I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission; all its narrators are trustworthy and are among Muslim’s narrators.

It was also narrated by al-Ṭabarānī in al-Awsaṭ and al-Kabīr, as cited in al-Majmaʿ (4/276), which states: “The narrators in Aḥmad’s chain are among the narrators of the Ṣaḥīḥ.”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ made no comment on it in al-Talkhīṣ.

One of the Companions who acted upon this hadith was Muḥammad ibn Maslamah al-Anṣārī. Sahl ibn Abī Ḥathmah said:

“I saw Muḥammad ibn Maslamah intently tracking Buthaynah bint al-Ḍaḥḥāk with his gaze from atop one of her walls. I said, ‘Would you do this, despite being one of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace?’ He replied, ‘I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say:

“Whenever a man is considering proposing to a woman, there is no blame on him for looking at her.”’

98 – “Whenever a man is considering proposing to a woman, there is no blame on him for looking at her.”

It was narrated by Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr in his Sunan (519), as well as by Ibn Mājah (1864), al-Ṭaḥāwī (2/8), and al-Bayhaqī