867 – Ibn ʿUmar reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “The Arabs are compatible with one another, and the freedmen are compatible with one another—except a weaver or a cupper.” Al-Ḥākim transmitted it, but in its chain there is an unnamed narrator, and Abū Ḥātim declared it objectionable (1). A supporting report is found with al-Bazzār from Muʿādh ibn Jabal, but its chain is broken (2).

Grade of the ḥadīth:
The ḥadīth is extremely weak. It has been related from Ibn ʿUmar, ʿĀʾishah, and Muʿādh. Shaykh al-Albānī states that most of its routes are severely weak, so the heart cannot rely on using them to strengthen the report—especially since some ḥadīth specialists, among them Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, have judged it fabricated.

Vocabulary:
• al-ʿArab (the Arabs): al-Wasīṭ defines them as a Semitic people whose original homeland was the Arabian Peninsula; the plural is aʿrāb, and the adjective is ʿarabī.
• akfāʾ (compatibles): with a fatḥa on the hamza and a sukūn on the qāf; the plural of kufʾ—whose kāf may be vocalised three ways. A kufʾ is an equal or peer. Al-Muḥīṭ says: kafāʾa is the state in which the husband is the peer of the wife. Thus, in the context of marriage, kafāʾa (compatibility) refers to equality between the two spouses in certain specific matters, one of which is lineage.