- ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported: “The Prophet ﷺ kissed one of his wives, then went out for the prayer without renewing his ablution.” It was recorded by Ahmad, and al-Bukhārī deemed it weak (1).
Hadith Grading
The report is weak, although a number of scholars have judged it sound.
Ibn Ḥajar remarked in al-Talkhīṣ: “The hadith is defective; its flaw was pointed out by Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasāʾī, al-Dāraquṭnī, al-Bayhaqī, and Ibn Ḥazm, who said, ‘Nothing in this chapter is authentic.’”
Al-Tirmidhī said: “I heard al-Bukhārī weaken this hadith.” Abū Dāwūd transmitted it through Ibrāhīm al-Taymī from ʿĀʾishah, but he never heard from her, so the chain is mursal (missing the Companion).
The author adds: “It has come by ten different routes from ʿĀʾishah; al-Bayhaqī listed them in al-Khilāfiyyāt and judged them weak.”
Yet several leading scholars strengthened it: ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq said, “I know of no defect in it;” al-Zaylaʿī called its chain good; and Aḥmad Shākir as well as al-Albānī declared it authentic.
Lexical Notes
• qabbala (to kiss): verbal noun taqbīl. The noun is qublah; plural qubal, like ghurfah/ghuraf. In this context, qublah refers to placing the lips on the mouth—a kiss.
• “one of his wives”: refers to ʿĀʾishah herself, the narrator. Isḥāq, in his Musnad (2/172), transmitted from ʿUrwah—on the authority of ʿĀʾishah—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ kissed her and said, “A kiss does not nullify ablution.”