He says: When the Kaʿbah was being rebuilt, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ went out to carry (1) stones. Al-ʿAbbās said to him, “Put your waist-wrapper on your shoulder so the stones do not hurt you.” He did so, whereupon he fell to the ground and his eyes turned heavenward. Then he rose and exclaimed, “My waist-wrapper! My waist-wrapper!” and he tightened it firmly around his waist.

Both al-Bukhārī and Muslim include this report in their Ṣaḥīḥs through the narration of ʿAbd al-Razzāq (2). They likewise transmit it through the chain of Rawḥ ibn ʿUbādah, from Zakariyyā ibn Isḥāq, from ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, from Jābir with similar wording (3).

Al-Bayhaqī (4) said: Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥāfiẓ and Abū Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿAmr both informed us, saying: Abū al-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Ṣāghānī narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Bukayr al-Ḥaḍramī narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Dashtakī narrated to us; ʿAmr ibn Abī Qays—from Simāk—from ʿIkrimah—who said: Ibn ʿAbbās related to me from his father that he was transporting stones to the House when Quraysh rebuilt it.

He said: Quraysh divided the work: the men carried the stones, while the women brought the lime mortar (5).

He continued: My nephew and I would lift the stones onto our shoulders with our waist-wrappers underneath them; but whenever people drew near we would gird ourselves (6). While I was walking and Muḥammad ﷺ was ahead of me, he suddenly collapsed, falling face-down. I hurried over, dropped my stone, and found him looking up at the sky. I asked, “What is the matter with you?” He stood, grasped his waist-wrapper, and said, “I have been forbidden to walk naked.” I kept this incident from the people (7) for fear they would say he was mad.

Al-Bayhaqī (8) also narrated—through Yūnus ibn Bukayr, from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq (9)—that Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Qays ibn Makhramah related to him, from al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, from his father, from his grandfather ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, who said:

“I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: ‘I never even considered any of the things the people of the Age of Ignorance used to consider regarding women except…’”