Al-Khaṭīb also records in al-Faqīh wa’l-Mutafaqqih (2/225), through the chain of Fulayḥ ibn Sulaymān—from Ayyūb ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Saʿsaʿah al-Anṣārī—from Yaʿqūb ibn Abī Yaʿqūb—from Umm al-Munḏir bint Qays al-Anṣārīyyah, who said:

“The Messenger of Allah came in to me accompanied by ʿAlī, who was recovering from an illness. We had some bunches of dates (duwalī) hanging up, so the Messenger of Allah began to eat from them, and ʿAlī rose to eat as well. The Messenger of Allah kept saying to him, ‘Hold on—you are still convalescing,’ until ʿAlī refrained. She said: I had prepared some barley and chard, so I brought it, and the Messenger of Allah said”—and he mentioned the wording cited above.

Al-Tirmidhī commented: “A ḥasan, singular report; we know it only through the narration of Fulayḥ.”

I say: There is disagreement over him. A number of scholars classed him as weak, others were lenient, and the two Shaykhs included his narrations in their Ṣaḥīḥs. The stronger view, in our estimation, is that he is generally truthful but prone to error at times; therefore a report of his is ḥasan, God willing, as long as no specific mistake is evident.

Al-Ḥākim also included this narration in al-Mustadrak (4/407) and said, “Its chain is sound,” and al-Dhahabī agreed with him. In reality, however, it is only ḥasan, as al-Tirmidhī stated. Allah knows best.

Ibn al-Qayyim, in Zād al-Maʿād (3/97), after quoting the ḥadīth, wrote:

“Know that the Prophet’s restraining ʿAlī—while he was convalescing—from eating the duwalī was sound medical judgment. Duwalī are strings of fresh dates hung in the house for eating, like clusters of grapes. Fruit is harmful to a person recovering from illness because it transforms quickly and the body’s natural power is too weak to repel it; his strength has not yet fully returned, for it is still occupied with expelling the remnants of the illness and removing them from the body. As for fresh dates …”