Al-Dāraquṭnī also recorded it through Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh, from Ibn ʿAṭāʾ—that is, Yaʿqūb—from Ṣafiyyah bint Shaybah, with the same report. This Yaʿqūb is weak; however, the hadith is authentic through the first route, were it not for Umm ʿUthmān bint Abū Sufyān. Ibn al-Qaṭṭān said, as al-Zaylaʿī quoted from him: “Her status is unknown,” and it was on her account that they deemed the hadith weak.
However, al-Ḥāfiẓ said in al-Taqrīb: “Umm ʿUthmān bint Sufyān, or Abū Sufyān: she was the mother of Shaybah ibn ʿUthmān, a female Companion who narrated a hadith.” Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr included her in al-Istīʿāb fī Maʿrifat al-Aṣḥāb and said: “She was among the women who pledged allegiance. Ṣafiyyah bint Shaybah narrated from her, and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Musāfiʿ narrated from his mother, from her.”
I say: Once her Companionship is established, her unknown status is removed, for all the Companions are upright, as is established in the science of legal theory. Thus, the hadith is authentic. Praise be to Allah, by whose grace righteous deeds are completed.
- “Why is it that I place you beside me—that is, in prayer—and you step back?”
Aḥmad recorded it (1/330): ʿAbd Allāh ibn Bakr narrated to us: Ḥātim ibn Abī Ṣaghīrah, Abū Yūnus, narrated to us, from ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, that Kurayb informed him that Ibn ʿAbbās said: “I came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, late at night and prayed behind him. He took my hand and drew me forward, placing me beside him. When the Messenger of Allah turned his attention to his prayer, I stepped back. The Messenger of Allah prayed, and when he finished, he said to me the words just cited. I said: ‘Messenger of Allah, is it fitting for anyone to pray beside you while you—’”