73 – Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that “the Prophet ﷺ underwent cupping, then prayed without renewing his ablution.” Al-Dāraqutnī narrated it and declared it weak (1).

Grade of the ḥadith:
The report is weak. Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar writes in al-Talkhīṣ that its chain contains Ṣāliḥ ibn Muqātil, a weak narrator. Al-Dāraqutnī added after citing it, “Ṣāliḥ ibn Muqātil is not strong,” and al-Nawawī included it among the weak narrations. Reports conveying the same meaning are related from several Companions: ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, which al-Bukhārī records in suspended form; Ibn ʿAbbās, transmitted by al-Shāfiʿī; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Awfā and Abū Hurayrah, both mentioned by al-Shāfiʿī and connected by al-Bayhaqī; and Jābir, cited by al-Bukhārī in hanging form and linked by Ibn Khuzaymah and Abū Dāwūd. The chain also includes ʿAqīl ibn Jābir, whom only Ibn Ḥibbān declared reliable—and he authenticated his ḥadith, as did Ibn Khuzaymah and al-Ḥākim. As for the narration from ʿĀʾishah, al-Ḥāfiẓ says, “I have not found it.”

Vocabulary of the ḥadith:
– iḥtajama: to remove blood by means of cupping; the mihjam is the instrument used to draw the blood from the patient.

Points derived from the ḥadith:

1. Cupping does not invalidate ablution, and it is permissible to pray afterward.
2. The narration reaffirms the basic rule that blood exiting the body from anywhere other than the two private passages does not nullify ablution; the default is that ablution remains valid until clear evidence overturns that default.
3. The well-known view in the Ḥanbalī school is that a considerable amount of any impurity emerging from somewhere other than the two passages nullifies ablution. Al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr states: “Impurity coming from a place other than the two passages, apart from urine and feces, nullifies ablution.”