Note: The word khibāʾ in Jabir’s hadith is read with a kasrah on the khāʾ; that is, it means “deception,” as stated in al-Fayḍ.

624 — “Nothing is better for two people who love one another than marriage.”

Ibn Mājah (1847), al-Ḥākim (2/160), al-Bayhaqī (7/78), al-Ṭabarānī (3/106/1), Tammām in al-Fawāʾid (130/1), al-ʿUqaylī in al-Ḍuʿafāʾ (398), and al-Maqdisī in al-Mukhtārah (62/281/2) recorded it through Muḥammad ibn Muslim al-Ṭāʾifī, who narrated to us from Ibrāhīm ibn Maysarah, from Ṭāwūs, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Messenger of Allah, Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, said it. Al-Ḥākim said: “It is authentic according to Muslim’s criteria. Neither of them recorded it, because Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah and Maʿmar ibn Rāshid reported it from Ibrāhīm ibn Maysarah as a statement ending with Ibn ʿAbbās.” Al-Dhahabī concurred with him.

I say: Although this al-Ṭāʾifī is among Muslim’s narrators, his precision is weak. Al-Ḥāfiẓ alluded to this in al-Taqrīb when he said: “Truthful, but makes mistakes.” Thus, his reports cannot be adduced as proof, especially in light of the contradiction to which al-Ḥākim referred. Indeed, al-ʿUqaylī recorded it through al-Ḥumaydī, who said: “Sufyān narrated to us from Ibrāhīm, with this report in mursal form.” He said: “This is more likely.”