- “Use antimony kohl before going to sleep, for it clears the sight and promotes hair growth.”
Ibn Mājah (3496) and al-Qāḍī al-Khalaʿī in al-Fawāʾid (20/50/1) reported it through Ismāʿīl ibn Muslim al-Makkī, from Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir, from Jābir, who said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say…” and he cited it.
I say: This Ismāʿīl is weak, but he was not alone in narrating it. Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq also narrated it from Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir. Al-Mukhalliṣ reported it in al-Fawāʾid al-Muntaqāh (9/4/2), as did al-Baghawī in Sharḥ al-Sunnah (3/357). However, Ibn Isḥāq practised tadlīs and transmitted it with an ambiguous formula.
Yet he was not alone in narrating it. Al-Mukhalliṣ and Ibn ʿAdī, in al-Kāmil (143/2), reported it through Ziyād ibn al-Rabīʿ, who said: Hishām ibn Ḥassān narrated to us from Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir, with it.
I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission according to al-Bukhārī’s criteria. It has been impugned on grounds that do not undermine it. Ibn Abī Ḥātim mentioned it in al-ʿIlal (2/260) through this route and stated that he asked his father about it. He replied: “It is a rejected hadith. None narrated it from Muḥammad except al-Ṣaʿqal (!), Ismāʿīl ibn Muslim, and others like him. Perhaps Hishām ibn Ḥassān took it from Ismāʿīl ibn Muslim, for he practised tadlīs.”
I say: I have not found anyone who accused him of practising tadlīs without qualification. Rather, they criticized his narrations from al-Ḥasan and ʿAṭāʾ specifically, because he would narrate mursal reports from them, as Abū Dāwūd stated. For this reason, al-Ḥāfiẓ said: “Trustworthy, and among the most reliable narrators from Ibn Sīrīn. There is criticism of his narrations from al-Ḥasan and ʿAṭāʾ, since it was said that he would narrate mursal reports from them.”