I say: Ḥibbān ibn Hilāl was reliable, precise, and an authority, as Ibn Saʿd stated; and in al-Taqrīb he is graded “trustworthy, precise.” To fault him here is therefore difficult. Allah knows best.

In short, the ḥadīth is mass-transmitted, or very nearly so. Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah said in the third epistle of Majmūʿat al-Rasāʾil al-Kubrā (3/53): “It is a widespread report upon whose authenticity the scholars are unanimously agreed; they have accepted it and affirmed it.”

His words, “lā tushaddu al-riḥāl (do not saddle mounts),” al-Ḥāfiẓ explained: “Pronounced with a ḍamma on the first letter, it comes in the form of a negation, meaning a prohibition against travelling to anywhere else. Al-Ṭayyibī said: It is more emphatic than an explicit prohibition, as though he were saying: It is not proper to set out with the intention of visitation except to these places, because of their unique distinction. Al-riḥāl is the plural of raḥl, the pack-saddle for a camel, akin to a saddle for a horse. ‘Saddling the mounts’ is a metaphor for travel, since it necessarily accompanies it. Camels are mentioned because they were the mounts most commonly used by travellers; otherwise, in the intended meaning, there is no difference between riding camels, horses, mules, donkeys, or going on foot. This is supported by the second wording: ‘One only travels …’ ”

His words, “except to three mosques,” al-Ḥāfiẓ said: “The exception is exhaustive. The implied sense is: ‘Do not saddle mounts for any destination,’ which entails a prohibition of travelling to every place other than these three, for in an exhaustive exception the entity from which the exception is made is assumed to be of the most general kind. However—