39 – ʿAbd Allāh ibn Zayd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that he saw the Prophet ﷺ “take fresh water for his ears, other than the water he had taken for his head.” Al-Bayhaqī transmitted this version. Muslim also narrates it through this same chain, but with the wording: “He wiped his head with water that was not the leftover from his hands,” and this is the sound version (1).

Hadith grading
The first wording is irregular, whereas the second is preserved. An irregular report is to be rejected, while a preserved report is to be accepted. Hence the author says in his abridgement: In Ibn Ḥibbān’s Ṣaḥīḥ we read, “He wiped his head with water that was not the leftover from his hands,” with no mention of the ears.

Points derived from the hadith
The report reaches us in two wordings:

1. The Prophet ﷺ took new water to wipe his ears, different from the water used for his head.
2. He wiped his head with water other than the residue on his hands. This wording is the authentic one, for the following reasons:
   First: It is the preserved version, making the opposing version irregular according to the hadith specialists; an irregular (shādh) hadith is one in which a narrator contradicts someone more reliable than himself in some point of preference.
   Second: The first wording was recorded by al-Bayhaqī, whereas the second appears in Muslim’s Ṣaḥīḥ, and therefore enjoys a higher level of authenticity.