I said: Nevertheless, al-Dāraquṭnī declared it defective, saying, “The correct chain is from Thābit, from Bakr al-Muzanī.” He then cited the narration through Ibn Makhlad al-Jurjānī: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, Maʿmar from Thābit, from Bakr al-Muzanī, that al-Mughīra ibn Shuʿba said, “I came to the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—with something similar.”

I further note that Ibn Mājah transmitted it in the same way: al-Ḥasan ibn Abī al-Rabīʿ related to us, ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated it with this chain. However, the transmitters who report it from ʿAbd al-Razzāq with his isnād through Thābit, from Anas, are more numerous, and that version is therefore stronger—unless the mistake lies with ʿAbd al-Razzāq himself or with his teacher Maʿmar. Allah knows best.

(yuʾdam)—that is, the bond of affection endures.

I say: It is permissible to look at her even if she is unaware of it, because the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said: “When one of you proposes to a woman, there is no blame on him for looking at her if he is only looking for the purpose of the proposal, even if she does not know.”

97 – “When one of you proposes to a woman, there is no blame on him for looking at her if he is only looking for the purpose of the proposal, even if she does not know.”

It was recorded by al-Ṭaḥāwī and by Aḥmad (5 / 424) through Zuhayr ibn Muʿāwiya, who said: ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿĪsā narrated to us, from Mūsā ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Yazīd, from Abū Ḥumayd—who had seen the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace—who said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said…, and he mentioned the ḥadīth.