Section
As for his wrestling, peace and blessings be upon him:
In Sunan Abū Dāwūd (1) it is narrated from Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Rukānah that “Rukānah wrestled the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and the Prophet threw him to the ground.”
This ḥadīth contains a fuller story which we shall now relate. Our teacher, Abū al-Ḥajjāj al-Ḥāfiẓ, states in his work Tahdhīb al-Kamāl (2): “Rukānah ibn ʿAbd Yazīd ibn Hāshim ibn al-Muṭṭalib ibn ʿAbd Manāf ibn Quṣayy ibn Kilāb ibn Murrah ibn Kaʿb ibn Luʾayy ibn Ghālib, a Qurashi from the Muṭṭalib clan, was among those who embraced Islam at the Conquest of Mecca. He is the one who wrestled the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and the Prophet threw him down twice or three times; this occurred before he accepted Islam. And it is also said:”
(1) Recorded under no. 4078; also by al-Tirmidhi, no. 1784; al-Bukhari in his al-Tarikh al-kabir 1:82 and 3:338; al-Tabarani in al-Muʿjam al-kabir 5:71; and others. Al-Bukhari commented: “Its isnad is unknown; it is not established that the narrators actually heard from one another.” Al-Tirmidhi said: “This hadith is gharib; its chain is not sound, and we do not know Abu al-Hasan al-Asqalani or Ibn Rukana.” Ibn Hibban wrote in al-Thiqat 3:130: “It is said that he wrestled with the Prophet, but the isnad of this report is problematic.” Al-Dhahabi likewise graded it weak in al-Mizan 7:349 because Abu Jaʿfar and Abu al-Hasan al-Asqalani are unknown. The hadith has additional routes that are likewise problematic; see al-Bayhaqi, Dalaʾil al-nubuwwa 6:251. There is also a supporting narration from Ibn Abbas, but it is mursal, as will be clarified below (pp. 138–139).
(2) 9:221.