A second corroborating report: Ibn ʿUmar narrated it with the same wording, attributing it to the Prophet. Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn al-Muẓaffar recorded it in Ḥadīth Ḥājib ibn Arkīn (1/254/2), through ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd ibn Aslam, from his father, from Ibn ʿUmar.

I say: This chain of transmission is extremely weak. This ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd is suspected of fabrication, and reports from him have already been mentioned.

Ibn Abī Shaybah also recorded it in al-Muṣannaf (7/72/1), with an authentic chain of transmission from ʿĀṣim, who said: “ʿUmar said it,” citing it as a report attributed to ʿUmar himself. This is perhaps the correct version.

A third corroborating report: Bishr ibn ʿĀṣim narrated from his father, from his grandfather, attributing it to the Prophet, with the wording: “Choose young women, for their mouths are sweeter, their wombs more fertile, and their embrace warmer.” Al-Shīrāzī recorded it in al-Alqāb, as cited in al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr. In his commentary, al-Manāwī said nothing at all about its chain of transmission—except that he mentioned that some copies give the name as Yusayr, with an initial yāʾ bearing a ḍammah, followed by an unpointed consonant, in the diminutive form; while others have Bishr, with an initial bāʾ bearing one dot, as we have given it. This is correct, for this is the name found in the biographical works. He is trustworthy, as was his father. If the chain of transmission to him is authentic, then it is a good chain; but I do not think that it is authentic.

It may nevertheless be said that the hadith is good on the strength of these combined chains, since some of them are not severely weak. And Allah knows best. I then became certain of this when I found the hadith in Kitāb al-Sunan of Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr (512, 513, 514), from ʿAmr ibn ʿUthmān and Makhūl, in mursal form.