The report also comes through ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUkim: “Some of our elders from Juhaynah informed us that the Prophet ﷺ wrote to them, instructing, ‘Do not make any use whatsoever of a carcass.’ ” Graded: “ṣaḥīḥ.”

2/ The Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—had earlier declared it weak in: al-Ḍaʿīfah 1/238-240 no. 118 (Maʿārif), Taḥdhīr al-Sājid p. 25 (footnote), and al-Mishkāt no. 508, all on the authority of Jābir (Allah be pleased with him).

3/ He later retracted that verdict and authenticated the ḥadīth in: al-Ḍaʿīfah 1/240 (Maʿārif) and al-Ṣaḥīḥah 7/366-369 no. 3133.

Shaykh al-Albānī said:
“Know, dear reader, that I first traced this ḥadīth of Jābir more than thirty years ago in volume 1 of al-Ḍaʿīfah under no. 118, through the route of Ibn Wahb → Zamʿah → Abū al-Zubayr → Jābir, with a linked chain (but without an explicit statement of hearing), and the story was mentioned there as well. When we began reprinting that volume and I reached this ḥadīth while checking the proofs, I remembered that I had documented something similar in al-Irwāʾ, a work compiled about fifteen years after al-Ḍaʿīfah. There I found the ḥadīth of ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUkim through two chains, in two wordings: one identical to the heading here, the other the same except that it adds, ‘…whether hide or sinew.’ I leaned toward authenticating its chain and explicitly stated that the first chain was sound. Fearing, however, that this judgment might contain some oversight, I re-examined the matter more extensively—as you can see here—than I had done there. I became certain of its soundness and was even more convinced of it—praise be to Allah. Accordingly, I deemed it incumbent upon me to alert respected readers that, with the supporting narration of Ibn ʿUkim, the report attains the level of “ṣaḥīḥ li-ghayrih” (sound through corroboration). I have therefore transferred it here. Allah is the One who grants success and guides to the straightest path.”

Comment: Shaykh al-Albānī had already authenticated this ḥadīth in al-Irwāʾ 1/76-79 no. 38 through the narration of Ibn ʿUkim. Before and after that he had graded the wording from Jābir weak, until he noticed that the two wordings match; he then declared the report of Jābir sound through external corroboration.

The first instalment is now complete, and praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all worlds.

Allah knows best, and may blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muḥammad.