I say: This is a good chain of transmission; its narrators are reliable and are among the narrators of al-Bukhari and Muslim, were it not for a weakness in this Fudayl due to his deficient retention. Al-Hafiz mentioned him in the introduction to Fath al-Bari (p. 435) and said, in summary: “He was truthful, but had some rejected reports. The compilers of the six canonical collections narrated from him, and al-Bukhari included only hadiths from him for which he was corroborated.”

I say: This hadith has a corroborating report showing that it is a well-preserved hadith, not a rejected one. Abu Salamah narrated from Sa‘d ibn Abi Waqqas that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said regarding wiping over leather socks: “There is no harm in it.” It was recorded by al-Nasa’i (1/31), Ahmad (1/169 and 169–170), and Ibn ‘Asakir in The History of Damascus (7/168), through Musa ibn ‘Uqbah, from Abu al-Nadr, from him.

I say: This is an authentic chain meeting the criteria of al-Bukhari and Muslim. Al-Bayhaqi also recorded it (1/269–270), but inserted ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umar between Abu Salamah and Sa‘d, and added to its text the account of Ibn ‘Umar with his father and Sa‘d. This is recorded by al-Bukhari (202) through ‘Amr—namely, Ibn al-Harith—who said: Abu al-Nadr related to me, from Abu Salamah ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman, from ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umar, from Sa‘d ibn Abi Waqqas, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, wiped over leather socks, and that ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umar asked ‘Umar about this. He replied: “Yes. If Sa‘d tells you something from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, do not ask anyone else about it.”

Musa ibn ‘Uqbah said: Abu al-Nadr informed me that Abu Salamah informed him that Sa‘d ... Then ‘Umar said to ‘Abd Allah ... to the same effect. Thus, al-Bukhari cited it in suspended form from Musa, without giving its wording. Al-Hafiz did likewise in his commentary (1/305) and did not provide its connected chain, contrary to his usual practice! But when he provided its connected chain and cited it in Taghliq al-Ta‘liq