Abu al-ʿAlā is Yazīd ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Shikhkhir.

Regarding this ḥadīth, al-Mundhirī states in al-Targhīb (3/66):
“Al-Ṭabarānī and al-Bayhaqī transmitted it, and the transmitters in al-Ṭabarānī’s chain are trustworthy men whose narrations appear in the two Ṣaḥīḥ collections.”

It has also been reported with a missing link (mursal) from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Zakariyyā al-Khuzaʿī, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“For a man to be struck on the head so hard that the blow reaches the bone is better for him than for a woman who is unlawful to him to place her hand on his head. And for a man to be afflicted with leprosy until it penetrates the bone of his forearm is better for him than for a woman who is unlawful to him to place her hand on his forearm.”

Abū Nuʿaym recorded it in al-Ṭibb (2/33–34) through Hushaym, from Dāwūd ibn ʿAmr, who related it from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Zakariyyā al-Khuzaʿī.

I say: Besides being mursal—or even muʿḍal—Hushaym was a narrator who practiced tadlīs, and he relates it here only with the vague ʿan-ʿanah form.

Al-mukhīṭ—with a kasrah on the mīm and a fatḥah on the yāʾ—is anything used for stitching, such as a needle or an awl.

The ḥadīth contains a stern warning for anyone who touches a woman who is not lawful to him, and therefore provides clear evidence for the prohibition of shaking hands with women, since a handshake unquestionably falls under “touch.” Many Muslims today—including some people of learning—have fallen into this practice. Had they at least detested it in their hearts, the calamity would have been somewhat lessened; but they declare it permissible through a variety of contrived arguments and interpretations. We have even been informed that a very prominent figure at al-Azhar has been seen shaking hands with women. To Allah we complain of the estrangement of Islam.