had travelled there, and that his epithet was Tughak. This also appears in the first of the hadiths which al-Tabarani narrated from him in al-Awsat, no. 4353. Accordingly, the chain is sound, containing nothing that could render it defective through any of the hidden defects previously mentioned—apart from what has been said concerning Humayd, namely Humayd ibn Abi Humayd al-Tawil, regarding his concealment in transmission from Anas. Yet more than one imam stated that he heard it from Thabit, from Anas; thus, his concealment does not harm it, as al-Hafiz al-‘Ala’i and others indicated. Perhaps this is the reason for the abundance of his narrations from Anas in the two Sahih collections that use the ambiguous “from” formula. I have also seen al-Mundhiri grade as good the chain of another hadith narrated by al-Tabarani through this chain; its sourcing was given earlier under no. 1620.

Having carefully established the status of this chain of Anas’s hadith and shown it to be strong, it must be included in this “Sahih” series and transferred from Da‘if al-Jami‘—where it is attributed to al-Da‘ifah, no. 3785, which contains another hadith cursing the Murji’ah. This called for clarification. Allah Most High is asked to direct our steps aright and guide us to such words and deeds as please Him.

2749 — “When you answer the call of nature, avoid places where people sit in the shade and the roadway. Take small stones (1), stand firmly on your legs, and cleanse yourselves with an odd number [of stones].”

Al-Tabarani transmitted it in al-Mu‘jam al-Awsat (2/16/2, no. 5331): Muhammad ibn ‘Abdus ibn Kamil narrated to us; Makhlad ibn Khalij narrated to us; Ibrahim ibn Khalid al-San‘ani informed us; Rabah ibn Zayd informed us, from Ma‘mar, from Simak ibn al-Fadl, from Abu Rushdayn, from Suraqah ibn Malik ibn Ju‘shum: