Al-Tabarani also recorded it in al-Muʿjam al-Kabir (25/163–164) through another route from Umm Sunbulah herself, with additions and omissions. Its chain of transmission includes an unknown narrator.

2986 – “Flog him with one hundred lashes.” They said, “O Prophet of Allah, he is too weak for that. If we were to flog him with one hundred lashes, he would die.” He said, “Then take for him a cluster containing one hundred palm stalks, and strike him with it once.”

Al-Nasaʾi recorded it in al-Sunan al-Kubra (4/313/7309), as did Ibn Majah (2574), al-Bayhaqi (8/230), al-Baghawi in Sharh al-Sunnah (10/303/2591), Ahmad (5/222), and al-Tabarani in al-Muʿjam al-Kabir (6/77/5521 and 5522) (1), all through Muhammad ibn Ishaq, from Yaʿqub ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Ashajj, from Abu Umamah ibn Sahl ibn Hunayf, from Saʿid ibn Saʿd ibn ʿUbadah, who said: Among our households was a feeble man with underdeveloped limbs. To our surprise, he was found with one of the female slaves of the household, committing an indecency with her. Saʿd ibn ʿUbadah brought his case to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and he said the above.

I say: The narrators in this chain are trustworthy, but Ibn Ishaq practised tadlis and related it with an ambiguous “from” formula in all of their versions. Moreover, there is slight weakness in his retention. Ibn ʿAjlan contradicted him, saying: Yaʿqub ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Ashajj narrated to me, from Abu Umamah ibn Sahl ibn Hunayf, that a woman became pregnant … the hadith, to the same effect. He did not mention Saʿid ibn Saʿd ibn ʿUbadah in its chain, thus narrating it as mursal, with the Companion omitted. This is the sounder—or rather, the most sound—version. Al-Nasaʾi (7301–7308) and al-Bayhaqi likewise recorded it, as did al-Baghawi and al-Tabarani in al-Muʿjam al-Awsat (1/38/2/652), through numerous routes from Abu Umamah ibn Sahl, as a mursal narration. A group, however, differed from them and narrated it through