968 — ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Do not confuse us about the Sunnah of our Prophet. The waiting period of an umm walad whose master dies is four months and ten days.” Narrated by Aḥmad, Abū Dāwūd, and Ibn Mājah; al-Ḥākim declared it authentic, whereas al-Dāraqutnī criticized it on the ground of a broken chain (1).

Grade of the ḥadīth
The ḥadīth is sound. Al-Ḥākim authenticated it, and Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī said: “Its transmitters are trustworthy, and the flaw that al-Dāraqutnī pointed out is questionable, for he deemed it interrupted because it comes through Qabīṣah ibn Dhuʾayb from ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, although the former never heard from the latter.” Ibn al-Munḏir reported that Aḥmad weakened the narration, saying, “It is not reliable; what Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ is there on this matter?” Al-Munḏirī remarked that the chain of ʿAmr’s report contains Maṭraba bint Ṭahmān, whom several scholars judged weak, and he mentioned a third defect—discrepancy—because the ḥadīth has come down in three different versions. Aḥmad said, “It is a munkar ḥadīth.” Yet its validity is supported by the general statement of the verse: “Those among you who die and leave wives behind shall wait …” (al-Baqarah 2:234).

Vocabulary
lā talbasū ʿalaynā: The verb labasa in this construction means to mix or obscure a matter so that it becomes confused with something else. The phrase here thus means: “Do not mix things up for us or make unclear what we already recognize as the Sunnah of our Prophet ﷺ.”