This is an authentic chain meeting the criteria of al-Bukhārī and Muslim. The word ʿan (from) has been omitted from the original, though the context requires it, for Ibn Abī Mulaykah was ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUbayd Allāh al-Madanī, well known for narrating from Aishah. Ayyūb—meaning al-Sakhtiyānī—narrated from him, and Ḥammād ibn Zayd narrated from Ayyūb; none of the narrators was named Ayyūb ibn Abī Mulaykah.

This statement of Aishah in this route, made in reply to the Jews, is also found in Musnad Aḥmad (3/134–135), through the route of Muḥammad ibn al-Ashʿath from her. The Prophet’s statement at its conclusion is also narrated, in abbreviated form, from Jābir in connection with this incident. It includes his saying, peace and blessings be upon him: “Yes, I heard them and replied to them. We are answered against them, whereas they are not answered against us.” Muslim (7/5) and Aḥmad (3/383) narrated it.

Note: Ibn Rāhūyah narrated immediately after this hadith, through his authentic chain from Ḥassān ibn ʿAṭiyyah, who said: “There is no harm in saying amin to a monk’s supplication if he prays for you, for they are answered concerning us, but they are not answered concerning themselves.”

2722 — “If you find a righteous man, then marry him.”

Ibn Mājah (1/625–626) and Ibn Rāhūyah in his Musnad (4/266/1–2) narrated it through the route of Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, from al-Shaʿbī, from Masrūq and ʿAmr ibn ʿUtbah, who wrote to Subayʿah bint al-Ḥārith asking her about her case. She wrote back to them that she gave birth twenty-five nights after her husband’s death, and then made herself ready, seeking a suitable match. Abū al-Sanābil ibn Baʿkak passed by her and said: “You have been hasty. Observe the latter of the two prescribed waiting periods: four