2334 — “Whoever swears an oath to sever ties of kinship, or concerning something improper, then properly fulfilling it means not carrying it through.”

Ibn Mājah recorded it (1/648) through Ḥārithah ibn Abī al-Rijāl, from ʿAmrah, from ʿĀʾishah, as a Prophetic narration. I say: This is a weak chain of transmission. Its narrators are trustworthy, apart from Ḥārithah, who is weak, as al-Ḥāfiẓ stated, and al-Būṣīrī followed him in this judgment (130/2).

However, I found a strong supporting report for the hadith, narrated by Abū Maʿbad from Ibn ʿAbbās as a Prophetic narration: “Whoever swears an oath to sever ties of kinship or to commit an act of disobedience, then breaks it, that is its expiation.” Al-Ṭaḥāwī recorded it in Mushkil al-Āthār (1/287): Bakkār narrated to us: Abū Aḥmad Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Zubayr al-Asadī al-Kūfī narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn Sharīk narrated to us from Sulaymān al-Aḥwal, from him.

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission. All its narrators are trustworthy and are listed in al-Tahdhīb, apart from Bakkār—who was Bakkār ibn Qutaybah al-Thaqafī al-Bakrawī, Abū Bakrah, the Ḥanafī jurist of Basra. Al-Suyūṭī said in Ḥusn al-Muḥāḍarah (1/263): “Abū ʿAwānah narrated from him in his Ṣaḥīḥ, as did Ibn Khuzaymah. Al-Mutawakkil appointed him judge in Egypt in the year 246 AH. Accounts are related of his justice, chastity, integrity, and scrupulousness. He died in the year 270 AH.”

I say: Al-Dhahabī mentioned him among al-Ṭaḥāwī’s teachers in this biography; indeed, he cited another hadith through his narration from Bakkār ibn Qutaybah: Abū Aḥmad narrated to us: Sufyān narrated to us... I mention this because it is possible that the Bakkār in this hadith was actually Ibn Sahl al-Dimyāṭī, the client of the Banū Hāshim. Al-Dhahabī listed al-Ṭaḥāwī among those who narrated from him, and al-Dimyāṭī was weak, as stated—