go near it.’” Even if this hadith established anything, it would establish only the impurity of the clarified butter into which the mouse fell. How, then, can it serve as proof when the hadith is weak—indeed, invalid? Ma‘mar made an error in transmitting it from al-Zuhrī, an error well known to the foremost hadith critics, as al-Tirmidhī related from al-Bukhārī.

Those jurists who believed that it met the conditions for an authentic hadith were unaware of its hidden defect, which establishes its invalidity. Knowledge of hidden defects is among the specialized fields mastered by the leading hadith scholars. Thus, in his Sahīh, al-Bukhārī explained what demonstrates the unsoundness of this version, and that the authentic hadith supports the purity of the clarified butter more strongly than its impurity. He said:

“Chapter: When a Mouse Falls into Solid or Melted Clarified Butter

‘Abdān narrated to us, saying: ‘Abd Allāh—meaning Ibn al-Mubārak—narrated to us, from Yūnus, from al-Zuhrī, that he was asked about an animal—a mouse or otherwise—that dies in oil or clarified butter, whether solid or liquid. He said:

‘It has reached us that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, gave instructions concerning a mouse that had died in clarified butter. He ordered that whatever was near it be discarded, after which the clarified butter was eaten.’

In the hadith transmitted by ‘Ubayd Allāh ibn ‘Abd Allāh, from Ibn ‘Abbās, from Maymūnah, it is stated:

‘The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was asked about a mouse that had fallen into clarified butter. He replied: “Discard it and whatever surrounds it, and eat the clarified butter.”’”

Thus, al-Bukhārī related from Ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī—the most knowledgeable person in the Muslim community concerning the Sunnah in his time—that he ruled that when a mouse dies in oil or clarified butter, whether solid or liquid, it and whatever is near it should be discarded.