Then Uthman sought permission to enter, whereupon the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, sat up and adjusted his garments. Aisha said: “Abu Bakr entered …” The hadith includes: “…then Uthman entered, and you sat up and adjusted your garments?” He replied: “Should I not feel shy before a man before whom the angels feel shy?”

Muslim, al-Tahawi in al-Mushkil (2/283), and Abu Yaʿla (3/1178–1179) transmitted it. Al-Tahawi does not include the words, “or his shins”; this was a point of uncertainty on the part of one of the narrators. The hadith has also been transmitted by another route without this uncertainty: Ahmad (6/32) transmitted it from Marwan, who said: “Ubayd Allah ibn Sayyar informed us: I heard Aisha bint Talha narrate from Aisha, in an abbreviated form.”

I say: I have not found a biographical entry for this Ubayd Allah ibn Sayyar. He is mentioned in al-Taʿjil, where it says: “He narrated from Aisha, and Marwan narrated from him. Al-Husayni said: ‘Unknown.’”

I say: I have not seen him in the Musnad of Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, in Ahmad’s Musnad!

I say: This is how it appears there: “from Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her,” which gives the impression that the biographee narrated from Aisha al-Siddiqah. In fact, as you can see, he narrated from Aisha bint Abi Talha, from her.

It also has a corroborating report in the hadith of ʿAmr ibn Muslim—known as the keeper of the enclosure—from Anas ibn Malik, who said: “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, entered one of the gardens of the Ansar. There was a well in the garden, so he sat at its edge, dangling his feet, with part of his thigh exposed. He instructed me to sit at the gate. Before long, Abu Bakr came.” The hadith includes: “They said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, why did you cover your thigh when Uthman came?’ He replied: ‘I feel shy before one before whom the angels feel shy.’”

Al-Tahawi transmitted it (2/284). Its chain is sound as corroborating evidence: its narrators are reliable and known, apart from this ʿAmr ibn Muslim. Ibn Abi Hatim included his biography (3/1/260), citing two reliable transmitters who narrated from him, but mentioned no criticism or accreditation concerning him. The hadith has another corroborating report from Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, attributed to the Prophet, with the wording: