqin lā tubdi al-ʿawrah (“administer an enema, but do not expose the private parts”).
(7) The phrase lā tastan bi-sunnat al-mushrikīn (“do not follow the practice of the idolaters”) is absent from MSS J and D.