Al-Haythamī also cites the ḥadith in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid, saying, “It was transmitted by Aḥmad and al-Bazzār in abridged form, and the transmitters in Aḥmad’s chain are reliable.”

Al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn have another incident that, God willing, will be discussed under the heading of prostration.

Ibn al-Qayyim remarks in al-Ighātha: “The ḥadith proves the permissibility of praying in the garments of a nursemaid, a wet-nurse, a menstruating woman, or a child, provided no actual impurity is known to be on them.”

Al-Nawawī comments in his Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: “It is evidence for the validity of the prayer of anyone who carries a human being or a ritually pure animal—whether a bird, a lamb, or the like—and that the clothes and bodies of children are deemed pure until impurity is positively established …” He then continues: “It supports the school of al-Shāfiʿī, may Allah have mercy on him, and those who concur with him, that it is permissible in both obligatory and supererogatory prayers to carry a small boy or girl, or any other pure animal, whether one is leading, following, or praying alone. The Mālikīs restricted this to supererogatory prayer and prohibited it in the obligatory prayer. Such an interpretation is unsound, for the Prophet’s words ‘leading the people in prayer’ are explicit—or all but explicit—that the prayer in question was obligatory. Some Mālikīs alleged that the ḥadith is abrogated; others that it applies only to the Prophet ﷺ; still others that it was allowed only out of necessity. All these claims are baseless and must be rejected: there is neither proof for them nor any need for them. The ḥadith is authentic and unequivocal in permitting the practice, and nothing in it contravenes the principles of the Law. A human being is ritually pure, and any impurity inside him is overlooked because it remains in the stomach; the same applies to children’s clothing…"