‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Amr al-Ash‘ath narrated to us, from Dāwūd ibn al-Kumayt, from his uncle al-Mustahill ibn Zayd, from Abū Zayd ibn Sahlab (1), from Juwayriya bint Mus-hir (2), who said (3): “I went out with ‘Alī, and he said: ‘O Juwayriya, the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was receiving revelation while his head was in my lap.’” And he related the report.

I say:

This chain of transmission is weaker than those previously mentioned. It contains unknown narrators, none of whom is known to possess either integrity or accuracy in transmission. Their solitary transmission of such a report—which, had ‘Alī said it, his well-known companions would have narrated from him—through a chain like this from this woman (4), cannot establish (5) anything. Neither this woman’s standing nor that of those who narrated from her is known; indeed, their very identities are unknown, let alone their qualities. Moreover, it contains elements that contradict the version which carries greater weight than it, although all these versions are false. Muslims have transmitted accounts of ‘Alī’s virtues and the Prophet’s miracles—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—that are less remarkable than this, yet this was not narrated by [anyone] (6) versed in hadith.

A number of hadith scholars have written works on ‘Alī’s virtues. Imam Ahmad compiled his virtues, and Abū Nu‘aym wrote a work on his virtues, in which he included hadiths