537 — “O Aishah, beware of obscenity; beware of obscenity. For if obscenity were a man, he would be an evil man.”

Al-ʿUqayli narrated it in al-Duʿafaʾ (259) from ʿAbd al-Jabbar ibn al-Ward, who said: “I heard Ibn Abi Mulaykah say: Aishah said...” He then cited it as attributed to the Prophet. Al-ʿUqayli said: “Regarding ʿAbd al-Jabbar, al-Bukhari said: ‘He differs in some of his hadiths.’” This has also been narrated through another chain of transmission, better than this one, with variant wordings conveying the meaning of obscenity.

I say: This statement of al-Bukhari’s is a mild criticism and, in my view, is not sufficient to invalidate this hadith of ʿAbd al-Jabbar. Ahmad, Ibn Maʿin, Abu Hatim, Abu Dawud, and others deemed him trustworthy. Ibn ʿAdi said: “There is no harm in him; his hadith may be recorded.” Al-Sulami reported from al-Daraqutni: “He is mildly weak.”

I say: Such a narrator’s hadith does not fall below the rank of good, and the remaining narrators in the chain of transmission are trustworthy. Thus, in my view, the hadith is established as good, at the very least.