666 – It is related from Maymūnah, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, that “a mouse fell into some clarified butter and died in it. The Prophet ﷺ was asked about this, and he replied, ‘Remove it and whatever is around it, then eat (the rest).’” Narrated by al-Bukhārī.

Aḥmad and al-Nasāʾī add the wording: “when the clarified butter is solid.” (1)

Status of the ḥadīth:
The additional phrase reported by Aḥmad and al-Nasāʾī—“when the clarified butter is solid”—was judged anomalous (shādh) by Imām al-Bukhārī and Ibn Taymiyyah because it is unique to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī and contradicts the transmission of the majority from Imām Mālik.

In Ibn Ḥajar’s Taqrīb al-Taḥbīr he cites several routes that bolster this addition and strengthen the ḥadīth; the same appears in Fatḥ al-Bārī (9/669), though there he leans toward deeming it mawqūf (a Companion’s statement).

Lexical notes:
– faʾrah: with an open fāʾ, pronounced with or without a hamzah; the singular of “mice,” applying to both male and female. It is a member of the Muridae family, order Rodentia.
– samn: with an open sīn and a silent mīm; clarified butter—what is obtained after melting ordinary butter and removing its water content.
– jāmid: from jamada (“to become solid”); any liquid that congeals. It means “hard” and is the opposite of “melted.”