I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission meeting the criteria of the two Shaykhs. It has a corroborating report, narrated by ʿAlī ibn Zayd from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakrah, from his father, in a report attributed to the Prophet with the same wording. Aḥmad (5/44 and 50) and al-Ṭaḥāwī in al-Mushkil (4/312) narrated it. I say: Its chain is acceptable as corroborative evidence; its narrators are trustworthy according to Muslim’s criteria, apart from ʿAlī ibn Zayd—namely, Ibn Judʿān—who is weak because of his poor memory.

2136 — “He liked pleasant fragrance.”

Abū Dāwūd (2/178), al-Ḥākim (4/188–189), Aḥmad (6/144, 219, and 249), and Ibn Saʿd (1/453) narrated it through several routes from Hammām ibn Yaḥyā, from Qatādah, from Muṭarrif, from ʿĀʾishah: “She made the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) a black woollen cloak, and he wore it. When he perspired, he noticed the smell of the wool and took it off; and he was…” He then mentioned the wording cited above. Al-Ḥākim said, “Authentic according to the criteria of the two Shaykhs,” and al-Dhahabī agreed with him; and it is as they said. Abū al-Shaykh also narrated something similar (p. 129).

2137 — “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) could be recognized by the fragrance of perfume when he approached.”

Ibn Saʿd (1/399) and al-Dārimī (1/32) narrated it from al-Aʿmash, from Ibrāhīm, who said: He then mentioned it. I say: Its narrators are trustworthy, but it is mursal, or has a double break in its chain, for Ibrāhīm—namely, Ibrāhīm ibn Yazīd al-Nakhaʿī—was a junior Successor, and most of his reports are from Successors. Ibn Saʿd then narrated, through Abū Bishr Ṣāḥib al-Baṣrī: Yazīd al-Raqqāshī informed us that