873 – Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both) reported: “The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) restored his daughter Zaynab to Abū al-ʿĀṣ ibn al-Rabīʿ six years later on the basis of the original marriage contract; he did not conclude a new one.” It was narrated by Aḥmad and by the Four compilers except al-Nasāʾī, and it was declared authentic by Aḥmad and al-Ḥākim. (1)

Hadith grading
This ḥadith is ṣaḥīḥ (authentic).

The author states: Imām Aḥmad and al-Ḥākim authenticated it, and it was recorded by Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, Ibn Mājah, al-Ṭaḥāwī, al-Ḥākim, and al-Bayhaqī through several chains from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, from Dāwūd ibn al-Ḥuṣayn, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās.

Al-Tirmidhī commented, “There is nothing objectionable in its chain, yet we know the background of this report, and it may have reached us through Dāwūd ibn al-Ḥuṣayn because of his memory.”

Abū Dāwūd said, “His narrations from ʿIkrimah are munkar (irregular).” Nevertheless, al-Ḥākim judged it authentic and al-Dhahabī agreed, as had Imām Aḥmad before them.

Ibn Saʿd transmitted from ʿĀmir: “Abū al-ʿĀṣ arrived after his wife Zaynab had embraced Islam; he later accepted Islam, and no separation was made between them.” Its chain is mursal yet sound. He then narrated a similar report from Qatādah, likewise with a sound mursal chain.

Thus, with these two mursal supports, the ḥadith is sound, exactly as Imām Aḥmad maintained.