Ibn Ḥazm said: “Had the thigh been part of the ʿawrah, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would never have touched Abū Dharr’s thigh with his blessed hand; and had Abū Dharr himself considered the thigh ʿawrah, he would not have struck it with his hand—nor would ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Ṣāmit or Abū al-ʿĀliyah have done so. No Muslim would ever deem it permissible to place his hand on another man’s genitals through clothing, or on the anal orifice through clothing, or on the body of a woman who is not his maḥram through clothing, under any circumstance. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ even forbade seeking retribution for al-kasʿah—that is, striking a person’s buttocks over his clothes with the sole of the foot—saying, ‘Leave it, for it is repugnant.’

Another supporting report is the ḥadīth of Zayd ibn Thābit: while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was dictating to me the verse, “Not equal are the believers who sit [at home] and those who strive in the path of Allah” (Q 4:95), Ibn Umm Maktūm came in and said, “O Messenger of Allah, were I able to fight I would surely do so”—for he was a blind man. Revelation then descended upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while his thigh was resting on mine; it became so heavy that I feared my own thigh would be crushed. When the state of revelation lifted, he recited: “except those who suffer disability.”

Al-Bukhārī, al-Nasāʾī, and al-Tirmidhī—who graded the report “sound and authentic”—all transmitted it, as did Aḥmad through Ṣāliḥ ibn Kaysān from Ibn Shihāb, who said, “Sahl ibn Saʿd related it to me from Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam, from him.” Al-Ṭaḥāwī likewise recorded it in Mushkil al-Āthār via Ṣāliḥ.