al-Ṭabarānī—related to us: ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us; Abū Nuʿaym related to us; Sufyān related it to us in that form, but without the addition.

For this reason, Abū Nuʿaym said immediately afterward: “ʿIṣām ibn Yazīd narrated it, supplying the missing link and making it connected.” He then gave its chain through two routes from Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Mandah, who said: Muḥammad ibn ʿIṣām ibn Yazīd related to us, from his father, from Sufyān, from Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī, from one who narrated to him from ʿAlī, who said: “The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—received word concerning a kinsman of Ibrāhīm’s mother. He handed me a sword and said, ‘Go and kill him.’ I came upon him while he was atop a palm tree. When he saw me, he realized [my purpose], fell down, and threw off his garment; and there he was, castrated. So I refrained from him. He said, ‘You did well.’”

He said: “Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq gave a fuller version and identified the unnamed narrator.” He then cited it here in abbreviated form, and in full at (3/177–178), through Yūnus ibn Bukayr, from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, from Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah, from his father, from his grandfather ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib—may Allah ennoble his countenance—who said: “Much was said about Māriyah, the mother of Ibrāhīm, the Prophet’s son—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—because of a Copt, a cousin of hers, who used to visit her regularly. The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said to me: ‘Take this sword and go to him. If you find him with her, kill him.’ I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, when you send me on a command, am I to be like a heated iron, with nothing turning me aside until I carry out that for which you have sent me; or does the witness see what the absent one does not see?’ He said”—and he mentioned it.

“So I went forth with the sword slung across me and found him with her. I drew the sword, and when I approached him, he realized that I intended him. He went to a palm tree and climbed it, then threw himself backward and spread his legs. There he was, a smooth castrate,(1) possessing none of what men possess, neither little nor much. So I sheathed my sword, then went to the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and informed him. He said, ‘Praise be to Allah, who averts [harm] from us, the People of the Household.’”

He said: “This is singular; it is not known as a connected report with this wording except through the hadith of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq.”