Ibn Asākir narrated it in al-Tārīkh (14/258/1), through Saīd ibn Sinān: Abū al-Zāhiriyya narrated to us, from Kathīr ibn Murra al-Hadramī, who said: I heard Umar ibn al-Khattāb relate the following as a report traced back to the Prophet:

“No church is to be built in Islam, nor is any that has fallen into ruin to be restored.”

I say: Saīd ibn Sinān is Abū Mahdī al-Himsī. Al-Hāfiz said:

“His reports were abandoned; al-Dāraqutnī and others accused him of fabrication.”

Abū Nuaym also narrated it through him in Akhbār Asbahān (2/6), with the wording, “No church shall be newly established in . . .”

However, the hadith has a corroborating report from Ibn Umar, who said:

“The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbade castrating horses and livestock.” Ibn Umar added: “Leaving them intact allows their kind to multiply.”

Ahmad (2/24) and Ibn Adī in al-Kāmil (fol. 62/1) narrated it through Abd Allah ibn Nāfi, from his father, from Ibn Umar. This Abd Allah—Ibn Nāfi, the client of Ibn Umar—is weak. However, he was not alone in narrating it. Ibn Adī also narrated it through Jubāra, who said: Īsā narrated to us, from Ubayd Allah, from Nāfi, with the same report. He then narrated it through Hubayy ibn Hātim al-Jarjarāʾī and Yahyā ibn al-Yamān, both from Ubayd Allah ibn Umar, from Nāfi, with the same report. Ibn al-Yamān is weak because of his poor memory, and I could find no biographical entry for Hubayy. Taken together, however, its routes of transmission establish the hadith as fair at the very least. Mālik also narrated it in al-Muwatta (2/948/4), from Nāfi, from Ibn Umar, that he disliked castration and would say, “Leaving them intact allows their kind to multiply.” This does not conflict with the report traced back to the Prophet; rather, it was deduced from it, Allah Most High willing.

483—(The hadith of Safiyya bint Shayba, who said: “While we were with Aisha, the women of Quraysh and their merits were mentioned . . . Sūrat al-Nūr was indeed revealed