It thus clearly indicates that this army consists of disbelievers or rebels. Even if there are coerced believers among them, they are making for the House to attack the Muslims within it. Thus, there is no contradiction, and all praise is due to Allah.

2433 — “Do not stop on the main thoroughfares, nor relieve yourselves on them.”

Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah narrated it in al-Adab (1/150/1): Yazid related to us; Hisham related to us, from al-Hasan, from Jabir, as a report attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Ibn Majah (3772) transmitted it through Abu Bakr’s route. Ahmad (3/305) also transmitted it through another route from Hisham, with a fuller wording; and Abu Ya‘la (2/594) likewise transmitted it through another route from Yazid, who was Ibn Harun.

Its narrators are trustworthy, and are narrators of the two Sahihs, except that its chain is interrupted between al-Hasan—namely, al-Basri—and Jabir, for he did not hear from him, as I explained in the other book (1140). However, Ibn Majah (329) transmitted it through Zuhayr, who said: Salim said: “I heard al-Hasan say: Jabir ibn ‘Abd Allah narrated to us”—then he mentioned it with the wording: “Beware of stopping for the night on the main part of the road and praying on it, for it is the refuge of snakes and beasts of prey; and of relieving yourselves on it, for these are among the acts that incur curses.”

I say: Al-Hasan thus explicitly stated that he narrated from and heard it from Jabir. However, the chain to him in this form is not authentic, for this Salim—who was Salim ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Khayyat al-Basri—was declared weak by a number of scholars. Al-Hafiz said: “Truthful, but poor in retention.” Zuhayr, who narrated from him, was Zuhayr ibn Muhammad al-Tamimi al-Khurasani, and he too was weak.

Nevertheless, the hadith under discussion is authentic, for it has come in separate reports. As for its first part, it occurs in the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with the wording: