Ibn Abī Ḥātim said, “I asked my father about it, and he replied, ‘This report is munkar (irregular).’ Al-Albānī likewise graded it weak.

Ibn Ḥazm held that anyone who has intercourse with his father’s wife—whether on the basis of a marriage contract or without one—is to be put to death. He relied on the report of al-Barāʾ, which he transmitted through several chains and declared some of them sound. As for intercourse with, or contracting marriage to, other women who are permanently unlawful, he regarded their ruling as identical to that of ordinary fornication with respect to the ḥadd.

The ḥadīth of al-Barāʾ is indeed reported through chains that include some transmitters found in the two Ṣaḥīḥs, yet the authenticity of the report itself is disputed. Al-Mundhirī noted, “There is a great deal of variation over this narration: in one version he says, ‘My uncle passed by me,’ while in another he says, ‘My maternal uncle Abū Burdah passed by me.’ A report that shows such variation is doubtful, and prescribed penalties are lifted in the presence of doubt. The stronger view, therefore, is that of the majority: the ḥadd for one who fornicates with a woman who is a maḥram is the same as the ḥadd for fornication with any other woman. Allah knows best.