and recorded from him reports from his father.” He said: “We recorded from him singular narrations that we did not record from anyone else.”

He then cited a single hadith in his entry. He was Abū Isḥāq, known as Ibn Nāʾilah, and was from Medina; Nāʾilah was his mother. Abū Nuʿaym cited other hadiths from him through seven of his teachers, including al-Ṭabarānī. Four hadiths from him occur in al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ (3081–3084, according to my numbering), and another in al-Muʿjam al-Ṣaghīr, no. 275, al-Rawḍ al-Naḍīr. He died in 291 AH.

I say: This hadith provides explicit evidence that, during the lifetime of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, the obligation of zakat on women’s jewellery was known. This was after he, peace and blessings be upon him, had commanded it in more than one authentic hadith, some of which I cited in Ādāb al-Zifāf. That is why Fāṭimah bint Qays, may Allah be pleased with her, came with her necklace to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, so that he might collect its zakat from it. This hadith should therefore be considered alongside those reports; perhaps that will satisfy those who still issue legal opinions holding that zakat on jewellery is not obligatory, thereby depriving the poor of part of their rightful share in the zakat wealth of the rich.

Some may cite it as proof that circular gold jewellery is permissible for women. The response is the one mentioned in the hadiths referred to above; consult it in al-Ādāb if you wish. Moreover, this report does not state that she wore it as a necklace, unlike some of those hadiths. It is therefore possible that Fāṭimah, may Allah be pleased with her, had learned both rulings: the prohibition of a gold necklace, so she refrained from wearing it; and the obligation of zakat, so she hastened to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, for him to collect its zakat. This is what befits her and her religion, may Allah be pleased with her.