Thus, it is only a relative case of singular transmission. The account of Thābit may in fact coincide with the account of Khārijah, for anyone who learns the script of the Jews must necessarily learn their language as well—and that language is Syriac, even though it is commonly held that their tongue is Hebrew. It is therefore conceivable that Zayd learned both languages because he needed them.

I say: The purport of this ḥadith is similar to the saying that circulates on people’s tongues, “Whoever learns the language of a people will be safe from their plotting.” I know of no ḥadith with this exact wording, however, nor has any author of the well-known compilations of popular sayings recorded it. It appears, then, to have spread only in later times.

188 – “Undo your hair and perform a full bath—i.e., when menstruating.”

Ibn Abī Shaybah narrated it in al-Muṣannaf (1/26/1): “Wakīʿ informed us, from Hishām, from his father, from ʿĀʾishah, that the Prophet ﷺ said to her while she was menstruating,” and he mentioned the wording above. Ibn Mājah (641) also transmitted it through the route of Ibn Abī Shaybah, and through ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad, both of whom said, “Wakīʿ narrated it to us.”

I say: This chain is sound according to the criteria of the Two Shaykhs. Al-Bukhārī and Muslim include it as part of ʿĀʾishah’s narrative about her menses during the Farewell Pilgrimage, where the Prophet ﷺ says to her, “Undo your hair, comb it, and abandon your ʿumrah…,” but without the words “and perform a full bath.” That addition is nonetheless authentic by virtue of this reliable chain, and the context in the two Ṣaḥīḥs implicitly requires it even though they do not state it explicitly. This is likely what led al-Sindī to correct al-Būṣayrī, stating in al-Zawāʾid: “This isnād consists of trustworthy narrators.”