(21) "The ears are part of the head." Al-Ṣaḥīḥah, ḥadith 36 (Maʿārif edition). After authenticating the report the Shaykh quoted al-Manāwī’s words in Fayḍ al-Qadīr:

“‘The ears are part of the head’—not of the face and not an independent limb. Hence there is no need to take fresh water for them during wuḍūʾ; it is enough to wipe them with the moisture already on the head. Otherwise the statement would merely describe anatomy, and the Chosen One ﷺ was not sent for that. This is the position of the three Imams. The Shāfiʿīs, however, hold that it is recommended—though not obligatory—to renew the water for the ears and wipe them separately. Al-Nawawī supports them with the ḥadith of ʿAbd Allāh b. Zayd which says that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ took water for his ears other than that for his head.’

1 — The Shaykh adds in the margin: “In the previous edition this sentence stood here: ‘It is a sound ḥadith, as I established in Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd no. 111.’ But the text I authenticated there is in fact a different wording of the ḥadith of ʿAbd Allāh b. Zayd, so I have deleted that sentence.”

The Shaykh continues in al-Silsilah al-Ḍaʿīfah, ḥadith 1046: “This supports al-Ḥāfiẓ’s view that the report ‘He took fresh water for the ears’ is not preserved and refutes al-Nawawī’s grading of it as ḥasan. I committed an even worse mistake when I said in the first edition of al-Ṣaḥīḥah, while discussing ḥadith 36, ‘It is a sound ḥadith, as I established in Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd no. 111,’ whereas the wording I authenticated there was only Muslim’s phrase, ‘and he wiped his head with water other than the excess on his hand.’ I therefore take this opportunity to announce my retraction; whoever has seen my earlier words should amend them.”

(22) “O Allah, let me live as a poor man, let me die as a poor man, and resurrect me in the company of the poor.” Al-Ṣaḥīḥah 308.

The Shaykh remarks:

Notice: In the previous edition I cited another route for this ḥadith from Abū Saʿīd, attributing it to al-mukhtasar min al-Musnad by Ibn Ḥumayd. Some brothers—may Allah reward them—alerted me that it pertains to a different report, as I clarified in al-Irwāʾ 3/363, ḥadith 861. I therefore ask Allah’s forgiveness and repent to Him.

(23) “He is not one of us who cheats a Muslim, harms him, or conspires against him.” Weak—Daʿīf al-Jāmiʿ 4936 (3rd ed.); also in al-Ḍaʿīfah 3290.

The Shaykh writes: Fabricated. Al-Suyūṭī darkened the pages of his al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr with it, transmitting it through al-Rāfiʿī from ʿAlī. I had first marked it “weak” in Daʿīf al-Jāmiʿ 4939 (1st ed.) on the general rule that anything reported by al-Rāfiʿī and the like is weak. Having now examined its chain, I have moved from “weak” to “fabricated” because the narrator is a liar—although the first half of the ḥadith is authentic through other routes, as I noted in my commentary on Daʿīf al-Jāmiʿ.

(24) “Whoever recites Sūrat al-Baqarah will be crowned with a diadem in Paradise.” Silsilah al-Ḍaʿīfah 4633; Daʿīf al-Jāmiʿ 5771.

The Shaykh states: Fabricated. Al-Bayhaqī recorded it in al-Shuʿab through Muḥammad b. Abī ʿAmārah al-Mustamlī → Muḥammad b. Ḍawʾ b. al-Ṣalṣal → his father → al-Ṣalṣal, marfūʿ. This isnād is fabricated because of Muḥammad b. Ḍawʾ.

Notice: ʿUqbah narrated—with the same chain—the marfūʿ report: “Recite Sūrat al-Baqarah in your houses and do not turn them into graves.” That wording is sound from Abū Hurayrah and Ibn Masʿūd; see al-Ṣaḥīḥah 1521. Al-Suyūṭī nevertheless added the fabricated clause in al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr (Daʿīf al-Jāmiʿ 1069). I once cited it as supporting evidence in Aḥkām al-Janāʾiz before checking its chain, so it should be deleted. The wording in Daʿīf al-Jāmiʿ 1069 reads: “Recite Sūrat al-Baqarah in your houses, do not make them graves, and whoever recites Sūrat al-Baqarah will be crowned with a diadem in Paradise.”

(25) “Seek Laylat al-Qadr on the last night of Ramadan.” Al-Ṣaḥīḥah, ḥadith 1471, pp. 457–458.

The Shaykh comments: Ibn Naṣr narrated it in Qiyām al-Layl (p. 106) and Ibn Khuzaymah (no. 2189) through ʿAlī b. ʿĀṣim → al-Jurayrī → Buraydah … from Muʿāwiyah, marfūʿ. The chain is weak: ʿAlī b. ʿĀṣim al-Wāsiṭī is “truthful but makes mistakes.” Ibn ʿAdī also reported it via Khālid b. Muḥdūj—“I heard Anas b. Mālik…”—in a concise marfūʿ form, and al-Bukhārī is quoted as saying that Yazīd b. Hārūn accused Khālid of lying. Ibn ʿAdī adds: “Most of his narrations are anomalous.”

Even so, the report has a strong support from Abū Bakrah which I documented in al-Mishkāt 2092; whoever wishes may consult it. On that basis I moved the ḥadith from al-Silsilah al-Ḍaʿīfah and Daʿīf al-Jāmiʿ to Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ (no. 1238, 3rd ed.). See also Hidāyat al-Ruwāh 2034.

(26) From al-ʿIrbāḍ b. Sāriyah d. d. h.: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ invited me to the pre-dawn meal in Ramadan and said, ‘Come to the blessed breakfast.’” Al-Mishkāt reports it with a fair chain, through Abū Dāwūd and al-Nasāʾī.

The Shaykh adds in al-Ḍaʿīfah, ḥadith 1961: — (the discussion continues).