touches a woman who is not lawful for him, as mentioned earlier in hadith (229).

The hadith of Umaymah bint Ruqayqah is further supported by the hadith that follows. After writing the above, I saw that Isḥāq ibn Manṣūr al-Marwazī said in Masāʾil Aḥmad wa-Isḥāq (211/1): “I said”—meaning, to Aḥmad—“Do you deem shaking hands with women reprehensible?” He replied: “I deem it reprehensible.” Isḥāq said: “As he said: whether she is an elderly woman or otherwise. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, only received their pledges with a cloth over his hand.”

I then found in al-Mustadrak (2/486), through Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Uways, who said: My brother related to me, from Sulaymān ibn Bilāl, from Ibn ʿAjlān, from his father, from Fāṭimah bint ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah ibn ʿAbd Shams, that Abū Ḥudhayfah ibn ʿUtbah, may Allah be pleased with him, brought her and Hind bint ʿUtbah to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to pledge allegiance to him. She said: “He took our pledge and stipulated conditions for us.” She said: “I said to him: ‘O cousin, have you known anything of these defects or shortcomings among your people?’” Abū Ḥudhayfah said: “Yes; then pledge allegiance to him, for this is how he receives pledges and these are the conditions he stipulates.”

Hind then said: “I will not pledge allegiance to you concerning theft, for I take from my husband’s property.” So the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, held back his hand, and she held back hers, until he sent for Abū Sufyān and asked him to absolve her of it. Abū Sufyān said: “As for fresh food, yes; but not dry provisions—and not even as a favor!” She said: “So we pledged allegiance to him.” Then Fāṭimah said: “There had been no tent more hateful to me than yours, nor one that I wished more for Allah to destroy along with all that was in it. By Allah, now there is no tent more beloved to me than yours—one that I wish Allah to cause to flourish and bless those within it.” The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “Moreover, by Allah, none of you truly believes until I am more beloved to him than his child and his father.”

Al-Ḥākim said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic.” Al-Dhahabī agreed with him.

I say: Its chain of transmission is good. The critical remarks concerning Muḥammad ibn ʿAjlān and Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Uways are not harmful, if Allah Most High wills.