842 – Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “When one of you proposes to a woman, and he is able to look at something of her that will prompt him to marry her, then let him do so.” Recorded by Aḥmad and Abū Dāwūd; its transmitters are trustworthy, and al-Ḥākim declared it authentic. (1)

It has a corroborating narration in al-Tirmidhī and al-Nasāʾī from al-Mughīrah (2), and another in Ibn Mājah and Ibn Ḥibbān from Muḥammad ibn Maslamah. (3)

Hadith grading: the report is sound (ḥasan).

It was also produced by al-Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad, Abū Dāwūd, al-Ṭaḥāwī, Ibn Abī Shaybah, al-Ḥākim, and al-Bayhaqī through the chain of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq – Dāwūd ibn Ḥuṣayn – Wāqid ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān – Jābir. Ibn Ḥibbān ruled it authentic (ṣaḥīḥ), while al-Tirmidhī graded it sound. Al-Būṣayrī said, “Its chain is authentic and its narrators are reliable.” As for the narration of Muḥammad ibn Maslamah, Ibn Ḥibbān deemed it authentic; it has several routes that, though each is subject to some critique, reinforce one another.

Al-Ḥākim stated, “It is authentic according to Muslim’s criteria,” and al-Dhahabī concurred. Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar regarded its chain as sound, saying, “Its transmitters are trustworthy.”