something like what befell them might befall you, so do not enter upon them.’
Aḥmad transmitted this report, saying, ‘ʿAbd al-Ṣamad narrated to us; Sakhr—meaning Ibn Juwayriya—narrated to us, from him.’
This chain is sound according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs. Al-Bukhārī and Muslim also recorded it through the route of ʿUbayd Allāh from Nāfiʿ with similar wording, though omitting the phrase, ‘and he forbade them…,’ etc. Al-Bukhārī added, ‘Usāmah likewise narrated it from Nāfiʿ.’
- A third route comes from Sālim ibn ʿAbd Allāh, from Ibn ʿUmar, with wording similar to that of Ibn Dīnār. Al-Bukhārī, Muslim, al-Bayhaqī, and Aḥmad all reported it through al-Zuhrī. The first additional phrase appears in all their versions, and the second appears in those of al-Bukhārī and al-Bayhaqī, except for the wording, ‘with his cloak while he was on the saddle,’ which is found in one narration of Aḥmad and likewise in one of al-Bukhārī’s.
This ḥadīth therefore prohibits entering or residing in the dwellings of peoples who were punished, unless one does so while weeping. Al-Bayhaqī commented, ‘That includes stopping there for prayer or anything else.’
A ḥadīth expressed this point explicitly, though its authenticity is debated. Abū Dāwūd—followed by al-Bayhaqī—recorded it through two chains, via Ibn Lahīʿah and Yaḥyā ibn Azhar, from ʿAmmār ibn Saʿd al-Murādī, from Abū Ṣāliḥ al-Ghifārī:
‘ʿAlī (may Allah honor his face) passed by Babylon while traveling, whereupon the caller to prayer came announcing the ʿAṣr prayer…’