This serves to demonstrate the distinction of its chain of transmission and the abundance of benefit it contains.

The critics who judged it weak—among them Ibn al-Qayyim—state that the ḥadith containing the formula al-batta (“irrevocably”) was declared weak by Aḥmad.

Our teacher—meaning Ibn Taymiyyah—said: “The foremost imams who are versed in the hidden defects of ḥadith, such as Imām Aḥmad, al-Bukhārī, Ibn ʿUyaynah and others, regarded the ḥadith of Rukānah with the wording al-batta as weak; Ibn Ḥazm agreed. They maintained that its transmitters are unknown individuals whose reliability and precision have not been established. Aḥmad said, ‘The ḥadith of Rukānah is not authentic.’”

Al-Tirmidhī remarked, “We know this ḥadith only through this single route,” and he related that when he asked al-Bukhārī about it, the latter replied, “It is inconsistent (muḍṭarib).”

Al-Albānī concluded: “In sum, the ḥadith under discussion is weak, and the opposing narration from Ibn ʿAbbās is stronger. Allah knows best.”

Glossary of terms:

– Abū Rukānah: All the copies of Bulūgh al-Marām I have consulted read “Abū Rukānah,” yet the biographical and ḥadith sources identify the man simply as Rukānah ibn ʿAbd Yazīd ibn Hāshim ibn al-Muṭṭalib al-Qurashī al-Muṭṭalibī. After checking many references—including Ibn Ḥajar’s al-Iṣābah—I found only “Rukānah.” I therefore believe the addition of the word Abū is a scribal insertion.

– Suhaymah: With an initial sīn and a ḍammah; it is the diminutive of sahmah. She is Suhaymah bint ʿUmayr al-Muzaniyyah, from Banū Muzaynah, a Muḍarī tribe that is now allied with the tribe of Ḥarb and resides in the western part of al-Qaṣīm.

– al-batta: Begins with a hamzah that may be either waṣl or qatʿ, followed by a silent lām, then a yāʾ with a fatḥah, and finally a doubled tāʾ ending with the feminine marker. The noun bat denotes “severing.” Al-Miṣbāḥ states: “A man pronounced an irrevocable divorce (bat) upon his wife, so she is mubattatah; originally the phrase was mubattūn ṭalāquhā, meaning that he has cut her off from any right of return.”