The Musannaf of ‘Abd al-Razzaq is now being printed by Dar al-Qalam in Beirut. Thus far, its first and second volumes—and perhaps its third as well—have been printed. It was later printed in its entirety, but I do not presently have access to it. Then I was able to consult it and found it there (8/448/15860), through Ma‘mar from Ibn Tawus, and through Layth from Tawus, with the same wording, except for “monasticism and celibacy.” He said: “Ibn Jurayj added: ‘There is no celibacy and no monasticism in Islam.’” Its chain is authentic but mursal. In sum, the hadith is authentic in my view on account of these corroborating reports. And Allah knows best.

1783 — “A man’s greeting by gesturing with a single finger is a Jewish practice.”

It was narrated by Abu Ya‘la in his Musnad (109/1), al-‘Uqayli (294), and al-Tabarani in al-Awsat (4598), through Sulayman ibn Hibban, from Thawr ibn Yazid, from Abu al-Zubayr, from Jabir, attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Al-Tabarani said: “It is not narrated from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, except through this chain of transmission.”

I say: Its narrators are trustworthy and are among Muslim’s narrators, were it not for Abu al-Zubayr’s ambiguous mode of narration, for he practised tadlis. In al-Majma‘ (8/38), it states: “It was narrated by Abu Ya‘la and al-Tabarani in al-Awsat, and Abu Ya‘la’s narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.” Al-Hafiz said in al-Fath (11/12): “Al-Nasa’i transmitted it with a sound chain.” He apparently means either al-Nasa’i’s al-Sunan al-Kubra or his ‘Amal al-Yawm wa al-Laylah.