though I have reservations about some of what he mentioned. What matters is that his answer—peace and blessings be upon him—was the same in all these narrations. It makes no difference, then, whether the questioner was a man or a woman, or whether the person asked about was a father or a mother; no others may be treated by analogy as equivalent to them, except where the person was excused and left a bequest, as held by Malik. The hadith of Shubrumah is to be understood in this light. There is no room here to detail the matter.

I then found another route for the hadith, related by Ibn Ishaq: Khalid ibn Kathir told me that Ata ibn Abi Rabah told him that Abdullah ibn Abbas told him that a man asked the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, about performing Hajj on behalf of his father. He said:

“Perform Hajj on his behalf. Do you not see that if he had a debt …” the hadith.

It was recorded by al-Daraqutni (2/260/114).

I say: Its chain of transmission is good.

It is further strengthened by its transmission through the route of Sharik, from Ibn Abi Layla, from Ata.

He then cited a supporting report for it in the hadith of Abbad ibn Rashid: Thabit narrated to us from Anas ibn Malik that a man asked the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, saying:

“My father has died without having performed Hajj.” He said, “Consider …” the hadith.

Al-Tabarani recorded it through this route in al-Mujam al-Kabir (1/231/748) and al-Mujam al-Awsat (1/8/1/98), and said:

“No one narrated it from Thabit except Abbad.”

That is what he said! Yet Abbad was corroborated, as will follow. He was a truthful narrator who made errors and was one of al-Bukhari’s narrators, so its chain of transmission is