475 – ʿĀʾishah – may Allah be pleased with her – related that the Messenger of Allah said, “Breaking the bone of a dead person is like breaking it while he is alive.” Abū Dāwūd narrated it with a chain that meets Muslim’s criteria. (1)
Ibn Mājah adds, in the report of Umm Salamah – may Allah be pleased with her – the words: “in terms of sin.” (2)

Hadith grading:
The report is sound. Al-Talkhīṣ notes that it was transmitted by Aḥmad (23787), Abū Dāwūd, Ibn Mājah, and al-Bayhaqī (4/58) through ʿĀʾishah. Ibn al-Qaṭṭān deemed it ḥasan, while al-Qushayrī stated that it fulfills Muslim’s conditions. Al-Dāraqutnī (3/188) also narrated it via another route from her, adding the phrase “in terms of sin,” and Mālik mentioned it as a disconnected report from ʿĀʾishah. Ibn Mājah likewise included the wording “in terms of sin” in the narration of Umm Salamah. Aḥmad and al-Nasāʾī judged that particular wording weak; it is merely an explanatory addition from some narrators.

Points derived from the two hadiths:
1 – Hadith scholars have confirmed the authenticity of hadith 474, both in its marfūʿ and mawqūf forms, establishing that reciting this formula at that moment is recommended.
2 – “The creed of the Messenger of Allah” means his religion and law – Islam and its rulings. It is Sunnah to mention it whenever something of importance is undertaken, wording it in a manner appropriate to the occasion. The intended meaning here is: “We place you in the name of Allah, and upon the way of the Messenger of Allah we entrust you.”
3 – Al-Ḥākim and al-Bayhaqī, through a weak chain, narrated that when the Prophet ﷺ’s daughter Umm Kulthūm was laid