47 – Talḥah ibn Muṣarrif, from his father, from his grandfather (may Allah be pleased with him), said: “I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) separate between the madmaḍah (rinsing the mouth) and the istinshāq (drawing water into the nose).” Abū Dāwūd recorded it with a weak chain (1).

Hadith grading
The ḥadīth is weak.
The author notes: Abū Dāwūd transmitted it with a weak chain.
In al-Talkhīṣ al-Ḥabīr it is stated: the report contains Layth ibn Abī Sulaym, and he is weak. Ibn Ḥibbān said: “He confuses chains, elevates mursal reports, and attributes to trustworthy narrators that which they never related.” Ibn al-Qaṭṭān, Ibn Maʿīn, and Aḥmad all abandoned his narrations.
Al-Nawawī remarked in Tahdhīb al-Asmāʾ: “The scholars unanimously agree on his weakness.”

Vocabulary of the ḥadīth
• yafṣil (he separates): The verb faṣala – yafṣilu – faṣlan (form I, like ḍaraba) means to set two things apart. Here it describes the Prophet’s practice of using one handful of water to rinse the mouth, then another fresh handful for the nose.
• bayna (between): an indeterminate adverb that only becomes clear when it is connected to two or more items, as in this report. The alif may be lengthened for phonetic ease, producing baynā, as in the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah about Job (peace be upon him): “baynā Ayyūb was bathing….” A further particle mā may be added, giving baynamā. When the vowel is lengthened, or when mā is added, the word functions as a temporal adverb conveying suddenness.