now. (1) Perhaps al-Ṭabarānī also recorded it in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr through another route and with a fuller wording. Al-Haythamī said (4/312), following the hadith under discussion: “Al-Bazzār narrated it, and its narrators are those of the Ṣaḥīḥ collections, apart from Muḥammad ibn Thaʿlabah ibn Sawāʾ. A number of scholars narrated from him, and no one declared him weak. Al-Ṭabarānī also narrated it in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr with similar wording; its narrators are those of the Ṣaḥīḥ collections, apart from al-Mughīrah ibn Muslim, who is trustworthy and has been mentioned above.”

Earlier, he cited it (4/308) with the wording: “A woman does not fulfill Allah’s right incumbent upon her until she fulfills her husband’s right over her in full—even if he asks her for herself while she is on a camel saddle, she must not withhold herself from him.” He said: “Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr and al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ with similar wording, and its narrators are those of the Ṣaḥīḥ collections, apart from al-Mughīrah ibn Muslim, who is trustworthy.” Al-Mundhirī said in al-Targhīb (3/77): “Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it with a good chain of transmission.”

Al-Bazzār mentioned that the narrators differed in their reports from al-Qāsim concerning it, in several ways which he detailed. He said: “I believe that the discrepancy comes from al-Qāsim, for everyone who narrated it from him is trustworthy.”

I say: I do not think this discrepancy detracts from the hadith’s authenticity in any way, since it concerns the naming of the Companion who narrated it; and whichever of them he was, he was upright. An example is what appears in Aḥmad’s Musnad (4/381): Ismāʿīl narrated to us: Ayyūb narrated to us, from al-Qāsim al-Shaybānī, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Awfā, who said: “Muʿādh came to Yemen—or he said: Syria—and saw the Christians prostrating to their patriarchs and bishops. He reflected—that is, he thought—to himself that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was more deserving of being honoured. When he arrived, he said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, I saw the Christians prostrating to their patriarchs and bishops, and I thought to myself that you were more deserving of being honoured.’ He said:”