Al-Ḥākim said:

“This is an authentic hadith according to Muslim’s criteria.” Al-Dhahabī concurred.

I say: Muslim included Ibn Isḥāq only in a corroborating transmission. Moreover, he practiced tadlīs (concealing a weakness in the chain) and narrated this report using the ambiguous formula “from.” However, he explicitly stated that he had heard it in one of Aḥmad’s two versions, so its chain of transmission is good. The hadith master likewise said in Fatḥ al-Bārī (9/156), and stated in al-Talkhīṣ:

“Ibn al-Qaṭṭān declared it defective on account of Wāqid ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, saying, ‘The recognized name is Wāqid ibn ʿAmr.’”

I say: Al-Ḥākim’s version names him as Wāqid ibn ʿAmr, and the same is found in the versions of al-Shāfiʿī and ʿAbd al-Razzāq.

I would add: The same is true of all those whom we have mentioned, except Abū Dāwūd and Aḥmad in his other version, in which they both give the name as “Wāqid ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān.” This wording was reported only by ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Ziyād, unlike those who give it as “Wāqid ibn ʿAmr”—and they are the more numerous. Their version is therefore preferable. Wāqid ibn ʿAmr is trustworthy and one of Muslim’s narrators, whereas Wāqid ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān is unknown. And Allah knows best.

The Jurisprudence of the Hadith:

The hadith clearly indicates the point for which we cited it, and this is further supported by its narrator’s acting upon it: the eminent Companion Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, may Allah be pleased with him. Muḥammad ibn Maslamah did likewise, as we mentioned in the preceding hadith. These two reports are sufficient proof. It does not therefore harm us that some scholars restrict the hadith to looking only at the face and hands, because this limits the hadith without any qualifying text and sets aside the Companions’ understanding without proof—especially since it is further supported by the action of the rightly guided caliph ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him. The hadith master said in al-Talkhīṣ (pp. 291–292):

A Benefit:

ʿAbd al-Razzāq and Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr recorded in his Sunan (520–