1116 – Makḥūl relates: “The Prophet ﷺ set up a catapult against the people of Ṭāʾif.” Abū Dāwūd recorded it in the Marāsīl, and its transmitters are trustworthy (1). ʿUqaylī provided a connected chain back to ʿAlī, but it is weak (2).

Grade of the ḥadīth:
• The report is sound (ṣaḥīḥ).
• Its transmitters are reliable.

In al-Talkhīṣ he says: Abū Dāwūd narrated it in the Marāsīl from Thawr, from Makḥūl: “that the Prophet ﷺ set up a catapult against the people of Ṭāʾif.”

Al-Tirmidhī reported it muʿḍal from Thawr. Abū Dāwūd also transmitted, with a sound chain, from al-Awzāʿī, who said: “I asked Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, ‘Has it reached you that the Prophet ﷺ bombarded them with a catapult?’ He rejected this and said, ‘That is not known.’”

Ibn Abī Shaybah narrated from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sinān that the Prophet ﷺ besieged the people of Ṭāʾif for twenty-five days.

As for the report traced to ʿAlī, it contains ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kharrāsh, whose ḥadīth is rejected.

Lexical notes:
• naṣaba: “to set up, raise, or direct.”
• manjanīq (plural: majāniq, majānīq, manjanīqāt): a war engine used to hurl stones at fortresses and bring them down; the Prophet