my citation of the ḥadith, he made it seem as though it dealt with a woman who had already been proposed to, even though he knows that the Prophet— as I there quoted from al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar— had not sought her hand at all; rather, she had offered herself to him, as the wording of the ḥadith itself makes perfectly clear. This occurred in the mosque, as stated in the version of al-Ismāʿīlī, and in full view of Sahl ibn Saʿd—the narrator—together with the people who were with him, as related by al-Bukhārī, Abū Yaʿlā, and al-Ṭabarānī, whose wording is more complete, as will be shown there.

Has it really occurred to the shaykh and to those who imitate him that it would be permissible to make a marriage proposal in the presence of unrelated men? Yet this is precisely what they reject and denounce most vehemently, even to the point of wrenching words from their proper context, as when one of them says: “Does not the ḥadith state that she was unveiled?”

Our brother mentions this in al-ʿAwda (3/368), along with other remarks unworthy of repetition, their falsity being self-evident—among them the aforementioned statement of al-Tuwajirī, and the claim that “the Prophet is infallible.” Although that statement is true, it is being misused here, for the issue under discussion is what the Companions saw, as anyone with eyes can understand.

In my estimation, the esteemed Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ ibn ʿUthaymīn did not address the ḥadith with any of these replies because their weakness was plain; he deemed it safer to remain silent and avoid fruitless debate—may Allah reward him. Nevertheless, I still hope that he will revisit the matter in light of what has already been clarified and of what is yet to come ⦗45⦘