“As for the girl, hand her over to Jaʿfar, for her maternal aunt is with him; indeed, the maternal aunt is a mother.”
Al-Ḥākim said: “Authentic according to Muslim’s criteria.” That is what he said, but Nāfiʿ ibn ʿUjayr was not among Muslim’s narrators, and there is disagreement concerning its chain of transmission, as noted in his biographical entry in al-Tahdhīb.
The hadith has a strong mursal supporting report with the wording: “The maternal aunt is a mother.” Ibn Saʿd related it (4/35–36) from Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad, from his father, who said: “Hamzah’s daughter was moving among the men when ʿAlī took her by the hand and placed her with Fāṭimah in her howdah. ʿAlī, Jaʿfar, and Zayd ibn Ḥārithah then disputed over her, until their voices rose and woke the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, from his sleep. He said, ‘Come; I shall decide between you concerning her and other matters.’ ʿAlī said, ‘She is my cousin’s daughter; I brought her out, and I have the greatest right to her.’ Jaʿfar said, ‘She is my cousin’s daughter, and her maternal aunt is with me.’ Zayd said, ‘She is my brother’s daughter.’ He said something to each of them that pleased him, then awarded her to Jaʿfar and said”—then he cited it.
Jaʿfar then rose and danced around the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him—circling him. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, asked, ‘What is this?’ He replied, ‘It is something I saw the Abyssinians do for their kings.’
I say: Its chain of transmission is authentic, were it not mursal.
- “When you recite, ‘Praise be to Allah,’ then recite, ‘In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.’ It is the Mother of the Quran, the Mother of the Book, and the Seven Oft-Repeated Verses; and ‘In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful’ is one of them.”
Al-Dāraquṭnī (118), al-Bayhaqī (2/45), and al-Daylamī (1/1/70) related it through Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī, who said: ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Jaʿfar narrated to us; Nūḥ ibn Abī Bilāl informed me, from Saʿīd ibn Abī Saʿīd al-Maqburī, from Abū Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said—then he cited it.