There are also subsidiary chains transmitted through ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā, from Abū Sahl al-Baṣrī, from Massah, on his authority.

Abū Dāʾūd and the Musnad likewise record it through Yūnus ibn Rāfiʿ, from Kathīr ibn Ziyād Abū Sahl, who said: “Musnah al-Azdiyyah related to me:

‘I performed the pilgrimage and entered upon Umm Salamah. I said, “O Mother of the Believers, Samurah ibn Jundab orders women to make up the prayers missed during menstruation.” She replied, “They are not to make them up. In the Prophet’s ﷺ time, one of his wives would remain in post-partum bleeding for forty nights, and the Prophet ﷺ never told her to make up the prayers missed during nifās.”’

Al-Tirmidhī declared the ḥadīth ‘singular (gharīb),’ while al-Ḥākim judged it ‘sound (ṣaḥīḥ),’ a verdict with which al-Dhahabī concurred. That grading, however, is set aside because al-Dāraqutnī said of Musnah al-Azdiyyah in al-Mīzān—after citing this very report—‘She is not relied upon.’

I add: no other narration is known from her. Ibn Ḥajar nevertheless describes her in al-Taqrīb as ‘acceptable (maqbūlah).’

Despite the weakness in this chain, the report is supported by numerous corroborating narrations, so that its status does not drop below ḥasan li-ghayrihi (sound owing to external support). Among those corroborations is the report of Abū Bilāl al-Ashʿarī: ‘Abū Shihāb narrated to us, from Hishām ibn Ḥassān, from al-Ḥasan, from ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, “The term set for women in post-partum bleeding is forty days.”’