of Ibn Qutaybah’s Correction of Abu ‘Ubayd’s Errors. I regret that I did not note in my draft—from which I copied the hadith with its chain of transmission from his Gharib—the public library from which the manuscript came. The printed edition, however, contains an indication of the chain of transmission. I learned that Abu ‘Ubayd narrated it through his shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani, for, after citing al-Asma‘i’s vocalization of the word nubal, with an u-vowel on the n and an a-vowel on the b, he said: “Muhammad ibn al-Hasan said: By nubal he means stones used to cleanse oneself after relieving oneself.”

Al-Suyuti then included the hadith in al-Jami‘ al-Kabir with the wording: “Keep away from paths when you go to answer the call of nature; prepare stones, and beware of places that provoke curses. None of you should relieve himself beneath a tree where someone may shelter, or beside water from which people drink, lest they invoke curses against you.” He attributed it to ‘Abd al-Razzaq as a mursal report. I have not seen it in ‘Abd al-Razzaq’s al-Musannaf; perhaps it is in the first section, which was not printed because its editor, Shaykh al-A‘zami, did not find it. And Allah knows best.

In sum, with these corroborating reports, the hadith is undoubtedly authentic. All praise is due to Allah for His enabling grace, and I ask Him for more of His generosity and bounty. I then saw that al-Hafiz attributed a portion of it to ‘Abd al-Razzaq, from Ibn Jurayj, from al-Sha‘bi, as a mursal report. See al-Talkhis (1/107).

2750 — “What are you laughing at?” They said, “At the thinness of his calves.” He said, “[By Him in Whose Hand my soul is,] they are heavier on the Scale than Mount Uhud.”

It was recorded by Ahmad (1/420–421), as well as al-Tayalisi (no. 355) and Ibn Sa‘d