for most of those who regard it as impure do not permit merely wiping it off while wet.

The third proof:

Some of our predecessors cited the report narrated by Ishāq al-Azraq from Sharīk, from Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmān, from ‘Atā’, from Ibn ‘Abbās, who said:

“The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was asked about semen getting onto clothing. He replied: ‘It is only like nasal mucus and saliva. It is enough to wipe it off with a cloth or a stalk of idhkhir grass.’”

Al-Dāraqutnī said:

“No one other than Ishāq al-Azraq narrated it from Sharīk as a statement of the Prophet.”

They said:

“This does not undermine the report, because Ishāq ibn Yūsuf al-Azraq was one of the leading scholars. He narrated from Sufyān, Sharīk and others, while Ahmad and scholars of his generation narrated from him. Both compilers of the Sahīhs included his narrations. His attribution of the report to the Prophet, as well as reports he alone transmits, is therefore accepted.”

I say:

This legal opinion is authentically established from Ibn ‘Abbās and, before him, Sa‘d ibn Abī Waqqās. Al-Shāfi‘ī and others recorded it from them in their books. As for attributing it to the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—that is rejected and invalid, with no basis, because all the other narrators transmitted it from Sharīk as a statement of Ibn ‘Abbās.

Moreover, neither Sharīk nor Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmān—namely, Ibn Abī Laylā—was particularly strong in retention. Those more knowledgeable than they were about ‘Atā’s narrations, such as Ibn Jurayj—whose reliability in transmitting from him was more firmly established than a millstone’s pivot—and other Meccan narrators, all transmitted it solely as a statement of Ibn ‘Abbās. All of this indicates an error on the part of those narrators.