The full wording of this ḥadīth is recorded at length in the two Ṣaḥīḥs and elsewhere. We previously cited it—by way of digression—after narrating the destruction of Bayt al-ʿUzzā at the hands of Khālid ibn al-Walīd (may Allah be pleased with him) following the Conquest.
It seems clear that Jarīr’s acceptance of Islam (may Allah be pleased with him) occurred a good while after the Conquest, for Imām Aḥmad said: “Hāshim ibn al-Qāsim narrated to us; Ziyād ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUlāthah narrated to us; from ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Mālik al-Jazarī; from Mujāhid; from Jarīr ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Bajalī, who said: ‘I only embraced Islam after Sūrat al-Māʾidah was revealed, and once I had become Muslim I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ perform the wiping (over his leather socks).’” Aḥmad alone transmitted this report, and its chain is sound—except for the possibility of a break between Mujāhid and Jarīr.
It is likewise established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs that the students of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd delighted in Jarīr’s ḥadīth on wiping over the khuff, precisely because his conversion came after the revelation of al-Māʾidah.
During the Farewell Pilgrimage the Prophet ﷺ said to him: “Ask the people to keep silent, O Jarīr,” a command he gave him because Jarīr was still a youth at the time.
Jarīr was of imposing stature: the strap of his sandal measured a cubit. He was among the most handsome of men, yet also among those who lowered their gaze the most. For this reason we relate in an authentic ḥadīth that he said: “I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about the sudden, involuntary glance, and he replied, ‘Avert your gaze.’”
(1) Sahih al-Bukhari no. 4355 in al-Maghāzī, chapter “The Battle of Dhū al-Khalāṣa”; Sahih Muslim no. 2476 in the Book of the Virtues of the Companions, chapter “The Virtues of Jarīr b. ʿAbd Allāh”; Sunan Abū Dāwūd no. 2772 in the Book of Jihād, chapter “The Dispatch of al-Bishrā”; Musnad Aḥmad, vol. 4, p. 365.
(2) Musnad Aḥmad, vol. 4, p. 363.
(3) The reading “Hishām” in this edition is corrupt; the correct reading appears in the Musnad. See al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 9, p. 545.
(4) The reading “bin” in this edition is corrupt; the correct reading appears in the Musnad. See al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 6, p. 80.
(5) Sahih al-Bukhari no. 387 in the Book of Prayer, chapter “Praying in Leather Socks”; Sahih Muslim no. 272 in the Book of Purification, chapter “Wiping Over the Leather Socks.”
(6) Sahih al-Bukhari no. 121 in the Book of Knowledge, chapter “Listening Attentively to the Scholars”; Sahih Muslim no. 118 in the Book of Faith, chapter “Clarification of the Prophet’s Statement: ‘Do not return to disbelief after me, striking one another…’ ”; Sunan Ibn Mājah, The Trials, no. 5; Musnad Aḥmad, vol. 4, pp. 358, 363, 366.
(7) Sahih Muslim no. 2159 in the Book of Manners, chapter “The Sudden Glance”; Sunan Abū Dāwūd no. 2148 in the Book of Marriage, chapter “The Command to Lower the Gaze”; Sunan al-Tirmidhī no. 2777 in the Book of Manners, chapter “What Is Reported Regarding the Sudden Glance”; Musnad Aḥmad, vol. 4, pp. 358, 361.
(8) The terms al-fajʾa (with a fatḥa on the fāʾ, a sukun on the jīm, and a short a) and al-fujāʾa (with a ḍamma on the fāʾ, a fatḥa on the jīm, and a long ā) are distinct. (Lisan al-ʿArab, under “fajʾa”).
(9) The edition reads “atraq.”