even a piece of grape-vine or a tree twig.
In another wording: “except for a grape twig or the bark of a tree—let him chew it.”
It was recorded by the four compilers of the Sunan, and al-Tirmidhi said, “This ḥadīth is ḥasan.”
Al-Nasāʾī also transmitted it through several other chains—from Khālid, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Busr, and from al-Ṣammāʾ on the authority of ʿĀʾishah.
The companions of the school and the rest of the scholars have differed concerning it.
Abū Bakr al-Athram said: “I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh (i.e., Imām Aḥmad) asked about fasting on Saturday by itself. He replied, ‘As for fasting Saturday on its own, there is the ḥadīth of al-Ṣammāʾ on the subject’—meaning the report of Thawr, from Yazīd, from Khālid ibn Maʿdān, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Busr, from his sister al-Ṣammāʾ, from …”
(1) In manuscript B it reads lakhāʾ—a scribal slip; the correct term is lahāʾ (outer bark or peel).
(2) See: Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Book of Fasting, chapter “Fasting on Saturday,” no. 744 (3/120); Sunan Abi Dawud, Book of Fasting, chapter “Prohibition of singling out Saturday for fasting,” no. 2421 (2/805); Sahih Ibn Khuzayma 3/317, no. 2164; Ibn Majah, Book of Fasting, chapter “Fasting on Saturday,” no. 1726 (1/550). Ahmad also records it in the Musnad through two chains (6/368, 369). Al-Suyuti includes it in al-Jamiʿ al-Saghir and rates it sahih (2/739, no. 9818). Al-Hakim, in al-Mustadrak (1/435), says: “This hadith is sahih according to the criteria of al-Bukhari, though neither he nor Muslim transmitted it.” I did not locate it in the printed Sunan al-Nasaʾi al-Sughra; it is likely found in the Sunan al-Kubra.
(3) See the foregoing footnote.
(4) Thus: yaftared in (Ad Ṭ); yufrid in (B); and in the printed text, yatafarrad in the first instance and wayanfarrid in the second. Ibn Qudama cites the wording in al-Mughni exactly as found in (Ad Ṭ) (3/98), as well as in al-Mughni wa-l-Sharh al-Kabir; all forms carry the meaning “to single out.”
(5) Same comment as the previous note.
(6) In (AṬ) the reading is fihi (“in it”).
(7) This version of the report is quoted in al-Mughni and its commentary (3/98–99).