whom al-Bukhārī included in his Ṣaḥīḥ. Thus, these two trustworthy narrators transmitted it with a connected chain, and their report is to be accepted. They were corroborated by ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, who likewise narrated it from Mālik. The author of al-Tamhīd recorded it, and this makes it clear that the correct version of this hadith has a connected chain.

(Al-mukhtafī means a grave robber.)

2149 — “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, cursed whoever brands the face.”

Al-Ṭabarānī recorded it in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr (140/2), saying: Aḥmad ibn Sulaymān ibn Ayyūb al-Madanī al-Iṣfahānī narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Shaqīq informed us; my father informed us; Abū Ḥamzah informed us, from ʿAbd al-Karīm, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās, relating it from him.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission. All of its narrators are trustworthy, apart from this Aḥmad ibn Sulaymān. Abū Nuʿaym said in Akhbār Iṣfahān (1/109): “He died in 299 AH. He narrated many hadiths from the Iraqis: Suwār ibn ʿAbd Allāh, al-Walīd ibn Shujāʿ, Ziyād ibn Ayyūb, and other trustworthy narrators.” Abū al-Shaykh mentioned in his Ṭabaqāt (p. 372 of our copy) that he was from the people of Medina and was known by the kunyah Abū Muḥammad al-Washshāʾ.

I say: The hadith is originally found in Muslim (6/163), through Abū ʿAbd Allāh, the client of Umm Salamah, who told him that he heard Ibn ʿAbbās say: “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, saw a donkey branded on its face and disapproved of it.” Al-Ṭabarānī also narrated it (3/99/2).

It also has a corroborating report from Jābir, who said: “A donkey passed by the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, having been branded on its face, with blood gushing from its nostrils. Thereupon the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said,”