the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him: “Whoever returns to any of these things has disbelieved in what was revealed to Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.” Narrated by Ahmad. Al-Mundhirī said: “Its chain of transmission is good, Allah willing.”)
Weak. Ahmad transmitted it (1/87, 138–130, 139) through al-Hakam, from a man of Basra whom the Basrans called Abu Mawra and the Kufans called Abu Muhammad, from Ali—may Allah be pleased with him.
I say: This chain of transmission is weak. This Abu al-Mawra—or Abu Muhammad—is unknown, as the eminent hadith master stated in Ta'jīl al-Manfa'a, citing al-Husaynī. I say: There is also inconsistency in its transmission: sometimes he narrated it without naming the Companion, while at other times he connected its chain by mentioning Ali! Ahmad transmitted it from him in both forms.
The hadith is evidence against the author’s position that non-three-dimensional images are permissible. The command to smear them—or, in one wording, to talkh (daub) them—indicates that they were not three-dimensional. This is further confirmed by the Prophet’s command, peace and blessings be upon him, to break the idols, as is evident. It states in al-Nihāya: “(Talakha them) means that he smeared them with clay until he obliterated them. It derives from talkh, the sediment that remains at the bottom of a cistern or pond. It is also said to mean that he blackened them, derived from the expression ‘a pitch-dark night,’ on the assumption that the letter m is additional.”
145 — (The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “If a dog laps from the vessel of any one of you, let him wash it seven times, one of them with earth.” Al-Bukhārī.) p. 116
Authentic. However, attributing it to al-Bukhārī with the additional words “one of them with earth” is an error, for this wording is not found in his collection at all. Rather, it is found in Muslim with the wording: “the first of them with earth.”
It has been transmitted with the wording found in this book and with other wordings, but Muslim’s narration is the strongest, both by transmission and critical analysis. I have explained this and traced the hadith through ten routes from Abu Hurayra—may Allah be pleased with him—in Irwā' al-Ghalīl (no. 24).
146 — (The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Gabriel, peace be upon him, came to me