of the arms in dry ablution. For that reason, I included it in my book, Weak Hadiths of Sunan Abū Dāwūd (no. 58).

Note: Since al-Salām is one of the Names of Allah, Most High—as will come in hadith 1894—the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, disliked that it be mentioned except while in a state of ritual purity. This indicates, a fortiori, that reciting the Quran without ritual purity is disliked. One should therefore not state unreservedly that it is permissible for a person in a state of minor ritual impurity to recite it, as some of our brothers among the hadith scholars do.

835 — “Whenever ʿAmmār was given a choice between two matters, he chose the sounder of them.”

Al-Tirmidhī (4/345), Ibn Mājah (1/66), al-Ḥākim (3/388), and al-Khaṭīb (11/288) narrated it through ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Siyyāh, from Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, from ʿĀʾishah, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said it.

Al-Tirmidhī said: “A good, singular hadith. We know it only through the hadith of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Siyyāh. He was a Kufan shaykh from whom people narrated.”

I say: He was trustworthy, among the narrators of the two Shaykhs, and he was not alone in narrating it. Imam Aḥmad (6/113) said: Abū Aḥmad narrated to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥabīb narrated to us, from Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār, who said: “A man came and spoke disparagingly of ʿAlī and ʿAmmār, may Allah, Most High, be pleased with them both, in the presence of ʿĀʾishah. She said: ‘As for ʿAlī, I shall say nothing concerning him. But as for ʿAmmār, I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: “He is never given a choice between two matters …”’”

I say: This ʿAbd Allāh is ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit. He too was trustworthy and among Muslim’s narrators. Thus, the chain is authentic were it not for Ḥabīb’s use of an unqualified “from” transmission formula, for he was accused of concealment in transmission. Yet it is unquestionably authentic in light of what follows.

Al-Ḥākim (3/388) and Aḥmad (1/389 and 445) narrated it through ʿAmmār ibn Muʿāwiyah al-Duhnī, from Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd al-Ashjaʿī, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Ibn Sumayyah was never presented with two matters without choosing the sounder of them.” And he said: