226 – “For a man to be run through the head with an iron needle is better for him than to touch a woman who is not lawful to him.”

Al-Ruyānī narrated it in his Musnad (2/227): “Nasr ibn ʿAlī informed us; my father informed us; Shaddād ibn Saʿīd informed us from Abū al-ʿAlāʾ, who said: Maʿqil ibn Yasār related it to me, ascribed to the Prophet.”

I say: This chain is good. All of its narrators are trustworthy and appear in the collections of the two Shaykhs except Shaddād ibn Saʿīd, who is found only in Muslim’s work. There is minor criticism of him, yet it does not lower his ḥadīth below the level of ḥasan, and for that reason Muslim cites him only as corroborating evidence. Al-Dhahabī said in al-Mīzān, “His ḥadīth is acceptable,” while Ibn Ḥajar remarks in al-Taqrīb, “Truthful, though he makes mistakes.”