This would be so if al-Bāhī had heard from Aishah; however, there is some question as to whether he heard from her. Imam Ahmad was asked about this and replied: “I do not see anything [reliable] regarding this; it is only narrated from al-Bāhī.”

I say: Yet this weakness is remedied by the hadith’s coming through another route. Ibn ʿAsākir narrated it by way of Abū Yaʿlā, who recorded it in his Musnad (3/1100): Zakariyyā ibn Yaḥyā al-Wāsiṭī informed us; Hushaym informed us, from Mujālid, from al-Shaʿbī, from Aishah, who said:

One day, the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, instructed me to wash the face of Usāmah ibn Zayd when he was still a boy. She said: I had never given birth, nor did I know how little boys were washed. So I took him and washed him, though not very well. She said: Then he took him and began washing his face, saying: “We have indeed been favored in that you were not made a girl. Had you been a girl, I would have adorned you with jewelry and given you gifts.”

Its narrators are trustworthy. Mujālid—namely, Mujālid ibn Saʿīd—has some weakness, but this does not affect corroborating reports and supporting chains. Then I found for it a strong mursal corroborating report. Ibn Saʿd said (4/1/43): Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbbād informed us; he said: Yūnus ibn Abī Isḥāq narrated to us; he said: Abū al-Safar narrated to us:

While the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, was sitting with Aishah and Usāmah, the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, looked at him, laughed, and then said … and he mentioned it.

Ibn ʿAsākir also narrated it through Ibn Saʿd (2/348/1). This is an authentic mursal chain. Abū al-Safar, whose name was Saʿīd ibn Yaḥmad, was a trustworthy Successor who narrated from the ʿAbādilah: Ibn ʿAbbās, Ibn ʿUmar, and Ibn ʿAmr.

1020 — “Whoever assists an oppressor through falsehood in order to invalidate a truth by means of his falsehood has renounced the covenant of Allah and the covenant of His Messenger.”

Al-Ṭabarānī recorded it in al-Kabīr with the following chain of transmission: ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz narrated to us; ʿĀrim Abū al-Nuʿmān narrated to us; al-Muʿtamir informed us; I heard my father narrating from Ḥanash, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, in a report attributed to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. Al-Ḥākim also narrated it (4/100) through ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz by this route. He said: “Its chain of transmission is authentic.” Al-Dhahabī rebutted him, saying: