“Indeed, the act of obedience whose reward is quickest is maintaining ties of kinship.…”

It was narrated through Abu Ya‘la: Muslim ibn Abi Muslim al-Jarmi narrated to us; Makhlad ibn al-Husayn narrated to us, from Hisham, from al-Hasan, from Abu Bakrah, tracing it back to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.

I say: All its narrators are trustworthy, except that al-Hasan narrated it using the wording “from”; he is al-Basri, not this al-Jarmi, whom I have not been able to identify at present. When al-Mundhiri attributed it in al-Targhib (3/228) to Ibn Hibban’s Sahih, he made no comment on it; perhaps he knew him. The first half of it has a supporting narration from Abu Hurayrah, which will come in this volume, Allah willing, under no. 978.

919 — “Obey your father and divorce her.”

It was transmitted by Abu Dawud (5138), al-Tirmidhi (1/223), Ibn Majah (2088), Ibn Hibban (2024/2025), al-Tahawi in al-Mushkil (2/159), al-Hakim (2/197), and Ahmad (2/42, 53, and 157), through Ibn Abi Dhi’b, who said: My maternal uncle, al-Harith ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman, narrated to me from Hamzah ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umar, from his father, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: “I had a wife whom I loved, but ‘Umar disliked her. So ‘Umar said, ‘Divorce her,’ but I refused. I then mentioned this to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and he said”—then he mentioned it.

Al-Hakim’s version contains this wording, and he said: “Authentic according to the conditions of the two shaykhs.” Al-Dhahabi agreed with him. Al-Tirmidhi said: “Good and authentic.”

I say: Rather, it is only good, for this al-Harith was not narrated from by either of the two shaykhs, nor did anyone narrate from him besides Ibn Abi Dhi’b. Ahmad and al-Nasa’i said: “There is no harm in him.”