“And the best women to ride camel-back are the righteous women of Quraysh: the most attentive to their husbands’ property and the most tender toward their children in infancy.”

Its chain of transmission is as follows: Abu Nu'aym narrated to us; he said: Abdullah ibn Mubashshir, the client of Umm Habibah, narrated to us, from Zayd ibn Abi Attab, from Mu'awiyah, in a report attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with this wording. This is an authentic chain of transmission; its narrators are al-Bukhari’s narrators, apart from Abdullah ibn Mubashshir. Ibn Ma'in nevertheless declared him trustworthy, as stated in al-Ta'jil.

Al-Bukhari cited this addition in suspended form in his Sahih (193). Al-Hafiz said: “Ahmad and al-Tabarani connected it through this route of Ibn Mubashshir. Its narrators have been declared trustworthy, though some of them have been subject to criticism that does not undermine the report.” End quote—compiled from al-Sharh and al-Ta'jil.

I say: I have not been able to identify which of these three is the one subject to criticism. Abu Nu'aym—al-Fadl ibn Dukayn—is trustworthy and firmly reliable, as al-Hafiz himself stated in al-Taqrib. Likewise, Zayd ibn Abi Attab is considered trustworthy by him. Thus, none remains but this Ibn Mubashshir, whom Ibn Ma'in declared trustworthy, as mentioned above; and al-Hafiz did not report any disagreement concerning him in al-Ta'jil. And Allah knows best.

This addition also has a corroborating report from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, previously cited with the wording: “The best women to ride camel-back.” See no. 1052.