955 – Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with him) related that “A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, ‘My wife does not repel the hand of anyone who touches her.’ He replied, ‘Send her away (i.e., divorce her).’ The man said, ‘I fear that my soul would still follow after her.’ The Prophet ﷺ said, ‘Then continue to enjoy her.’ ”

Abū Dāwūd and al-Bazzār recorded the report, and its transmitters are trustworthy. Al-Nasāʾī also transmitted it through a different chain from Ibn ʿAbbās with the wording: “Divorce her.” He replied, “I cannot keep away from her.” The Prophet ﷺ said, “Then keep her.”⦗1⦘

Grade of the ḥadith
The ḥadith is authentic. In at-Talkhīṣ it is noted that scholars disagreed over whether the report is connected (musnad) or mursal. Al-Nasāʾī held the mursal version to be sounder and considered the connected version unproven. Even so, both he and Abū Dāwūd narrated it through ʿIkrimah from Ibn ʿAbbās with similar wording, and that chain is stronger. Al-Nawawī declared it authentic, whereas Ibn al-Jawzī quoted Imām Aḥmad as saying, “Nothing in this chapter is firmly established from the Prophet ﷺ; it has no basis.” The author of the present work states that Abū Dāwūd and al-Bazzār transmitted it with trustworthy narrators. Ibn Ḥazm authenticated it in al-Muḥallā, and al-Mundhirī remarked, “The men of its chain are relied upon in the two Ṣaḥīḥs.”

Vocabulary
“Does not repel the hand of one who touches her” means that she is not the type of woman who shies away from, or feels discomfort in the presence of, unrelated men; it does not suggest that she commits indecency, for that is highly unlikely.